Some of the most entertaining date scenes in movies involve the most unbelievable shenanigans. You'll witness a character break out into tears and proclaim their undying love on a second date, people will chase each other through airports to break up engagements, and a simple interaction at dinner will trigger a rabbit hole of manic emotional bonding.
For the most part, these scenes are represent pure fiction. Most real life dates move at slower, less climatic paces, and involve less spellbinding love after a few short meetings. However, there are always exceptions. After all, the inspiration for these wild romantic comedy scenes don't crop up out of nowhere.
In a recent Reddit thread commenters shared the dates they've been on that felt straight out of a movie, for better or worse, (but mostly worse). Hoo boy, these stories deliver.
1. eco979 kicked off the thread with a terrifying stalker story.
"I dated a girl who confessed her love and proposed... during our second date!
Thought that's funny until, few months later, she secretly moved. She was living 100km away. Now she lives on my street, one block down from my place.
Not funny."
"I live on a tiny street in one of the biggest cities in Germany, Munich. She left everything (cozy wellpayed job, childhood friends, family, sport buddies) and moved 100km away where she has no emotional support network, alone with 2 cats, starting life from scratch and just by pure coincidence cross the street from me?!"
"Oh, her first post on Instagram was about how peaceful looks the fresh snow. in front of my place. At 5am."
2. magpyyyyyyyyy's friend got in too deep.
"This didn't happen to me, but to one of my friends. On their third date, he got some red flags from this girl. Stuff like conspiracies, talking about her past relationships alot, nothing too crazy though.
He had decided to break things off, and tells her that he doesn't think they should see each other anymore. He feeds her the usual polite stuff that NORMAL people handle well. I mean, it was only three dates."
"Later that night, his phone blows up with texts, and this girl is screaming about how much she 'loves him' and 'how could he do this' because she has 'abandonment issues'."
"She ended this tirade by sending him photos of her bloody feet and all her toenails. Which she had ripped off. And then she blocked him.
We are all very glad she lives in a different province now."
3. ubergeak got the arm chair psychologist treatment.
"It wasn't really a date, but I went out for tacos and beers with a girl who psychoanalyzed me to my face. This included pointing out unconscious gestures and mannerisms while I was doing it.
---sorry lady I'm leaning forward with my shoulders hunched forward because i can barely hear you speak, not because I'm introverted."
4. TheImpundulu got caught in the middle of mother-daughter weed time.
"I arrived at a girls house to pick her up. This was about 10 years ago. Her mother is on the couch smoking a huge bong, with her 2 year old on her lap. The mother and her start arguing about whose weed she is smoking. On the date she proceeds to get about 5 calls from her mom asking where is her weed."
5. quentinislive met someone literally too good to be true.
"I found someone back in the days of match.com in SF, when it was new. She was incredibly perfect and sweet...she ran into me when she was out another night when I was playing a show and I sang directly to her, she danced up to the stage like something out of a Rom Com, she was sweet and adorable and funny and sexy. I didn’t see her after the show but messaged her.
Turns out she was married with 3 kids."
6. Kharmaticlism dealt with a crazy ex straight out of a movie.
"I met a man at a bar and for the second time in my life I worked up the courage to hand him my number as my friends and I left. A few days later he messages me and we start chatting and agree to go on a date later in the week.
I received a FB friend request from a woman that I didn't know, but her profile indicated that the guy was a mutual friend of ours. I then recieved a message from the mysterious woman, basically saying she was his girlfriend and I needed to cut contact with him. Turns out he had broken up with her a couple of days before we met each other at the bar, and she didn't want the relationship to end. I spoke with him about it, and he assured me that he was single and I believed him. Decided to go on the date."
"Date night comes, and I'm nervous. He's very sweet, calm, we had a great dinner and a couple of drinks, talked for a couple of hours. The restuarant we had chosen was busy that night, but we weren't bothered by the people squeezing by our small table while we ate. We're laughing, agree that we want to keep the night going and decide we're going to go to a local barcade. As we're leaving, I'm talking about something and I notice his demeanor change from jovial to reserved. I asked him what was wrong when we got outside and he told me i needed to leave, he had spotted his ex at the bar as we were walking out."
"I left, quickly. What was a nice night, was suddenly cold and awkward and felt wrong. Turns out his ex had logged into his FB account and read our messages about where we were going for our date, followed us there, and watched us for God knows how long.
This man and I had a sweet bond, and I have a stubborn streak. I refused to allow someone else to dictate whom I was going to date, especially after shit started getting weird."
