In Luca Guadagnino's new movie Challengers, Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist play three deeply entangled characters. It's just the latest in a long line of iconic love triangles in the movies.
Couples in romantic relationships are often featured in movies because of the familiar feelings they elicit and the stakes they present. But when a third party is added in the mix, it brings a whole new level of drama and emotions to the story. And while these relationships aren't always the main plot point, when movies feature love triangles they are usually the underlying driving force for the story.
Generally, cinematic love triangles emerge when one half of a couple finds themselves pulled towards a former flame, or to a friend or family member of the person they're in a relationship with. Rarely do all three parties get a happy ending.
With stars like Cher, Leonardo and Reese – not to mention a bunch of actors with last names too! – the movies on this list hit all the main points of a good love triangle film. Here are 16 of the best love triangle movies, as ranked by Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer.
Too Long, Didn't Read summary:
• The standard movie love triangle isn’t always a film's main plot point, but it is usually the driving force for the story
• Love triangles generally involve three characters who are all intertwined, with starting a new romance with a friend or relative of someone they’re already in a relationship with.
• This list includes classic rom-coms from the 80s, 90s and beyond, with stars like Cher, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Julia Roberts.
16. Pearl Harbor (2001)
24% on the Tomatometer
This romantic war drama directed by Michael Bay may not have been what people were hoping for from Bay at the time, which was another Titanic (1997), but it did have a love triangle with some serious star power in Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnett. Based on real historical events, Pearl Harbor finds Affleck and Harnett playing boyhood best friends who enter World War II as pilots. When Affleck’s character eagerly departs to fight in an earlier battle, his girlfriend (Beckinsale) turns to Hartnett’s character for comfort. The threesome reunites in Hawaii just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
15. Sweet Home Alabama (2002) 38%
38% on the Tomatometer
Reese Witherspoon stars in this romantic comedy about a New York fashion designer engaged to the city's most eligible bachelor, played by Patrick Dempsey. But when the guy she married in high school back in Alabama, played by Josh Lucas, refuses a divorce, she heads home to handle it and ends up rediscovering her southern roots in the process. Despite critics not loving it, Sweet Home Alabama was a hit with audiences and at the box office. And along with Legally Blonde (2001) the year before, it helped propel Witherspoon into the next stratosphere of stardom.
14. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
46% on the Tomatometer
In this, the third installment in The Twilight Saga film series, the love triangle between Kristen Stewart’s Bella Swan, Robert Pattinson’s Edward Cullen and Taylor Lautner’s Jacob Black takes center stage. Bella choosing between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob could set off a classic struggle between vampire and werewolf, which is never a good thing. Eclipse performed well and was ultimately one of the more successful installments with critics. It’s also a big reason why your 14-year-old niece kept asking if you were Team Edward or Team Jacob.
13. The Great Gatsby (2013)
48% on the Tomatometer
Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel and directed by Baz Luhrmann, The Great Gatsby features Leonardo DiCaprio along with an ensemble cast that includes Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki. It follows the life and times of DiCaprio’s Jay Gatsby, who throws lavish parties in hopes that his former love Daisy (Mulligan) will show up, despite the fact that she’s married to Tom (Edgerton). In true Luhrmann fashion, aspects of the film were both award-winning and polarizing, but they added up to a bigger and brighter love triangle that is perfect for this list.
12. The Notebook (2004)
54% on the Tomatometer
This romantic drama was directed by Nick Cassavetes and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams star as a young couple who fall in love as teenagers in the 1940s. When their lives finally intertwine again years later, she is engaged to someone else, played by James Marsden, and ends up having to choose between the two. The tear-jerking film ended up being a sleeper hit at the box office and has become a cult classic in the years since, no doubt thanks in part to McAdams and Gosling winning Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards.
11. Reality Bites (1994)
63% on the Tomatometer
Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Ben Stiller star in this romantic dramedy, which was also Stiller’s feature directorial debut, about young adults trying to find their way after college. In the film, Ryder’s Lelaina gets stuck between a yuppie named Michael (Stiller) and good friend Troy (Hawke), who’s having trouble holding down minimum-wage jobs. Critics and audiences have lauded and embraced Reality Bites for being a quintessential Gen-X movie, with its take on career and lifestyle choices earning it cult status through the decades.
10. Love Actually (2003)
64% on the Tomatometer
Love Actually's several interconnecting love stories feature many characters exploring myriad facets of love, but the a love triangle story involving Keira Knightley’s Juliet, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Peter and Andrew Lincoln’s Mark is the most memorable. After it’s revealed that Mark is in love with the newly-married Juliet, he shows up at her door on Christmas Eve with a message of love on a series of cue cards in what has become an iconic and oft-mentioned scene in popular culture. All of the stories in this holiday favorite represent their own set of unique feelings, and the love triangle is no different.
