Nowadays Online Dating is a crucial part of our society. Billions of people use online dating platforms like Tinder, Plenty Of Fish, and OkCupid (to name a few) every single day. And all that is for one simple reason: convenience…
Convenience is the name of the game when it comes to Online Dating. It’s just sooo easy to log in, browse a bit and get the instant gratification of someone you liked, liking you back.
And then you are both connected to a chat room and start things off. Brilliant, right?
Well, yeah, it IS awesome. And since it’s a crucial part of our world today, it is obvious that there’ll be a bunch of movies dedicated to people meeting online for love.
That’s why today, we’ll be taking a look at the 8 Best Online Dating Movies That You Should Definitely Watch…
And without further ado:
1. Eurotrip
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356150/
Year: 2004
Directors: Jeff Schaffer, Alec Berg
Country: the United States, Czech Republic
Cast: Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Michelle Trachtenberg, Travis Wester, Jessica Boehrs
Theme: A high-school graduate – Scott – gets dumped by his girlfriend. His pen pal – Mike – suggests a date during the summer which flips Scott off, making him turn Mike away with an angry e-mail. This leads Mike to block Scott. Later, Scott learns that Mike is actually a girl with a strange name and, on top of that, she’s absolutely gorgeous. Scott tries to fix his mistake, realizing that she is the one for him. This leads him to travel to Europe in hopes of finding Mike and making things between them.
With the help of his best friends, they go to Europe. But things take an unexpected turn…
I actually watched this last night (for like, the 3rd time). It’s a hilarious online dating movie. To some, it may feel like a cliché, but I believe that this makes it even funnier.
I loved how the story was predictable at times (themain hero loses his girlfriend and is then persuaded by his best friend to pursue an unknown girl from across the globe. Then, bad things happen) all the while there are some incredibly hilarious and unpredictable scenes (Everyone in the group treating the lone girl, who’s stunningly beautiful, like a boy).
I can safely say that this movie is definitely worth your time. It beautifully explains the weird nature of Online Dating, albeit very shortly. But still, the backbone of the movie is a misstep in an online environment.
To me, the movie beautifully represents how you should always be mindful when online. Not only do you have to be reserved (unlike Scott, who’s said to have shared even the most personal things with Mike) but also be absolutely sure about the other person on the other side (Scott didn’t realize that Mike was a girl, because they were talking in German – Mike’s mother’s tongue – and Scott didn’t understand it very well. Scott also reacts on completely rough translations from Mike’s e-mails, instead of trying to completely understand it).
Another thing to remember is that in any online situation the person on the other side can actually be someone that you’re not expecting. Although in the movie’s situation, Mike turns out to be a gorgeous girl, she could have been someone different altogether. Imagine that she was a catfish, or even worse: a scammer who was trying to rip Scott off of his money, using his emotions against him.
If you’re interested in topics like this, be sure to check the article I wrote on Online Dating Scams.
In any case, I’m very excited, so let’s move on to the next movie…
2. Napoleon Dynamite
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374900/
Year: 2004
Directors: Jared Hess
Country: the United States
Cast: Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell
Theme: A listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.
This movie is actually HUGE… Although the main focus on the movie isn’t really Online Dating related (The main character and his story deals with different problems), one of the larger supporting characters (Kip, Napoleon’s older brother) deals with Online Dating a TON and his story is the point of interest for this article.
Kip’s daily routine consists of chatting with a lot of women (his girlfriends) in numerous online chat rooms. After the main character’s grandmother suffers from an accident, their uncle comes to take care of them. The uncle also looks to get involved in get-rich-quick schemes together with Kip, in order to get money.
Kip wants the money to meet with one of his online girlfriends.
Kip’s girlfriend actually visits him at one point. And this is absolutely crucial since they get along and actually fall for each other. They also get married at the end.
Now, this is actually HUGE. Not a lot of relationships prosper, those that happen online are usually on the losing end since the people involved don’t really know each other. But this one succeeds.
This teaches us that there’s always hope. Even for a 32-year-old slacker with no job, who gets involved in a morally bad scheme, designed to trick people. And the fact that Kip and his girlfriend’s relationship starts purely through Online Dating is just mind-blowing.
Truly anyone can find love. Even if it starts online. So don’t give up!
3. Because I Said So
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0490084/
Year: 2007
Directors: Michael Lehmann
Country: the United States
Cast: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabriel Macht
Theme: A meddling mother tries to set her daughter up with the right man so her kid won’t follow in her footsteps.