"For the next four months, we would experience stalking, threats, harassment, etc. Accessed his apple account and had my number blocked multiple times. She called and texted me hundreds of times (sometimes in one night), and would use a different number every time I blocked a new one. I eventually had to get my number changed. She peed on and keyed my car, and followed me to the bar where he worked, threatening to attack me (I had to be escorted to my car by police that night). She posted my contact info and picture to reddit. She had her friends reach out to me, trying to contact me by any means possible. Eventually, she claimed that my (at the time) boyfriend had hit her, and he spent a weekend in jail for the accusation. I tried, twice, to get restraining orders for myself against her, both of which were denied by the judge because she hadn't actually attacked me."
"It was insane. It felt like it wasn't real, and her tenacity in making our lives hell was incredible.
Shalysa, I know you use reddit, and I wouldnt be surprised if you read this comment. The entire time you made my life hell, I pitied you. You have so much energy that could be channeled into helping others, but you chose to be vile and evil, and I sincerely hope you received professional help for your issues. Take care."
7. PraisedbyWolves got burned by two attractive emotional terrorists.
"Went on a second date with a dreamboat, everything was going really really well when the most beautiful woman I have ever seen enters the bar. The whole place is staring at her and I’m a little shocked when my date turns and waves her over. She sits down and introduces herself - she’s my dates ex! She lives right around the corner and he had let her know that we would be there if she wanted to stop by! They both proceeded to catch up and thoroughly ignore me - I pretended to go out for a smoke and just left."
8. LordWebber had a true dream date.
"In a slightly more positive way, I had an incredibly dazzling date with a lady who kept using these small mannerisms that really got me going. Her eyes crinkled when she smiled, she held her pinky out, she slightly covered her mouth when she laughed. It felt like I was in a Disney movie."
9. hahahawhatastory2 met a woman with baggage from past lives.
"My best/worst story is a girl I met on a dating app (I think it was Zoosk) who seemed normal at first but then proceeded to tell me all about how into past lives she was on our first date. Being interested in that kind of stuff isn't that bad by itself, and a lot of people are into horoscopes and whatnot... but she took it to the extreme. She said she could remember over 200 of her past lives and that most of them were from Ancient Egypt. But the scariest thing she told me was that she had a co-worker who she had always had some irrational but immense dislike of pretty much from the moment she met him, to the point that being around him caused her physical pain. She later "figured out" that one of his past lives had killed one of hers, and that pain she was feeling was in the spot where "past life him" had stabbed"past life her." ...Yeah."
10. TheImpundulu's date was basically a pile of red flags.
"I met a really cute blonde, during the date she told me how she was married 3 months earlier. But her husband of only a few hours caught her banging the best man at the wedding reception. I ran so fast it could have been a clip of the road runner!"
11. canadianduke1980's friend left Red Lobster hungry.
"This happened to my friend. His roommate’s sister asked him out. He takes her to red lobster. They order an appetizer. After some chit chat, my buddy heads to the bathroom. When he gets back, he sees that the appetizer came, and his date had eaten all of it while he was peeing. No worry."
"They order the main course. She eats hers incredibly fast, then starts picking at his. This grossed him out, so he kinda “lets” her finish his entree. They order dessert. While they are waiting for dessert, my buddy witnesses a younger girl head towards the bathroom. A slimy older man who had been hanging around walked to the bathroom and went into the girls restroom door. My buddy springs into action, runs to the bathroom, kicks the guy out of the bathroom and the restaurant and then spends a few minutes explaining to the staff what had happened."
"He sits back down and him and his date are talking for quite a while when he notices that dessert hasn’t come yet. He keeps trying to flag down his waitress but she’s kind of ignoring him. Finally, he walks over to her and asks when the desert is coming. The waitress tells him “ I delivered both desserts to your table a while ago and your date ate both of them while you were dealing with that guy in the bathroom”
TLDR my buddy’s date ate the entire appetizer, most of his entrée, and both desserts"
12. anti0pe went on a date with a guy straight out of a time machine.
"I had a guy show up to a coffee date in a full three piece suit and top hat once. He even had a pocket watch. He said he felt he was born in the wrong era and “identified with a more elegant time”. When I asked questions about things like lifestyle preferences in dating, he was insistent that his “intentions were genuine” and he was always “a perfect gentleman” who liked to go about “courting the old fashioned way”. He didn’t actually answer any of my questions. He forgot my name twice so he guessed."
"I paid for my own coffee and very politely declined his offer to “escort me to my next destination”.
Yes, it was tinder, and his bio was shockingly normal."
13. alysizz went on a date with a screen-worthy sexist.
"The guy tried to trip the waitress, twice. He made some comment to the effect of “the pretty ones (waitresses) are always stupid” and then proceeded to attempt to trip her. He didn’t succeed, thank goodness.
