Romance films make audiences feel an array of emotions. Some stories will make them cry, others will make them laugh, and many will make them cheer as two star-crossed lovers overcome every obstacle to achieve their happily ever after. Of course, like all stories, romances are only as effective as the actors bringing them to life. While many stars of romantic films will go on to achieve the recognition they deserve, others will be unfairly overlooked despite giving decent performances.
There are many ways in which an actor’s performance can be underrated: sometimes it’s because they missed out on an award they deserved, other times it’s because they were unfairly treated by critics, and other times it’s because their co-stars overshadowed them. Whatever the case, here’s a look at the ten most underrated performances in romance movies.
Update February 1, 2024: Valentine’s Day is approaching. This article has been updated with more details about these underrated performances and where you can stream each title if you are looking for something to watch leading up to the holdiay.
10 Hilary Swank – P.S. I Love You (2007)
Based on the novel of the same name by Cecilia Ahern, P.S. I Love You tells the heartbreaking love story of married couple Holly and Gerry Kennedy (played by Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler, respectively). Told through a nonlinear narrative structure, the film sees Gerry suffering and, eventually, dying from a terminal illness, which causes Holly to experience a great deal of grief. However, Holly soon starts to receive messages from Gerry that he pre-arranged to be sent to her before his death in order to help his wife come to terms with her loss before she starts a new life. The film’s cast also includes Lisa Kudrow, Harry Connick Jr., Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Kathy Bates.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
Despite being a commercial success, P.S. I Love You received mostly negative reviews from critics. This shouldn’t be a reflection on the quality of the cast’s performances, however, with Swank in particular delivering a nuanced and truly heart-wrenching performance as Holly. She does a fantastic job of portraying a woman forced to deal with the various stages of grief, who ultimately learns to embrace life once again without her beloved by her side. She may not have been able to win all the critics over, but Swank’s performance undoubtedly left a lasting impression on audiences. Rent on AppleTV+.
9 James Marsden – The Notebook (2004)
Directed by Nick Cassavetes, 2004’s The Notebook centers on the relationship between Noah and Allie (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, respectively) in the 1940s, as told by an elderly man to a fellow care home resident in the present day. Among the film’s supporting cast is James Marsden. Best known for his role as Scott Summers/Cyclops in the X-Men franchise, Marsden plays the character of Captain Lon Hammond Jr., a lawyer to whom Allie becomes engaged before rekindling her affair with Noah.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
In the hands of a lesser actor, Lon’s character could have easily come across as a haughty, selfish, and unlikable individual. But with Marsden in the role, he’s a fully realized and three-dimensional character who is easy to empathize with despite only being a supporting character. Marsden is a charming and charismatic performer, and while this might be a more grounded role than what the actor is used to, he still brings that innate likability and warmth. Gosling and McAdams rightly get the lion’s share of the praise, but Marsden’s excellent turn here shouldn’t be overlooked. Stream on Hulu.
8 Cameron Diaz – My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
My Best Friend’s Wedding is another example of a romance film where one of the supporting characters steals the show. Released in 1997, the film stars Julia Roberts as Jules, a 28-year-old woman living in New York whose best friend, Michael (Dermot Mulroney), is set to get married to a woman eight years younger than him named Kimmy, played by a fresh-faced Cameron Diaz. Realizing that she is in love with Michael, Jules makes many desperate attempts to stop the wedding from going ahead. My Best Friend’s Wedding is considered one of the best wedding comedies of all time, and part of its success lies in Diaz’s supporting performance.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
Kimmy is a great character purely because she is a kind-hearted individual who sees the best in everyone, which contrasts with Jules’s devious intentions. She is naive and caring, and no matter how much Jules wants her to be a bad person, she simply isn’t one. Diaz, who has proven herself to be among the best comedic actresses over the years, was definitely the right person for the role, with her natural comic timing and ability to make even the nicest of characters funny being on display here. What makes Diaz’s performance and the film as a whole great is that audiences truly sympathize with Kimmy despite her not being the protagonist. It’s a brilliant turn by the actress which, ultimately, led to bigger things. Stream on Netflix.