In the movie, a mother – Daphne – is worried about her now single daughter – Milly – and wishes to find the perfect partner for her. Obviously, she looks no further than Online Dating, creating a personal Ad for her daughter.
Daphne finds someone she believes to be perfect for her daughter. She sets up a date for the two without Milly knowing it.
In the meanwhile, Milly actually finds a potential partner, who her mother had actually looked into through the Ad and did not approve.
After dating both of the men, Milly can’t make a choice. She then finds out about her mother’s schemes which causes a row between the two.
Milly is put into a situation where she can either be the woman her mother wants her to be, or she can be the woman she wants to be. Choosing the latter and revoking Daphne’s choice, Milly continues on to live happily.
While this is all going on, Daphne actually finds a man for herself online.
These are all the things that have a connection to Online Dating, and we can all get a TON of value from them.
For one, the movie teaches us that you can’t really force a relationship between two people. And whether that’s morally alright or not (In my opinion it’s not really the right thing to do).
It also teaches us that (as in the last movie we reviewed) there’s always hope for everyone.
As portrayed here, Online Dating can be of HUGE help with actually finding what you’re looking for (usually people are looking for love on Online Dating platforms).
But let’s get to the next movie on our list:
4. LOL
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462392/
Year: 2006
Directors: Joe Swanberg
Country: the United States
Cast: Kevin Bewersdorf, Joe Swanberg, C. Mason Wells
Theme: The relationships of three men are examined through their use of technology.
A great, low-budget film that can teach us a lot about how technologies affect us…
Now, this movie is almost purely about Online Dating. The difference here is that it’s not about finding love, getting scammed, or something else. The movie is about maintaining different relationships online and how the process has an impact on us.
The movie is also looking at the male struggles in particular. Balancing their life between reality and their addiction online is what makes LOL … LOL.
It’s an incredibly thought-provoking film that should leave you very aware of both the pros and cons of Online Dating interactions.
Regardless, let’s move on to number 5…
5. Must Love Dogs
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417001/
Year: 2005
Directors: Gary David Goldberg
Country: the United States
Cast: Diane Lane, John Cusack, Elizabeth Perkins
Theme: A forty-something preschool teacher looks to the personals for a change of pace and a relationship, with hilarious results.
This movie is about a recently divorced teacher – Sarah – around 40-year-old. Her family urges her to start looking for another partner, but she has a lot on her head.
That’s why Carol – Sarah’s sister – sets up a profile on an Online Dating site perfectmatch.com… The sisters also discuss a potential lover for Sarah – Bob – who is a parent from Sarah’s school. She’s attracted to him but doesn’t want anything serious.
On the other side of everything, we have the other main character – Jake. He’s in a similar position as Sarah, divorced and not really interested in pursuing love. His Lawyer urges him to look and shows him Sarah’s profile.
Sarah then starts going on numerous dates, but they all turn out to be terrible. She meets criminals, guys who can’t stop crying and worse…
The two main characters (Sarah and Jake) finally go on a date, to which Jake brings a dog he borrowed since on Sarah’s profile it says that all the men “must love dogs”. That’s because she’s taking care of her brother’s dog.
The date then goes horribly wrong, since he admits that the dog is not his. This teaches us that people online may not be exactly who they claim to be, but let’s continue on with the story. Although the date isn’t pleasant the two agree to meet up again.
The next date goes waaay more smoothly but ends up in a funny and awkward drive through the city in search of condoms, which ruins the mood for both of them. Still, that’s not the end of their adventures…
In the meanwhile, Sarah connects with Bob, but she finds out that he’s on a date with her co-worker and leaves the scene, dropping her wallet.
Jake and Sarah go on yet another date which turns out to be splendid, but in the end, Bob comes to bring Sarah’s wallet back and tells her that he’s not hooking up with her co-worker and then kisses her, just as Jake arrives. This makes Jake leave.
Sarah goes on a date with Bob and they end up hooking up, but after that, she finds out that he actually hooked up with her co-worker.
Jake also goes on a date with another woman. Sarah finds him, but after realizing that he’s on a date, she leaves.
After that Jake runs into Sarah’s father who he doesn’t know. They talk about Jake’s hardships and the father even mentions his daughter, but Jake doesn’t want to hear about women anymore.
Sarah then talks with her father and realizes that he spoke to Jake and that his feelings are true. That makes her go chase after him and confess her love.
As you can see from this short synopsis, the movie really teaches us a lot about Online Dating, and not in a way that many may catch at first glance.
