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There are a lot of things that look much better on the big screen than they do in real life, like layers and layers of makeup or the sidewalks of New York City. With the right lighting and a little stage-setting, these things that can look jarring up close look so lovely in movies. You know what else looks good in cinema but comes off a little weird in real life? Some of the grand romantic gestures you’ve seen in some of the most iconic films. There are some romantic gestures that have become so popular as the climactic ending to a movie, that you see them repeated again and again in the genre. When you see them, you might even say, “I wish somebody would do that for me.” But, when you’re saying that, you’re watching a hot movie star in a totally contrived scenario doing that gesture.
Zoom out and consider if someone did one of these to you, or someone you knew, in real life, and you’d probably be a bit creeped out. When it’s in the movies, we allow for shortened timelines, unlikely scenarios, and the idea that someone’s mind could be completely changed about something major (like who they marry), all because of one gesture. But we know that in real life we (hopefully) have a better grip on our hearts and heads, and know that someone who messed up over and over again couldn’t win us over with one moment. Plus, some gestures are just…awkward. Here are movie grand gestures that would be uncomfortable in real life.
Crashing the wedding
There isn’t enough room on this page to list all of the films in which the guy finally wins the woman by crashing her wedding ceremony, storming through the chapel doors, or standing up when the minister gives the, “If anyone has any objections to this union, speak now” bit. And he gives a compelling and heartfelt speech about why she should choose him instead of the other guy. Right then and there, she abandons the altar and runs off into the sunset with this guy. In real life, first of all, security/five groomsmen would have tackled and pummeled this guy before he could get four words out. Furthermore, how truly messed up is that outcome? Hopefully, anyone standing under an altar feels so undeniably certain about the decision they’re about to make that one speech from someone else wouldn’t change their mind. Plus, talk about taking no time between relationships. Leaving a literal wedding ceremony for a new committed relationship? Screams a bit of serial monogamist.