At this point I couldn’t end the date fast enough."
14. jessysav went on a date with a character from High Maintenance.
"I was going on a first date off tinder a little over a year ago. Guy shows up at my house where he was going to pick me up and we were gonna take his dog to a nearby dog park and get coffee."
"Guy rolls up, texts be that he feels embarrassed but he really needs to use the bathroom, so my dumbass lets him in. He smells to high he'll and he didn't have a dog. He pulls out a can of cream of chicken soup and exclaims he brought dinner. He was really sexually forward and scared the hell out of me so I just let him go about heating up the can on my stove while I stayed as far away as possible and planned my escape. Eventually he started making his way towards my bedroom and claim how excited he was to slip in my sheets."
"That was when I shouted he needed to get out before I called the cops. He pitched a fit but did technically leave just really slowly all the while calling me a cunt for not letting him sleep at my place and now he's have to drive the 2 hours back to his mom's house."
15. Lucyinthesky27 lived Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
"Well, we had been dating about 2 months and I invited him to go to a Willie Nelson concert with me. I’m a huge fan and I’d never seen him play live before. THIS guy (who is a scummy used car salesman... I know.) suddenly asked if we could stop off in a different city so he could run a car title or something to one of his associates. It was a 3 HOUR detour from the concert. He also took a call from his ex wife at some point and had an argument with her in front of me. Yep. When we FINALY got there, I only got to watch the last 2 songs of one of my all time favorite artists because of him."
"Well, this was at a casino, so we thought that we might as well play a little since we missed the whole fucking show. The dude didn’t tell me that he had a gambling problem and had previously signed something that barred himself from all casinos in the state. First he disappeared, then I started getting texts from him about how he was “such a loser” and had “lost all his money.” Then, after I have to come find him, he had me pretend that I won something on his machine because he wasn’t supposed to be gambling."
"Then he tried to make me sign up for some birthday promotion so he could get 10 more dollars to play. Awkward.... we stayed the night because it was 2 am and I had been throwing back crown and cokes while telling him how shitty he was for calling his ex in front of me. On the way back home the next morning, on about a 4 hour drive, he had to stop at every fucking casino (at least 3) to try to “get his money back.” It was like Fear and Loathing in Oklahoma... I was hungover on St. Patrick’s Day stopping at every Native American casinos along the highway full of people wearing green beads and chasing “luck.” I had to ride back with him, so I was not happy or pleasant to be around.
The only happy ending to this is that Willie Nelson never stops touring and I finally got to see him with my mom about 2 years after this."
16. PM_me_allthepuppies met a true disco archetype.
"He showed up in a red, belled sleeve silk shirt and big bell white pants; the shirt was opened several buttons too many, and he was wearing at least 3 big gold chains (this was in 1995, so he was about 15 years too late for this look). He looked a disco refugee. The conversation was fun, he wasn't boring, but he didn't seem to be a good personality fit for me.
He seemed to be a good guy, and I hope he found his disco lady out there somewhere."
17. Scape98 dated a movie jerk.
"Casually met up with a guy and his friends while they were tailgating a football game. We were playing a game of cornhole (bean bag toss game for those not from the south), and the guy told me to fetch the bags for the next game. Didn’t like being told but was going to just do it. As I turn to gather them, he proceeds to slap my ass and say something along the lines of good girl. Wtf? He does this in front of his friends and I hear chuckles."
"This was only our second meet up so I still didn’t really know him. Funny enough, I really wasn’t attracted to him but I gave him a chance because we had mutual family friends who kept telling me how nice he was. After that, I made some see through excuse and left. I then proceed to ignore his sporadic texts for the next several months. I generally think people deserve more respect than being ghosted but I made an exception for him."
18. SlappyDong met an unfriendly ex.
"Not the date herself. Her Ex was at the bar and grill we went on for our first date. They had split about 3 months earlier. He walks over, says "Hi, good to see you're doing well" to her. Looks at me, and says "Your shirt is stupid", it was a grey and black long sleeve baseball style shirt. I just said "Hey man, I'm sorry you're having a bad night, I hope it gets better".
What a strange insult."
19. manndlebaum had an awakening after a bad date.
"Met a girl on a dating app and started talking. She seemed like a female version of me. Angry at the same things, critiquing the same things. We met up and she was the rudest person ever. She did things that humbled the fuck out of me. When I got home and explained the date to my roommate, it made me realize everything wrong with me and what I needed to change about myself."