7 Julia Roberts – Runaway Bride (1999)
There’s a reason Julia Roberts is considered one of the best actors of her time; she nails every role thrown her way. In Runaway Bride, Roberts portrays Maggie, a young woman who has acquired the nickname “The Runaway Bride” due to her habit of leaving fiancés at the altar. Her pattern of getting cold feet is tested, however, when she meets Ike Graham (Richard Gere), a New York reporter assigned to write a story about Maggie. The film marked the second collaboration between Roberts and Gere, following 1990’s Pretty Woman. It was a worldwide box office success, despite garnering mostly mixed reviews from critics.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
Runaway Bride, overall, is an underrated film that received far more criticism than it deserves. It’s certainly a silly and, at times, far-fetched movie, but fun escapist nonsense is what rom-coms are all about. By far the best aspect of the film, however, is Julia Robert’s performance as Maggie. Much like the film, the character is messy and flawed, but also highly relatable and hugely likable, and Roberts is simply captivating as a woman dealing with a lifetime of trauma and self-discovery. Furthermore, her chemistry with Gere is just as exciting to watch as it was in their previous collaboration. Stream on Paramount+
6 Timothée Chalamet – Call Me By Your Name (2017)
Despite his relatively short time working in Hollywood, Timothée Chalamet has quickly cemented himself as one of the greatest actors of his generation, leading major blockbusters and garnering an Academy Award nomination. In Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, the actor gives a memorable performance as Elio, an adventurous 17-year-old growing up in Northern Italy in the 1980s, who begins a romantic relationship with his father’s 24-year-old graduate student assistant, Samuel (Armie Hammer). Call Me By Your Name was a hit with critics, many of whom singled out Chalamet’s performance as one of the film’s highlights. It was ultimately nominated for four Academy Awards.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
Chalamet’s work in Call Me By Your Name isn’t underrated because of a lack of recognition. After all, the actor was nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe Award. What makes his performance here underrated is how, in the time since the film’s release, it has become overshadowed by Chalamet’s more commercially successful movie roles, such as Dune, Little Women, and Wonka. While his work in those films is excellent, Chalamet has yet to better his heartbreaking and powerful performance as Elio in Call Me By Your Name. It’s a beautiful and understated turn by the actor, who performs with a maturity far beyond his years. Stream on Netflix.
5 Taylor Russell – Bones And All (2022)
Another collaboration between Timothée Chalamet and Luca Guadagnino, 2022’s Bones and All sees the actor portraying an anti-hero alongside Lost in Space star Taylor Russell. The romantic horror movie follows Maren (Russell) and Lee (Chalamet), a pair of cannibals who take a road trip across the US, fall in love, and commit downright horrific acts to satiate their appetite. The film’s supporting cast includes Michael Stuhlbarg, Andrè Holland, and Mark Rylance. Despite being met with mostly positive reviews from critics, Bones and All underperformed at the worldwide box office.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
Although the main character of Bones and All are responsible for some truly despicable crimes, it’s strangely easy to sympathize with them. Both the writing and direction play a party in achieving this, but it’s ultimately the performances of the cast that make it possible. Russell, in particular, is excellent as Maren. The character has gone her entire life feeling an outcast, emotionally neglected by her father, abandoned by her mother, and longing to forge a genuine connection with someone. Though, as a viewer, you may not agree with her actions, you can at least understand why she behaves like she does. Russell completely sells Maren’s brokenness and desire for connection and, in so doing, crafts a truly compelling and unique movie character. Stream on Prime Video.
4 Blake Lively – The Age of Adaline (2015)
The Age of Adaline is one of the more creative romance flicks on the list. In it, Blake Lively portrays Adaline, a woman who dies in a car accident in the 1930s, only to find herself revived and unable to age. After decades of relocating constantly to avoid raising suspicion, she meets a man named Ellis (Michiel Huisman) on New Year’s Eve 2015, with whom she develops feelings for. However, knowing that anyone she falls in love with will age and die before her eyes, Adaline is faced with an unenviable predicament. While the film as a whole garnered generally mixed reviews from critics, Lively’s performance as the titular character was singled out as a highlight.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
Like others on this list, Lively’s performance here feels like it belongs in a better film. That’s not to say that The Age of Adaline is a bad film – it’s a perfectly fine romantic fantasy that gets better towards the end – but Lively’s work here far outshines the other aspects of the film. It’s a heartbreaking and tender performance, and Lively more than rises to the challenge of playing a woman cursed with watching the people she loves fade away while she lives on repeating the same cycle for eternity. She conveys the character’s loneliness and longing to experience romance with understated ease. Illuminating, elegant, and engaging to watch, Lively’s work in The Age of Adaline is worthy of more praise and recognition than it initially received. Rent on PrimeVideo or AppleTV+.