Usually, with Online Dating movies, we’re shown just one interaction, the main one. But this movie guides us through the numerous different dates that people can go on during their Online Dating experience, and most of these will be done at the same time. What I mean is that when you’re looking through Online Dating you won’t be looking and dating one person at a time, but rather going on dates with several people.
This is something that many people seem to forget. Online Dating is a powerful tool because of the volume of people that you’ll be able to connect with. But it’s the same for your dates. They’ll also have a TON of choices.
This means that you can’t go about it the same way you would normally. You REALLY CAN NOT be exclusive while doing Online Dating. This is because if you are, you’ll be investing much more than any other person, which will make you look needy and thus… incredibly unattractive.
The movie also teaches us that we need to stick to it and persevere in order to succeed. For example, if Sarah stopped going on dates after the first or second bad one, she’d never meet Jake. But because she stuck to it and kept going and looking for the next one, things eventually worked out.
Ahh, that was a bit to take in… Let’s move on to the next movie on the list, namely:
6. Sex Drive
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135985/
Year: 2008
Directors: Sean Anders
Country: the United States
Cast: Josh Zuckerman, Clark Duke, Amanda Crew
Theme: A high school senior drives cross-country with his best friends to hook up with a babe he met online.
This movie sounds a bit like Eurotrip… An online connection with a girl turns into the main protagonist traveling a long distance to meet her and experiencing some crazy adventures on the way there. Also, like Eurotrip, the characters realize that their best friend is the love of their life (although in Eurotrip it’s love between two side characters and in this one it’s between the main character and his best friend).
But this movie is A LOT MORE different. In fact, it’s almost opposite of Eurotrip in almost any other aspect.
The story kicks off after our main protagonist – Ian – finds a girl named ‘Ms. Tasty’ online and decides to go meet her. Problem is that she lives on the other side of USA. So, naturally, Ian takes his best friends – Lance and Felicia – and takes off to meet Ms. Tasty by taking his brother’s car.
The three of them go on a wild trip, during which their car engine stops working and are met with a community of Amish people who help them out. There, Lance falls in love with a girl named Mary.
After finally reaching Ms. Tasty, it is revealed that she’s actually scammed Ian in order to steal his car (his brother’s car). Fortunately, everything turns out just fine and Ms. Tasty and her boyfriend are thrown into jail…
After the trip, Ian realizes his love for Felicia, all the while Lance stays back to marry Mary.
As you can see, the story isn’t about finding love through Online Dating, but rather it teaches us that Online Dating can be quite dangerous.
Even though in the end Ian and Felicia got together, the main goal of the characters, in the beginning, was to get Ian together with Ms. Tasty.
The movie brilliantly portrays that it is definitely possible to find love the old-fashioned way instead of it being an Online Dating thing only…
As you may be noticing, we’re going a bit away from the starting themes. We started with Online Dating movies that portrayed the good side of Online Dating and now we’re talking about criminals using it to their advantage.
If you like this, read on to the next movie…. And if you don’t, I promise there’ll be at least one more movie with a lighter and happy theme towards the end…
Without further ado:
7. Catfish
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1584016/
Year: 2010
Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Country: the United States
Cast: Yaniv Schulman, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost
Theme: Young filmmakers document their colleague’s budding online friendship with a young woman and her family which leads to an unexpected series of discoveries.
Now, this is much more serious than those before it… An Actual movie about catfishing.
The movie is about a man – Nev – who finds a family through Facebook and starts a relationship with one of the sisters – Megan.
They begin to message back and forth until Nev realizes that Megan may actually not be real and that her sister – Angela – had created Megan’s profile herself.
Angela’s daughter – Abby – is supposedly a child prodigy artist. Actually, that’s how the connection is made in the first place, through Abby sending Nev a photo of her art.
After Nev finds out the truth, since Megan sends him voice recordings of songs she’s supposedly written for him, Nev hesitates on continuing the relationship. These turn out to be cut from YouTube. It’s Nev’s brother – Ariel – that convinces him to continue messaging Megan and to actually go and visit her family.
They do so and find Angela and Abby. They then discover that Abby isn’t the artist, who is, in fact, Angela herself. Also, Angela is posing as Megan through a fake profile…
The conclusion is that having her artwork admired was something that Angela craved after she married and had to let go of her art career to take care of her children.
There you go, catfishing is real and it’s depicted here beautifully…
Although in this movie, catfishing is done with an almost innocent purpose, I’m absolutely sure that you can imagine what it could be used for.
Angela only wanted someone to admire her work and to be able to do art again. But imagine it was someone more nefarious, someone, who could have tried to scam Nev out of his money.
