They say "all you need is love."
They also say "age ain't nothin' but a number."
But every so often when you're watching a movie, you see a mismatched couple — or
lovestruck criminal — taking things too far.
Here are some of the most uncomfortable age gaps in movies.
That's My Boy
Even if you're a huge Adam Sandler fan, you've got to admit that he didn't just cross a line
in That's My Boy—he straight-up pole vaulted over that sucker.
The premise of this 2012 comedy is utterly tasteless, as it involves a tween version
of Sandler's character having sex with his teacher.
Just to be clear, we're talking about a 12-year-old boy being coerced into having sex with an
adult, resulting in a pregnancy, all played as a joke.
Considering That's My Boy only has a 20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and totally flopped at
the box office, it seems like the joke's on Sandler and his crude crew.
Big
The 1988 comedy classic Big follows a kid named Josh who magically morphs into a 30-year-old
man.
At first, this transformation seems pretty cool, especially when Josh is paid big bucks
to play with toys for a living.
But things get problematic when he starts dating Susan, his adult coworker.
"It's for you.
It's a glow-in-the-dark compass ring, so you won't get lost."
True, Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins are about the same age in real life, but in the
movie, Josh is actually only 12.
So when the two end up sleeping together, we're witnessing a serious felony offense,
even though Susan doesn't yet know about Josh's condition.
It's hard to wrap your head around, true, but it's undeniably creepy at the end when
Josh reverts to his child form, and grown woman Susan waves goodbye to her 12-year-old
ex-boyfriend.
American Beauty
Kevin Spacey won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Lester Burnham in American Beauty,
a middle-aged loser who's inspired to take control of his life after falling for a high
school student.
Making things even worse, she's his daughter's best friend, Angela.
Roger Ebert noted correctly that the film wasn't really about a "Lolita relationship,"
but instead about "yearning after youth, respect, power, and, of course, beauty."
But Lester's fantasies about bedding a child are revolting — you can't help but agree
with actress Kirsten Dunst, who had the good sense to turn down the role of Angela because
she, quote, "didn't want to kiss Kevin Spacey or be seen lying naked in those rose petals."
After all, she was only 15.
Leon: The Professional
French director Luc Besson's 1994 action flick Leon: The Professional is a movie that'll
leave you feeling a little odd.
While the relationship between Jean Reno's Leon and Natalie Portman's Mathilda isn't
"inappropriate" per se, it is just a tad…disconcerting.
The plot involves a 12-year-old girl who asks a hitman to get revenge on the psychotic DEA
agent who murdered her family.
Leon and Mathilda's relationship starts off strange—he's childlike, she's wise for her
years—and only gets weirder from there ...
"I love you, Mathilda."
"I love you, too, Leon."
… especially when she starts crushing on Leon and telling strangers this full-grown
man is her lover … despite Leon always keeping things professional.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Based on the acclaimed graphic novel, The Diary of a Teenage Girl is meant to push boundaries
and start conversations.
After all, this is a film about a 15-year-old girl discovering her sexuality, a subject
that's rarely discussed on the big screen.
However, some might argue that Diary takes things a bit far when its teenage protagonist
winds up in bed with a 35-year-old man.
The 15-year-old in question is played by Bel Powley, who was actually in her 20s while
filming.
She's a wannabe cartoonist in 1976 who loses her virginity to her mom's boyfriend, Monroe,
played by Alexander Skarsgard.
As critic Kate Erbland points out, this is a movie about a girl in control and "making
her own decisions, even if they're probably bad ones" — and watching the consequences
of those bad decisions — however poignantly they're portrayed — will likely make you
squirm.
Harold and Maude
Perhaps the most famous movie ever made about May/December relationships, Harold and Maude
was a box office failure in 1971, but over the years, it's gained a cult following.
Today, it's often considered must-watch cinema, although if you're only familiar with the
basic premise, you might think this is a film simply about a kid who sleeps with a woman
old enough to be his grandma.
Of course, Harold and Maude isn't just about the sex — we don't even see anything happen
onscreen.
The film follows death-obsessed Harold, a 20-year-old who fakes suicide and visits random
funerals.
Eventually, he runs into the larger-than-life Maude, a 79-year-old who teaches Harold how
to really live ...
"Your license, lady?"
"I don't have one.
I don't believe in them."
Manhattan
1979's Manhattan is widely considered to be one of the greatest movies ever made.
But it's also a film about Woody Allen having a fling with a 17-year-old.
Allen plays a 40-something comedy writer that has no qualms being involved with a high school
girl played by Mariel Hemingway—he even finds it amusing when she ends a date because
she has to study for a test.
"But you're 17 years old.
By the time you're 21, you're gonna have, you'll have a dozen relationships — believe me — far more
passionate than this one."
The events of the film followed Hemingway into real life: the actress says after she
turned 18, Allen showed up at her house and allegedly asked her parents to let her accompany
him to Paris.
She said no.
In the late-1980s, Allen began a relationship with his long time girlfriend Mia Farrow's
adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, who later became his wife..
Lolita
Lolita is often hailed as one of the best novels of the 20th century, but it's not exactly
what you'd call light reading.
Nevertheless, the dark and twisted novel inspired two separate movies, Stanley Kubrick's 1962
version starring James Mason and Sue Lyon, and Adrian Lyne's 1997 version featuring Jeremy
Irons and Dominique Swain.
Both movies focus on Humbert Humbert, a self-proclaimed "nymphophile" who is only sexually attracted
to post-pubescent teen girls who meet his specific criteria.
Both Lyon and Swain were actually 14 and 15, respectively, so naturally, displaying the
subject matter on screen stirred up a lot of controversy.
Kubrick's version is far tamer than Lyne's, but it still made a lot of people uncomfortable,
prompting the now-classic question …
"How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?"
Thanks for watching!
Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!