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Love stories in movies are either timeless classics, guilty pleasures, or complete disasters—sometimes all at once. In this episode, we break down four films that have defined (or divided) the romance genre. A Walk to Remember made an entire generation sob, Casablanca set the gold standard for on-screen love, Sweet Home Alabama turned small-town romance into a legal mess, and Crazy Stupid Love made us all want Ryan Gosling’s wardrobe. Some of these hold up, some don’t—but we’re here to argue about all of them.
By the Numbers
- A Walk to Remember (2002)
Directed by Adam Shankman | $47.5M box office | 27% Rotten Tomatoes - Casablanca (1942)
Directed by Michael Curtiz | $10.5M box office (adjusted) | 99% Rotten Tomatoes - Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Directed by Andy Tennant | $180M box office | 38% Rotten Tomatoes - Crazy Stupid Love (2011)
Directed by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa | $145M box office | 79% Rotten Tomatoes
Main Cast
- A Walk to Remember
- Mandy Moore (Jamie Sullivan) – Tangled, This Is Us, The Princess Diaries
- Shane West (Landon Carter) – ER, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Gotham
- Casablanca
- Humphrey Bogart (Rick Blaine) – The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, Key Largo
- Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa Lund) – Notorious, Gaslight, Murder on the Orient Express
- Sweet Home Alabama
- Reese Witherspoon (Melanie Smooter) – Legally Blonde, Walk the Line, Big Little Lies
- Josh Lucas (Jake Perry) – Ford v Ferrari, A Beautiful Mind, Yellowstone
- Patrick Dempsey (Andrew Hennings) – Grey’s Anatomy, Enchanted, Can’t Buy Me Love
- Crazy Stupid Love
- Steve Carell (Cal Weaver) – The Office, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Foxcatcher
- Ryan Gosling (Jacob Palmer) – La La Land, Blade Runner 2049, The Notebook
- Emma Stone (Hannah Weaver) – Easy A, The Amazing Spider-Man, Poor Things
Fun Facts
- A Walk to Remember – Mandy Moore originally turned down the role because she didn’t think she was a strong enough actress at the time.
- Casablanca – The famous "Here's looking at you, kid" line was improvised by Humphrey Bogart.
- Sweet Home Alabama – The title comes from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, but the movie was almost called Why You Want to Marry Me Anyway?
- Crazy Stupid Love – Ryan Gosling actually learned the Dirty Dancing lift for his role and performed it with Emma Stone, who freaked out because she had a childhood accident during a similar lift.
Movie Mistakes
- A Walk to Remember – Landon’s car switches from a Chevy to a Ford between scenes.
- Casablanca – Inconsistencies with Ilsa’s brooch placement throughout the movie.
- Sweet Home Alabama – The glass sculptures formed by lightning are way too large to be realistic.
- Crazy Stupid Love – The babysitter’s "inappropriate" pictures keep moving around on the desk in multiple scenes.