These things actually happen and I’ve written a whole other article on Online Dating Scams, you can check it out here.
And with this covered, why don’t we go to the next movie…
8. Hard Candy
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424136/
Year: 2005
Directors: David Slade
Country: the United States
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh
Theme: A teenage girl raids a man’s home in order to expose him under suspicion that he is a pedophile.
This movie sounded incredibly interesting when I read the short summary at first. It struck me completely out of the blue. Let me tell you why:
The movie is about a young girl who meets this older man online. They meet and she actually roofies his drink.
She then proceeds to torture him all the while rummaging through his house in order to find evidence that he’s a pedophile.
Apparently, a girl her age had been kidnapped a while ago and our main protagonist – Hayley – believes that the older man – Jeff – is the culprit.
Throughout the whole movie, Jeff fanatically tries to escape Hayley and gain the upper hand, but she’s always one step ahead.
In the end, she even convinces him to hang himself or else she’d show the evidence to the police.
Even after Jeff takes his own life, the young girl decides to expose him to the world. And that’s how the movie ends.
I’m 100% sure that you understand me now. Just… What. The. Hell…
A movie that tackles sooo many serious points. Firstly, there’s pedophilia, a serious issue. Then, there’s actual cruelty conducted by a 14-year-old (I’m not sure how I feel about that either). And in the end, there’s even suicide.
And all of that happens because of Online Dating since that’s how the two meet.
Although they both knew each other beforehand (hence why Hayley wanted to go out with him, and why he wanted to meet her too) they had to use Online Dating to outsmart one another in the beginning.
This further proves that you should definitely be on the lookout while online… You never know if the other person might be a pedophile and a criminal, or a cruel 14-year-old girl who’ll drive you to suicide…
Now that was a real rollercoaster of emotion. I’m not sure about how you feel, but I can definitely use a lighter movie after this one…
How about we go back to the happy ones?
9. You’ve Got Mail
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128853/
Year: 1998
Directors: Nora Ephron
Country: the United States
Cast: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear
Theme: Two business rivals who despise each other in real life unwittingly fall in love over the Internet.
A really great, old-school, romantic/drama movie.
In the film, there are two bookstore owners who are rivals. Joe Fox, from the Fox family which owns Fox Books, is a direct rival to Kathleen Kelly, who runs a small independent bookstore left from her mother.
The two actually meet online in a chat room under anonymous names and begin a relationship together. That being said, it’s strictly online and with no offline information involved, such as their real names, careers, and such.
In the real life, they both grow to hate each other since they are rivals, but online their love grows.
At one point the two decide to actually take things offline and meet. Upon arriving, Joe discovers that he’s in love with his rival, Kathleen. He decides to not show himself and instead opts to try and fix their real-life relationship first.
After making things up he finally decided to show himself to Kathleen and she realizes the real truth about her rival.
Then, the two fall in love with each other.
As you can see from “You’ve Got Mail” Online Dating can be very weird sometimes.
Joe and Kathleen’s story is one that teaches us that you can meet someone online and without knowing meet them in the real world too.
This actually reminds me of a story about a woman matching with her ex-husband on an Online Dating Platform… If you’re interested in such horror stories, be sure to check out my article on Online Dating Horror Stories.
Again, you have to be absolutely careful about your Online Dating since the person on the other side may not be who you expect them to be…
10. A Case Of You
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1817081/
Year: 2013
Directors: Kat Coiro
Country: the United States
Cast: Justin Long, Keir O’Donnell, Evan Rachel Wood
Theme: A young writer tries to impress a girl he meets online with an embellished profile, but he finds himself in a real mess when she falls for him and he has to keep up the act.
This movie kind of hits home for me (since I’m a writer obviously, and the main protagonist is a writer).
Regardless, this online dating movie’s plot shows something interesting about the world of online dating.
Basically, a young writer – Sam – meets a cute street artist and barista – Birdie and falls in love.
He then manages to find her Facebook profile with the help of his roommate and starts to message her. He also decides that it’s a good idea to pretend that he has the qualities that she’s listed on her profile in order to impress her.
He starts to cook, he buys books by her favorite author, he buys albums from her favorite songwriter. He even makes it so he meets her accidentally at a comedy club and the two become partners at a ballroom-dance class.
After some time, she confesses her love for him and a desire to perform a dancing recital where her parents will watch, but Sam gets insecure and turns her down.
Soon after he realizes his mistake and goes back to confess his feelings and that he had lied to her. She says that she knew he was pretending and that she even added fake interests to see what he’d do with them.