9. My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
74% on the Tomatometer
Julia Roberts stars in My Best Friend’s Wedding as Julianne, a 27-year-old food critic who realizes she's in love with her best friend Michael, played by Dermot Mulroney, and tries to win him back before he marries his fiancee, played by Cameron Diaz. 1997 was a big hit in a big year for movies, and is now considered one of the best rom-coms of the 1990s. The double-platinum soundtrack, featuring Diana King's hit cover of "I Say A Little Prayer," is a classic, too.
8. Pretty in Pink (1986)
75% on the Tomatometer
Pretty in Pink, written and produced by John Hughes, stars Molly Ringwald as Andie, an outcast at her Chicago high school. She's asked out by one of the rich and popular kids, Andrew McCarthy’s Blane – much to the dismay of Jon Cryer’s Duckie, a childhood friend who has a crush on her. The original ending actually portrayed Andie and Duckie ending up together, but test audiences booed the ending and it was changed. The retooled Pretty in Pink is considered a cult classic, remembered for its great characters and – in true John Hughes fashion – its soundtrack.
7. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
80% on the Tomatometer
Woody Allen takes love triangles to another level with this romantic dramedy. Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson play two American women who spend a summer in Barcelona, where they meet an artist (Javier Bardem) who is attracted to both of them. He also has an ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) that he still has feelings for, which essentially leads to two different triangles. Vicky Cristina Barcelona remains one of Allen’s highest-grossing films and earned Cruz the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
6. Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
80% on the Tomatometer
Renée Zellweger stars as the titular character in this romantic comedy, about a 32-year-old British single woman whose life changes when two men, played by Colin Firth and Hugh Grant, both start vying for her affection. It’s based on Helen Fielding's 1996 novel of the same name, which itself is a reinterpretation of Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. Bridget Jones’s Diary earned Zellweger an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and spawned a successful franchise with two popular sequels in the years since. A new sequel is slated for 2025.
5. While You Were Sleeping (1995)
81% on the Tomatometer
Directed by Jon Turteltaub, who was coming off such films as 3 Ninjas (1992) and Cool Runnings (1993), this romantic comedy stars Sandra Bullock as a lonely transit worker who saves her longtime crush Peter, played by Peter Gallagher, from the path of a train. Then she gets caught up in the untrue story that she is the comatose Peter’s fiance, only to fall for Peter’s younger brother, Jack, played by Bill Pullman... which creates a whole new problem when Peter wakes up. The film was a critical and commercial success, and launched Bullock into even more starring roles.
4. Titanic (1997) CF 88%
88% on the Tomatometer
James Cameron directed, wrote, produced and co-edited this film, which incorporates both fictionalized and historical aspects of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as Jack and Rose, members of different social classes who fall in love during the ship's maiden voyage, despite Rose's engagement to Billy Zane’s wealthy character, Cal. And while Jack ultimately wins the girl, he wasn’t as lucky when the boat sank. Titanic was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won 11, including Best Picture and Best Director, and became the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark at the box office.
3. Spider-Man (2002)
90% on the Tomatometer
The first-ever live-action Spider-Man film was directed by Sam Raimi, widely known for creating the popular Evil Dead series. And sure, fans loved seeing Spidey swing around and fight the bad guys, but the real excitement here came from the love triangle between Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane and James Franco’s Harry Osborn. The latter two were dating until Peter started acting a little funny – you know, like a superhero – and started messing it all up. Spider-Man became the first-ever film to reach $100 million in a single weekend, and became the most successful comic book and superhero movie ever at the time with nearly $822 million earned worldwide. Raimi and the gang would go on to do a whole trilogy, which is partially credited for kickstarting the comic book movie craze of the past two decades.
2. Moonstruck (1987)
92% on the Tomatometer
From director Norman Jewison, this romantic dramedy stars Cher as a widowed Italian-American woman who has a fiancé, played by Danny Aiello, but ends up falling for his temperamental, estranged younger brother, played by Nicolas Cage. The studio wasn’t initially impressed with Cage's screen test, and it was Cher who insisted that he play the role. It turns out she was right: Moonstruck received six Academy Award nominations, ultimately winning winning for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress for Cher and Best Supporting Actress for Olympia Dukakis.
1. Casablanca (1942)
99% on the Tomatometer
Casablanca was set and filmed during World War II, and features one of the most famous live triangles in movie history. This classic stars Humphrey Bogart as an American expatriate who must choose between his love for the beautiful Ilse, played by Ingrid Bergman, and helping her and her husband, played by Paul Henreid, escape the city of Casablanca in order to keep fighting against the Germans. Casablanca won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, putting it on its way to becoming one of the most iconic and well-regarded films in history. And based on this list, it clearly set the stage for plenty of great love triangle movies in the years to come.
