For whatever reason, when married couples (or even just couples who are known for being together) make a movie, it rarely works. Who knows why? In some cases, it's public backlash against the couple. Sometimes the couple's RealLife chemistry just doesn't show up on-screen (or it does, and it becomes somewhat unsettling when you realize you're watching an ''actual'' couple during a love scene). Sometimes, it's just a VanityProject with no real direction. Sometimes, it's a NonActorVehicle for one half (or maybe both halves) of the couple (such as the DirectorsGirlfriend), and it shows. In any case, even though Couple Bombs have a track record of not succeeding, they somehow still get made anyway.

Subtrope of RealLifeRelative. Might be related to CreatorCouple if the LoveMakesYouUncreative trope is factored in. Could also be a result of YokoOhNo. Should not be confused with BattleCouple.

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!!Examples:

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[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{Gigli}}'' is probably the most notorious example. Even though Music/JenniferLopez and Creator/BenAffleck weren't married at the time, they were ''the'' hot couple, and the movie was significantly rewritten during production to capitalize on their relationship. In a twist which surprised no one, Bennifer called it quits shortly after the movie bombed. In a twist that did surprise many, they got back together and married nineteen years later.
* Rumors abound that Creator/KevinSmith chopped most of Lopez's scenes out of ''Film/JerseyGirl'' to avoid the same fate. [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption It didn't work]].
* Back in the 20s, Hollywood power couple Creator/MaryPickford and Creator/DouglasFairbanks starred in their only film together - an adaptation of ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew''. True to the trope's form, it was made while their marriage was falling apart and it was a financial bomb that led to Pickford retiring from acting completely.
* ''Film/{{Overboard|1987}}'' (Creator/KurtRussell and Creator/GoldieHawn) - though the film has been VindicatedByCable, mainly from the consensus that Russell and Hawn have strong on-screen chemistry. And unlike virtually every played-straight example of this trope, they've happily been [[CommonLawMarriage life-partners]] for nearly forty years.
* ''Film/SweptAway'', sort of. It starred Music/{{Madonna}} and was directed by Creator/GuyRitchie, and was almost universally panned as being terrible, and led to Madonna's declaration that she would never act again.
* ''Film/ShanghaiSurprise'' starred Madonna and then-hubby Creator/SeanPenn. The original script probably didn't set the world on fire, but the decision to include the couple was a fatal one, on multiple levels. Shooting began in Hong Kong and problems soon arose: the exposure produced by such a hot tabloid couple served as catnip to Chinese gangsters, who sabotaged equipment and even extorted money from Madonna and Penn before they'd allow them back on set. Penn, like clockwork, went berserk every time a paparazzo snapped a picture of him, culminating in an assault charge. Eventually, Penn and Madonna stopped cooperating altogether, causing the budget to balloon as directors and actors were replaced on Penn's decree, and the couple was labeled as poison.
%%* ''El Cantante'' (Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez).
* ''Film/DirtyLove'', written by and starring Creator/JennyMcCarthy and directed by her then-husband [[Creator/JohnAsher John Mallory Asher]]. They divorced shortly before it went down in flames.
* In 1959, Creator/AudreyHepburn starred in ''Film/GreenMansions'', directed by her then-husband Creator/MelFerrer. It was one of the least successful movies of her career.
* Creator/RichardBurton and Creator/ElizabethTaylor had a ''string'' of flops starting with the notorious ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' (1963) and continuing on with ''The Sandpiper'' (1965), ''The Comedians'' (1967), ''Doctor Faustus'' (1967), ''Boom!'' (1968), and ''Hammersmith Is Out!'' (1972). Their turn in ''Film/WhosAfraidOfVirginiaWoolf'' shines even brighter by comparison.
* ''Film/TheMarryingMan'' and ''Film/TheGetaway'' for Creator/AlecBaldwin and Creator/KimBasinger.
* Creator/PeterSellers had couple bombs with his second and fourth wives: ''The Bobo'' with Creator/BrittEkland (they also did ''After the Fox'' together but in that film, they play ''siblings'', not lovers) and ''Film/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' (1979) with Lynne Frederick.
* A father-son variant happened with ''Film/AfterEarth''. Creator/WillSmith basically approached Creator/MNightShyamalan to write and direct a movie featuring him and his son, Creator/JadenSmith. The movie bombed spectacularly and was reviled by pretty much every critic except Matt Zoller Seitz.
* Creator/MelanieGriffith and Creator/DonJohnson with ''Paradise'' and the remake of ''Film/BornYesterday''.