As you can see, in the end, Birdie not only knew that Sam was faking his personality, but she also manipulated him in a way to see if he’d take the bait.
This shows us how easy it is to fake a persona online, you just add a couple of interests and suddenly you’re someone completely different than in real life.
Again, this only goes to show that you should be extremely careful with anyone you meet online since those people may not be who you think they are.
11. Trust
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1529572/
Year: 2010
Directors: David Schwimmer
Country: the United States
Cast: Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Liana Liberato
Theme: A teenage girl is targeted by an online sexual predator.
This movie is a bit on the morally wrong side again. But it just puts an incredibly strong emphasis on the dangers of Online Dating…
So, a teenage girl – Annie – meets with a boy online – Charlie – who says he’s 16 at first but then gradually bumps his age to 20 and even 25. That’s alarming to her at first but he makes it seem alright and she goes with it.
After a bit, he proposes to meet at the mall to which she agrees. They meet and she realizes that he’s a man in his 30s, which is again, very alarming, but his charm makes her feel comfortable again. He suggests they go to a motel and she agrees.
There, he makes her try on lingerie that he bought for her and starts to touch her inappropriately (ugh!). After she says no he actually rapes her.
At school, her friend – Brittany – realizes that Annie has had sex since she’s seen them with Charlie at the mall and notifies the authorities.
Even the FBI gets in on the case. Her father decides to try and catch his daughter’s assailant himself but his research bears no fruition.
Annie’s parents urge her to see a hospital counselor. She doesn’t like him at first but begins to express her need for love and validation.
The FBI find that Annie isn’t the first victim of Charlie, and after seeing the other girls Annie stops believing that Charlie loves her and finally admits to herself that she had been raped.
Annie tries to move on with her life, participating in a volleyball game at school. There, her father recognizes a man who he thinks is a sex offender and confronts him, making a scene. This puts Annie in a bad spotlight in front of her peers.
She feels humiliated and confronts her father.
After that Brittany tells her that people are making fun of her online for being raped. Annie can’t handle it and tries to take her own life by overdosing with pills. Her father finds her and brings her to a hospital where Brittany stays for the whole night to mend their relationship.
Annie wakes up and finds her father out in the cold, pleading her to forgive him for everything.
That’s a hell of a lot to take in, I’m sure.
Hell, I could barely even write all this without taking some HUGE breaks to calm myself.
Regardless, this movie teaches us a LOT about the dangers of Online Dating. For example, the person on the other side may be a sexual predator like in Annie’s case.
It also teaches us a lot about the victims. Usually, these people refuse to believe the facts and truth, insisting that their assailants love them.
That’s truly terrifying to even think about…
Basically, be incredibly careful and think twice about every move you make. Things may not look like they appear at first.
You may be completely certain when viewing this story from a third person view, but if you were in Annie’s shoes you’d see things very differently.
Anyways, let’s move on… I’d like to move on now.
12. Disconnect
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1433811/
Year: 2012
Directors: Henry Alex Rubin
Country: the United States
Cast: Jason Bateman, Jonah Bobo, Haley Ramm
Theme: A drama centered on a group of people searching for human connections in today’s wired world.
This movie is about 3 completely different stories that happen online and have dire consequences on the real world. The connection between the 3 are the characters. This makes the movie a great representation of the digital world and its problems.
The film begins with a new reporter – Nina – who is successful in making contact with – Kyle – a teenager who works as a video chat-room stripper. She is then pressured by the police to help them investigate his boss. Kyle gives her his address; the police find them but they all escape.
Hearing this Nina goes to meet Kyle and suggest he come with her, but she can’t promise him safe haven in his house so he rejects it, which leaves her shattered.
The next story is about two boys, – Jason and Frye – who make a fake profile on Facebook and contact – Ben – the son of the legal counsel of Nina’s firm – Rich. The two boys convince Ben to send ‘Jessica’ (the fake profile’s name) photos of him naked. After Ben does so they distribute them to his classmates which tips off Ben to try and suicide but leaves him in a coma.
Rich finds out about Jessica and then finds out that Jason is behind her. Jason’s father – Mike – also finds out about everything but tries to protect his son.
Rich goes to Mike’s house in anger after finding the truth out and they start to fight. Jason tries to intervene but Rich strikes him with a hockey stick. Mike then punches him which stops the fight.
The last story is about a married couple – Derek and Cindy – who realize that their identities have been stolen online. They hire Mike (a private detective) to investigate.