20. Sheazier1983 went on a truly wild goose chase.
"About ten years ago I moved to a new town for work and met a guy through a dating website. He invited me to dinner and a movie. I was 25 and didn’t know anyone, so I was happy to get out and do something fun. Within a few minutes of meeting and talking, it was obvious to me that we were not compatible. No big deal - these things happen. When the bill came, I told him I was paying for my own meal and he refused to let me. I was a bit irritated by this, but didn’t want to cause a scene. He then realized he forgot his wallet and asked me to pay for him."
"I was fine with this and happy for him to take me home since he didn’t have money on him for the movie. To my surprise, he then took me to the movie theater. He had selected the movie without consulting me and had two tickets waiting for us for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. This further confirmed our incompatibility, as I would have never chosen to see that. But I decided there was no harm in trying new things, so I went in to the movie with him. The theater was filled with screaming children and their families. He spotted someone he knew and sprinted towards them. I casually followed behind him and saw him settle into a seat in the second row of the theater right next to an older couple he appeared to know. It turns out that the older couple was his parents!"
"So I met this guy’s parents and he introduced me to them as his girlfriend! He called me by the wrong name, but I didn’t bother to correct him. At this point I was just enjoying letting the comedy of errors unfold. I was trapped at the theater because he drove us there, so there wasn’t much else I could do. His mom kept calling me the wrong name (I never corrected her) and was offering me popcorn and candy and drinks while her son was trying to make a move by sliding his arm around me during a children’s movie."
"All this with Ray Romano’s grating voice bellowing in the background. I was glad for the date to be over. The next day he sent me a message online asking me for another date. I politely declined. A few weeks later he messaged me again and asked if I could pretend to be his girlfriend and pretend to go by the wrong name he had called me and attend his cousin’s wedding with him as his date. He said his mom was asking about me. By that time I had met the man I would eventually marry and we had a good laugh about it. I wonder if that guy is still going on dates with his parents."
21. warealestatequeen went on a date with Louis C.K. sans jokes.
"Went on a date with a guy I thought was very attractive and sweet. We ended up having a great evening. He walked me to my car and we kept talking and it was cold so we decided to talk in the car. Out of nowhere, literally nowhere- the guy unzips his pants and pulls out his penis. I was so disgusted and disappointed. I ended up kicking him out of my car and never spoke to him again. A few years later he tried adding me on FB- total creep."
22. comicsnerd had an arresting first date.
"We just finished appetizers when the police came in and arrested her for shop lifting from the shop next door. Fortunately, the waiter could testify that I was already waiting for 30 minutes and it was obviously a first date.
She was cute though"
23. lawnboy232 got ghosted across an ocean.
"Went on a date. Girl was super cool. Normal date at the bar. Had some drinks and even got a kiss before leaving. Later that week she came to my place and we just hung out and watched tv on my couch. Kissed a little bit and planned to go to a baseball game later the next week or something. Texted her maybe 2-3 times over the course of the next few days but Never heard from her again. No big deal figured she just was busy or wasn’t interested and I left it at that and moved on. I’m from USA. About a month later I saw in fb she moved to japan. Maybe like a month after that she got married. And probably a month after that she was pregnant. Pretty sure she was seeing someone at the time that was in the military. Felt pretty bad about that one"
24. myideaoffun met a real life prince charming.
"We’d been on one date already, lovely guy, decent, funny, kind, feeling a spark. I then went to Australia for three weeks to visit family.
The day I came back, he turned up on my doorstep with a bottle of champagne, ran my tired jet lagged arse a bath, cooked me a perfect John Dorry, and invited me out on his yacht when the weather got better."
"The thinking part of my brain, recovering from an abusive marriage, thought “this is a bullshit, love bombing move, that belongs in a rom com, not real life. Gorgeous triathlete yacht owning professionals don’t hit on knackered single mothers.” The horny part of my brain thought “fuck it, let’s see what happens”.
Fortunately horny won, and I’m now two years into a relationship with a wonderful, earnest open hearted man who is teaching me how to sail and how to think a little more highly of myself."
25. Freevoulous dated a comic book character.
"I dated a genuine Young Adult Novel Heroine, whom I met thorough mutual friends:
- Her father once dissapeared mysteriously, and she was convinced her uncle had killed him to take over family buisness"
"- she was a life-long martial artist and wanted to be a cop
- she had unusual mixed heritage, which of course was half-Chinese (for the martial arts) half-Scottish (for the family revenge)
- she had a lot of anger issue and felt misunderstood"
"- it turns out I was her "safe, boring boyfriend" and she had a biker dude on the side, because of course, a LOVE TRIANGLE.
- she was hot, but considered herself a "freak" because she had a vitiligo strip on her face/hair and hetero-chromic eyes."