* ''By the Sea'', a 2015 film written and directed by Creator/AngelinaJolie and starring herself and Creator/BradPitt as a couple in a dying marriage. The film was a critical and commercial failure and soon became HarsherInHindsight when Jolie filed for divorce in the next year.
* ''Film/CutthroatIsland'', starring Creator/GeenaDavis and directed by her husband Creator/RennyHarlin, underwent a severely TroubledProduction and became one of the biggest box office bombs in film history. The two released ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'' the next year, which was also unsuccessful, if not as spectacularly so, and then divorced a few years after that.
* ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'' was the first film Creator/LucBesson and Creator/MillaJovovich made as husband and wife (they had worked together on ''Film/TheFifthElement'' but only started dating afterwards) -- and it underperformed at the Box Office. Luc Besson especially was criticized for casting his wife as the lead, in a role it was agreed she was not up to playing.
* The film ''Shelter'', where Creator/PaulBettany directed his wife Creator/JenniferConnelly, wasn't received well by critics and quickly faded from public consciousness. They had fared a little better when they starred together in ''Creation'' but still only at 46% on Website/RottenTomatoes.
* Creator/KennethBranagh and Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter got together while making ''Film/MaryShelleysFrankenstein''. It was a bomb that led to the former mostly sticking to Shakespeare adaptations until ''Film/{{Thor}}'' came along.
* Zigzagged with Creator/TimBurton and Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, since she starred in many of his films. ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'', ''Film/BigFish'' and ''Film/SweeneyTodd'' were hits. ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'' and ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' made money but had a divisive reception. And ''Film/DarkShadows'' tanked domestically while not faring well with reviewers.
* ''Film/DarlingLili'' was Creator/BlakeEdwards' and Creator/JulieAndrews' first collaboration together. They fell in love while filming but the result was a BoxOfficeBomb that cost Creator/{{Paramount}} millions. They did have aversions though.
* ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'', helmed by husband-and-wife ''directors'' Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel. They'd recently had two smash hits with ''Series/MaxHeadroom'' and a remake of the 1949 movie ''Film/{{DOA}}'', but the third time proved not to be the charm with ''Mario'' (not helped by how they [[TroubledProduction made the whole thing miserable for the cast and crew]]).
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/TheXFiles'', Mulder had a one-night stand with Creator/DavidDuchovny's then-partner. The crew later noted that it was to the detriment of the love scene because there was just no tension between them.
* DiscussedTrope on ''Series/{{Friends}}''. Chandler is worried that his actress girlfriend Kathy is cheating on him with her co-star after seeing their steamy sex scene, but Joey assures him that actors that are actually together have no chemistry with their co-star.
-->'''Joey''': Look, you guys have seen me in a lot of plays. Have I ''[[ReallyGetsAround ever]]'' had chemistry on stage?
* Stephen Mangan starred in the short-lived ''Series/HoudiniAndDoyle'' where his wife Louise Delamere played his wife in the show. He commented on how weird it was to film love scenes with his real wife.
--> "It's what I imagine dogging feels like..."
* Discussed on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', in the episode [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E08TheLovesOfHercules "The Loves of Hercules"]]. The movie that week is the second (of four) that Creator/JayneMansfield made with her then-husband Creator/MickeyHargitay, and the riffers note how little on-screen chemistry the couple has.
-->'''Servo:''' So, these two are married in real life, and this is how they kiss?\\
'''Crow:''' She's laying eggs inside of him right now.
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[[folder:Music]]
* Music/{{Cher}} and [[Music/TheAllmanBrothersBand Gregg Allman]] released an album together in 1977, ''Two the Hard Way''. It was a spectacular critical and commercial failure, and the tour itself went so badly that Allman [[OffTheWagon fell back into his alcoholism]], which Cher cited was the final straw that broke their marriage.
* Former [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney took plenty of flack for the work they recorded with [[YokoOhNo Yoko and Linda]] respectively. Yoko's [[AvantGardeMusic avant-garde stylings and notoriously weird vocals]] didn't play well with the mainstream Beatles crowd, while Linda wasn't a musician or a singer and by Paul's own admission was in Music/{{Wings}} so that they could tour together and have a good time as a couple. With that said, much of this material has been VindicatedByHistory in one way or another.
[[/folder]]
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