He finds a lead on – Stephen – and the couple starts stalking him. After finally coming to confront Stephen, Mike stops them, informing them that Stephen had also had his identity stolen.
That’s too late though because Stephen attacks them with a rifle, but Derek disarms him, thanks to his military training.
The 4 of them calm down and explain everything.
All 3 stories conclude without finding a solution to any of the problems.
This film beautifully portrays how our interactions online lead to incredibly dire consequences.
From the criminal activities that Kyle was involved in, working in online video-chat rooms, to using a fake profile to catfish a fellow student, to identity theft, all these stories show how people’s lives are shattered after being online.
As with almost all movie stories up until now, what you can get out of this one is to never trust anyone you meet online…
13. Megan is Missing
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1087461/
Year: 2011
Directors: Michael Goi
Country: the United States
Cast: Amber Perkins, Rachel Quinn, Dean Waite
Theme: Two teenage girls encounter an Internet child predator.
Aaaand another one of those very goosebump creating movies.
‘Megan is Missing’ is a story about two friends who are polar opposites but have a strong connection because of their need for each other.
Megan is a popular girl who has a wide social circle. And – Amy – is socially awkward. Megan fills Amy’s social needs while Amy helps Megan connect with people who aren’t like her usual friends.
They usually communicate through the Internet and Megan also meets a boy named – Josh.
Megan and Josh quickly bond and decide to go out on a date, after which she’s never seen again.
The police drop the investigation soon after because of the lack of evidence, but Amy is certain that Josh is behind all of this.
She finds out evidence on him and shows it to the police, but is captured by Josh before they can react.
After finding Amy’s camera, the police view some unedited footage of Amy being chained to a wall in her underwear being fed and then raped by Josh.
After that he tells her that he’ll let her go but she needs to go into a barrel so to not see his address. He takes her away and after he opens the barrel she runs since she sees the rotten corpse of her friend Megan.
Josh then puts her with the corpse back in the barrel and buries Amy alive.
… Ugh… so gruesome and unpleasant…
The movie shows some incredibly bad consequences of Online Dating gone wrong.
Let’s be real, meeting an Internet Child Predator isn’t something that you’ll commonly come across while swiping on Tinder, but there’s no doubt that we ought to be more careful when we’re online.
14. U Want Me 2 Kill Him?
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0485061/
Year: 2013
Directors: Andrew Douglas
Country: the United States
Cast: Jack Lowden, Joanne Froggatt, Toby Regbo
Theme: A teenage boy’s descent into the dangerous world of the Internet and the harrowing consequences of his actions. A true story.
This movie’s story can be explained in short, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do now…
The story is about a boy – Mark – who stabbed his friend – John – and his reasoning behind it.
Turns out that Mark had been very active in online chat rooms and became close to a woman named – Rachel – who was suffering from domestic abuse.
Mark sympathized with her and even becomes fascinated by her.
He is then horrified when John tells him that her boyfriend had murdered her. Mark responds to this by trying to plan for a revenge.
He starts losing his sanity as he meets another online friend, Janet, who reveals that John is an interest to her organization, MI5.
In the end, it is revealed that John is behind everything and he’s been catfishing Mark from the beginning, meaning that there’s no Rachel, nor Janet.
This movie beautifully paints the picture of catfishing in Online Dating.
John had pretended to be numerous people in order to play with Mark for unknown reasons. This led to murder, so it’s serious business…
But that’s all about this movie, let’s go to the next one:
15. Cyberbully
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1930315/
Year: 2011
Directors: Charles Binamé
Country: Canada
Cast: Emily Osment, Kay Panabaker, Meaghan Rath
Theme: A teenager is subjected to a campaign of bullying by classmates through a social networking site.
The main protagonist – Taylor – is a girl who gets a laptop for her 17th birthday and creates an account on a social media platform.
After a short while, her peers in school start to cyber bully her. Things spiral out of control when her brother – Erik – gets back at her for not letting him use the laptop by hacking into her profile and posting defamatory messages.
On top of that, Taylor meets a lovely boy – James – online, who turns out to be spreading fake rumors about her, telling everyone online that she’s a slut.
All these events result in Taylor’s depression to which she responds with an attempt to suicide but is found before managing to take her life by her friend.
Soon after Taylor finds a support group for her issues by her mother’s suggestion, after she finds out about her daughter’s problems.
After that, it is revealed that several of Taylor’s friends have been the victims of cyberbullying for different reasons and they all find comfort in the support group.
In the end, everyone agrees that cyberbullying is a bad thing, they condemn the main culprit that started bullying Taylor – Lindsay – and soon after, a law against cyberbullying is passed.
