For many, romantic films act as a surrogate guide to love—a “third party” in the relationship, offering scripts for first dates, apologies, and even breakups. However, the gap between cinematic pacing (where conflicts resolve in 90 minutes) and relational reality (where conflicts may linger for weeks) can be jarring. This paper hypothesizes that high-frequency movie consumption reinforces a set of unrealistic relational schemas, leading to what communication scholars term “romantic perfectionism.”