3 Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water (2017)
Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water is a romantic fantasy masterpiece. Set in the 1960s, the film tells the story of Elisa Esposito (played by Sally Hawkins), a mute woman working at a high-security government facility who stumbles across an amphibious creature being held captive there. Elisa soon falls in love with the creature and hatches a plan to help it to escape. Frequent del Toro collaborator Doug Jones portrays the creature, while Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, and Richard Jenkins also star. The Shape of Water proved to be both a critical and commercial success, gaining 13 Oscar nominations and making $195.3 million on a $20 million budget. I great deal of the film’s success is owed to Hawkins’s central performance.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
Like others on this list, Hawkins’s work in The Shape of Water didn’t go unrecognized: she was nominated for an Academy Award, after all. Nevertheless, her performance in the film is an underrated one simply because Hawkins, as an actress, is someone who rarely gets listed as being one of the greats, despite the fact that she is the recipient of two Oscar nominations, as well as countless other awards. Her work in The Shape of Water is nothing short of mesmerizing. Because Elisa cannot talk, Hawkins does all of her acting through sign language, mannerisms, and facial expressions, and it’s amazing just how well she manages to bring the character to life with the subtlest of movements or looks. Elisa is spirited, bright, and brave, and Hawkins lets all of these qualities shine through without ever saying a word. Sally Hawkins is one of the best actors working today, and The Shape of Water proves it. Stream on FuboTV.
2 Michelle Williams – Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Directed by Ang Lee, 2005’s Brokeback Mountain depicts the relationship between Ennis and Jack (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, respectively), two cowboys who develop a sexual and romantic relationship. As the years go by, both men get married and start their own families, but keep getting pulled back together. Anne Hathaway appears as Jack’s wife, Lureen, while Michelle Williams portrays Ennis’s wife, Alma. The film as a whole was lauded by critics and received eight Academy Award nominations. While every member of the cast deserves praise for their work in the film, it’s Williams who doesn’t get enough credit.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
William’s performance in the film was recognized with an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. However, her work in Brokeback Mountain is often overshadowed by that of the film’s two leads. This is a shame because Williams gives a performance that’s just as good, if not better, than her male co-stars. While audiences sympathize with Ennis and Jack’s plight as repressed lovers living in an oppressive society, Alma is a victim in her own right. She lives a lifetime of lies alongside Ennis, who leads a secret relationship with Jack unbeknownst to her. What’s even more painful is the emotional abuse Alma withstands as Ennis deflects his frustration onto her, and Williams ably manages to convey the anger, humiliation, and heartbreak Alma undergoes throughout her marriage with Ennis. It’s a testament to Williams as a performer that she was able to shine in a heartbreaking romance story, despite not being the film’s lead. Rent on AppleTV+ and Prime Video.
1 Lady Gaga – A Star is Born (2018)
A Star is Born is a romantic musical film all about one woman’s journey to pop stardom. Who better to play the leading female character, then, than someone who’s been on that very journey themselves: Lady Gaga. Directed by Bradley Cooper in his feature directorial debut, the film tells the story of Ally Maine, a talented singer-songwriter who is discovered by troubled established musician Jackson Maine (Cooper). The pair soon fall in love and develop a romantic relationship, but Jackson’s self-destructive behavior threatens to shatter everything good in his life. The fourth adaptation of the story, 2018’s A Star is Born, was not only a commercial and critical success but also became a cultural phenomenon.
What Makes It An Underrated Performance
Prior to her work in the film, Gaga’s list of acting credits was a relatively short one, and there were certainly people who doubted the pop star’s abilities as an actress. With A Star is Born, however, Gaga proved her doubters wrong with a raw, honest, and subtle performance that differed wildly from her stage persona. Ally is talented, determined, and above all, a devoted lover to Jackson as he deals with his addiction, and Gaga conveys all of these qualities with the sophistication and gravitas of a more seasoned performer. On top of that, her chemistry with Cooper is simply sublime, and her musical performances are nothing short of stellar. Though she received widespread acclaim for her work in the film, Gaga didn’t win the Academy Award for Best Actress. Yet her turn here is one of the best performances in a romantic film ever. Rent on Prime Video or AppleTV+.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