While cyberbullying is definitely a huge problem. It’s not the main issue of interest for our point of view now (since this is an Online Dating Movies article). The issue here is James, spreading the fake rumors.
It’s revealed later that James is actually a fake profile, created by one of Taylor’s friends. Her friend feels bad for it in the end and Taylor even forgives her, but the fact of the matter is that this is further proof of the HUGE problem with Online Dating… Namely: Fake profiles.
As we now know, it’s incredibly easy to pose as someone you’re not online. And this can cause some incredible problems for everyone involved…
16. Chatroom
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1319704/
Year: 2010
Directors: Hideo Nakata
Country: UK
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Imogen Poots, Matthew Beard
Theme: 5 teenagers are introduced to each other in a chatroom called “Chelsea Teens!”, all with different personalities. But when one shows its darker side, it threatens the life of the others.
This movie starts innocently but turns upside down really fast.
The main character – William – decides to create a chatroom which he calls “Chelsea Teens!”. And through it, he reaches Jim, Eva, Emily, and Mo.
They all have their own personal problems and the topics discussed online come down to these.
William hates his parents and blames them for his past.
Jim is depressed after his father left him and his mother.
Eva is made fun of by her co-workers due to her appearance.
Emily feels a lack of attention from her parents.
Mo thinks he’s a pedophile because he is attracted to his friend’s younger sister.
That’s how things begin and William decides to help his newfound friends in a crude manner.
He starts off by photoshopping embarrassing pictures of Eva’s co-worker. He convinces Jim to flush down his antidepressants to feel more relaxed. He suggests that Emily does some dirty work. They also come up with a way to make Emily seem like she’s been harassed, making her family be more protective of her. He then makes Mo tell the truth to his friend, but that backfires after his friend attacks him…
All this makes William grow darker as he even starts watching people commit suicide.
He then decides to push Jim to commit suicide, but in the last moment, Jim decides not to. They argue about it while the rest of the characters find them and bring the police.
William tries to escape but dies in an accident, falling in front of a speeding train.
Again, you can never be sure who you’re really talking with online. That’s especially true with Online Dating since it’s considered to be a romantic sphere, where people are waay less on their guard.
But let’s move on to the next movie, shall we:
17. The Boy She Met Online
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536536/
Year: 2010
Directors: Curtis Crawford
Country: the United States
Cast: Alexandra Paul, Tracy Spiridakos, Jon Cor
Theme: A teenage girl falls madly in love with someone claiming to be a college student, whom she meets on a social networking website, and keeps her internet romance a secret from her mother.
The movie is about a 17-year-old girl – Cami – who find a 23-year-old guy – Jake – through Online Dating.
He lies to her online saying that he’s a college student, while he’s actually in jail and will soon be released alongside some of his friends there.
Jake is struggling with his emotions, and that’s a driving point of the whole movie.
Despite all the lies that Jake had told Cami, she forgives him because she loves him. He also has feelings for her and wants to move away from his past together with her.
The situation becomes even worse though when Jake can’t find a job and turns to one of his friends – Edgar. Edgar contacts a guy named Vinnie for some job but in the end, Vinnie turns on both of them.
Jake and Edgar decide to seek revenge on Vinnie, despite Cami being displeased with it. They find Vinnie and Edgar kills him, but Cami sees it.
After that Edgar tries to find Cami and Jake who are hiding from him since he wants to kill her because she’s a witness.
In the end, Cami’s mother finds them and Edgar confronts them. Cami’s mother is shot but lives, Jake and Edgar get into a fight and Jake accidentally shoots Edgar for which he is thrown into jail.
That’s pretty much the gist of the story, but the interesting part for us is the Online Dating communication between Cami and Jake.
This movie again shows us how easy it is to fake a persona online. And more importantly, to trick people into falling for it.
While Jake really had feelings for Cami, it’s not right to lie. I’m sure that if he was honest with her she wouldn’t have even considered him, but that’s his problem. It’s through lies and deception that Jake gets trough through Cami, and that’s something everyone should watch out for in Online Dating.
18. The Girl He Met Online
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3107328/
Year: 2014
Directors: Curtis Crawford
Country: Canada
Cast: Yvonne Zima, Shawn Roberts, Mary-Margaret Humes
Theme: A man’s relationship with a bipolar woman becomes dangerous.
This is almost just like The Boy He Met Online. It still warns about the dangers of Online Dating but the plot is different…
Andy is an Internet Marketing consultant and he meets Gillian through Online Dating. They both hit it off pretty well but he doesn’t know about her past.
