EJ Moreno lists some spicy love dramas following Challengers…
You can’t deny how much Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers has heated the 2024 movie season with its thumping score and sexy leading actors. With its (no pun intended) challenging love story at the center, it’s the perfect time to revisit films that remind you of the spicy nature of this new release.
For this list, we’ll examine a handful of movies with a love triangle as its central focus. While there are films like Casablanca and Titanic with a love triangle playing a massive part, we’ll focus on films that center themselves on love stories above anything else. Join us for a look at these tantalizing love-sick films…
Past Lives
Writer Justin Kuritzkes is behind this year’s love triangle epic, but last year, his partner Celine Song presented a complex romance film that we all sank our teeth into. Past Lives looked at a woman torn between a “what if” past lover and the more-than-serviceable man in her life.
The excellent Greta Lee leads the film, playing perfectly off Teo Yoo and John Magaro. You instantly get the struggle Lee’s Nora Moon faces, with both men presenting perfect options. It’s not as brutal and hard-hitting as Challengers, but the somber and reflective mood gives this one a unique feeling compared to its peers.
Past Lives isn’t trying to be overly sexy or scandalous. It uses its earnestness to provide a fantastic look at something many have faced.
While You Were Sleeping
Sandra Bullock is the undeniable queen of romantic comedies. Her charm in these stories gives you something to root for, even when her character does something complicated, as we see in While You Were Sleeping. You want the best for her, even if she is torn between two brothers.
In a Golden Globe-nominated performance, Bullock plays the battle between what to do very well, giving her character Lucy many iconic moments. This also helps her play most of her scenes with Bill Pullman and Peter Gallagher, a love-torn brother combination that we all dream about in our sleep.
Love triangles are tricky, especially when one has to be in a coma for part of the film, but While You Were Sleeping makes it look effortless.
Threesome
Going from one subtle and one hilarious entry, we head to one of the sexier love triangle movies. Given the straightforward nature of the title, you get what happens in the film, but Threesome shows that sex can’t bring the melodrama three brooding young adults swooning can bring.
Director Andrew Fleming knows how to make a banger, but when he had Lara Flynn Boyle, Stephen Baldwin, and Josh Charles all fighting for each other’s attention, it was a surefire way to make heat. This one feels fresh compared to the others, given its exploration of sexuality decades before it became the mainstream thing to do.
Tonally, this feels the closest to Challengers, but somehow, this goes even further than the 2024 film ever did. It’s ahead of its time and fun to watch.
The Doom Generation
Legendary queer filmmaker Gregg Araki usually holds nothing back in his work, and what he cooks up with the wildly 90s-feeling The Doom Generation might be his most transgressive. The middle installment of the Teenage Apocalypse trilogy is precisely the messed up we need.
In what’s lovingly billed as “A Heterosexual Movie by Gregg Araki,” we see the relationship between Jordan White (James Duval), Amy Blue (Rose McGowan), and X (Jonathon Schaech) taken to disastrous levels with a finale that you’ll never forget. It’s hard-hitting like no other film is included here, but the triangle remains the focus.
We see the darkest sides of what love will do to us in only the way Araki can. You don’t get more outlandish for a major film debut than this.
Unfaithful
In the ways The Doom Generation and Threesome pushed the boundaries for their time, Unfaithful proved there were still taboos to break in the 2000s. Around a decade after erotic thrillers were all the rage, the Adrian Lyne-helmed film puts it back into the mix with great success.
In another Golden Globe-nominated performance for the list, Diane Lane carries the film with such beauty and elegance that it makes you look past the film’s sexual nature. Sure, it does get steamy at times, but you care about Connie (Diane Lane) being torn between her old life (Richard Gere) and a fresh new start (Olivier Martinez).
As it follows a woman who loves for purpose as she ages, the film becomes complex and uses the love triangle to tackle deeper topics.
Happiest Season
Going from the steamy back to the fun, Happiest Season is one of the newer films on the list, and it shows the growth within the genre. Romantic comedies no longer needed to put the LGBTQ characters as sidekicks, the queer stories were at the forefront, and it gives us a fresher outlook.
Taking the idea of a coming-out story, a family holiday romp, and a love triangle is no easy task, but the film balances its tones and stories well. Mackenzie Davis and Kristen Stewart are an endearing couple, and then Aubrey Plaza is thrown into the mix, giving us so many wonderful pieces to this complex puzzle. It’s all love and good vibes, though.
That makes Happiest Season such a standout: it emphasizes the happy side of the romantic triangle story.
My Best Friend’s Wedding
Not only is My Best Friend’s Wedding one of the best romantic comedies ever, but it shows exactly how to make a love triangle work with all its moving pieces and sometimes unlikable characters. Everything falls into place easily, letting you enjoy the ride rather than sit in frustration.
If Sandra Bullock is the queen of romantic comedies, Julia Roberts is the Elder God of the genre. Her work in these types of movies makes you feel at home, making the outlandish characters in something like My Best Friend’s Wedding feel believable. That’s not to take away from the rest of the cast, but Roberts eats this up.
If there’s one movie on this list to watch, it’s easy to pick this as the number one option. It’s the type of viewing we don’t get anymore.
What are your favourite love triangle movies? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
EJ Moreno
Originally published May 3, 2024. Updated January 2, 2025.
