10 Most Ridiculous Rom-Com Premises In Cinema History

Boy meets girl is so dated that it's only natural to stick in magic, time-travel, curses, brain damage and semen-swapping. Right? ...Right?

By Jack Pooley /

The rom-com has to be the least fussy genre in term of plot and quality, a little way ahead of the horror genre (as much as I love it). It relies on audience sentimentality €“ that if you make a lightly amusing trailer, it'll get the audiences in the cinema. Also, given that most of a rom-com's audience is accounted for by dates they may not have their attention completely focused on the screen anyway, if you catch my drift. Though this normally results in the familiar "meet cute" trope we're all sick to death of €“ sometimes filmmakers have, for both better and for worse €“ tried to slip more outlandish romantic premises by us. This has on occasion resulted in a genius romance the likes of which we could never have imagined, though most absurd rom-coms are simply too crazy for their own good. They might deviate pleasantly from formula, but they're not backed up by enough intelligent, chemistry and genuine heart. Still, as this list makes clear, occasionally a crazy premise can work if the cast believe in it enough. As usual, let me know about any more ridiculous rom-coms in the comments!