For example, after a recent breakup, Gillian thrashed her ex’s house down. She’s also sleeping with her boss for favors like a brand new car and a raise.
Gillian is also poor, so she doesn’t want to invite Andy over. She also steals a blouse to go to a party with him but the shopkeeper who she stole from was at the party and tried to confront her.
After that Gillian’s ex finds out about his thrashed house and demands that Gillian repays him. She doesn’t have the money so she goes to her boss. While in the hotel with her boss, Andy’s sister sees her so Gillian kills her and then goes on to drug her boss. He finds out and fires her.
Gillian still has to repay her ex so she gives him the car she got from her boss.
Everything is going wrong with her and when her mother tries to talk to her, Gillian starts to strangle her. Luckily Andy arrives with the police just in time to stop her.
Woah… A rollercoaster of emotions.
What I don’t like about this movie (and many more) is the fact that it portrays bipolar people like psychotic criminals.
In any case, this just proves that you can be messaging back and forth with someone who seems lovely online but in reality are a psychotic criminal… What a time to be alive.
19. The Husband She Met Online
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3006756/
Year: 2013
Directors: Curtis Crawford
Country: Canada
Cast: Jason Gray-Stanford, Meredith Monroe, Tom Berry
Theme: A woman meets a charming and wealthy man who becomes obsessive and controlling.
Aaaand another one…
This one is about a woman – Rachel – who goes to Online Dating after her partner cheats on her. She finds a charming and wealthy man – Craig.
She falls for him but it’s revealed that he’s been abusive towards his ex-girlfriends and has even killed one after she told him that she was pregnant.
After a while, Craig even proposes to Rachel to which she accepts but he becomes more and more controlling. He kills her ex-boyfriend and he chooses her wedding dress despite her not liking it.
Craig tries to convince Rachel to quit her job to spend more time with him. She finds out about his past relationships and she starts to re-think her marriage.
Then Craig kidnaps her and later holds her at gunpoint but is shot by a private investigator, which concludes the story…
Another movie by the same director featuring yet the same issues… Online Dating can be great for meeting new people but you can never be sure about them entirely…
Now, there’s one last movie in this ‘franchise’ … The Wife He Met Online … I’m sure you know what to expect so I’ll leave it up to you whether or not to check it out.
And this leaves us with the last movie on the list, so let’s get straight to it, shall we:
20. Wrong Swipe
LINK: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4614654/
Year: 2016
Directors: Matthew Leutwyler
Country: the United States
Cast: Anna Hutchison, Karissa Lee Staples, Rhys Ward
Theme: When Anna has a difficult time getting close to people, her sister creates a dating profile for her online. Anna starts to message a handsome man until she starts getting disturbing messages that a match is close by.
This movie is about a woman – Anna – who is persuaded to try Online Dating by her sister.
The movie features an app ‘Swipe’ that tracks your GPS and informs you when people you’ve liked are close by.
Anna’s sister – Sasha – decides to show her how the app functions so she likes a random guy who turns out to be a creeper from Anna’s criminal justice class.
Anna goes on a few dates from the app but they all turn out to be bad apples. Then, finally, Anna meets Pete who is actually a nice guy and they both fall for each other.
Unfortunately, Pete gets killed. This is obviously connected to the random threats that Anna has been receiving ever since she joined ‘Swipe’…
This movie depicts the horrors of Online Dating (just like most of the online dating movies on this list… Damn, directors must really hate Tinder, huh?).
The story is a bit obvious: Girl joins Online Dating, girl goes on a few bad dates, girl meets a different boy, boy gets killed… Yeah, just the usual.
On another topic, meeting someone you know from Online Dating (and someone who you think is creepy) is very horrifying… If you find this hilarious, though, you can check another article on Online Dating Horror Stories here.
And that’s basically it for Wrong Swipe…
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the end… That’s the last movie.
I’m hoping that you’ve found this list of Top 20 Online Dating Movies Ever to be interesting and entertaining (Also I hope you found some cool titles to watch). I tried my best to make it as complete and exhaustive and give my honest opinion on each movie.
These are great movies that can teach each and every one of us some very important advice when it comes to Online Dating. Remember, these are just movies, but movies are made to depict reality in some matter. So, don’t start panicking that all Online Dating Platforms consist of 99% psychopaths. But don’t disregard this altogether either…
And with this, I’ll be leaving you to do… whatever people do after reading my awesome articles (probably checking out one of the movies or checking more of my articles or something, haha).
