10 unlikeable women in movies who were right all along

Movie: Election (1999) 

Played by: Reese Witherspoon 

In the battle of wills between a grown man (and a high-school teacher to boot) and an over-eager teenage girl that is Alexander Payne’s Election, somehow we chose to villainise the teenage girl. Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) might be a tad overzealous in her school presidential campaign (hand-customising 480 individual cupcakes), but it’s Mr McAllister (Matthew Broderick) who tampers with the results and the dreams of a literal child. And that’s not even mentioning his buddy who has a literal affair with Tracy, his student, and gets away with just a firing. 

Movie: Fatal Attraction (1987) 

Played by: Glenn Close 

Okay, maybe you shouldn’t semi-kidnap a child because a man doesn’t understand the consequences of his own actions. Or, you know, boil a rabbit. However, with the exception of those extreme actions, I am furious that Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) became the poster girl for ‘crazy women’ during the erotic thriller boom of the ‘80s after she got upset about being cast aside by the married man (Michael Douglas) she had an affair with. He thought he could have his cake and fuck it too, and Alex ended up paying for his marital indiscretion. 

Movie: Bring it On (2000) 

Played by: Gabrielle Union 

In this cheerleading teen classic, the cheer squad led by wealthy white student Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) is pitted against Isis (Gabrielle Union) the leader of the Black, working-class squad whose routines were plagiarised by the more affluent white team. Despite having her work stolen and appropriated, many have perceived Isis to be the villain of the story. Union has since expressed regret over ‘muzzling’ her character in order to make her more palatable, instead of ‘allowing her to be angry [and allowing] her full humanity.’ 

Movie: Blood and Sand (1941) 

Played by: Rita Hayworth  

Rita Hayworth plays a rich temptress who sets her eye on naive and, crucially, married bullfighter Juan Gallardo (Tyrone Power) and seduces him away from his devoted wife. Because she’s a fickle, rich and lascivious woman, she’s the wrong’un (but this is Rita Hayworth, so how wrong can she ever be, really?). She’s not exactly right about anything, but she also doesn’t promise anyone anything aside from a good time, and moves on quickly from one torero to the next. When people tell you who they are, believe them. 

Movie: All About Eve (1950) 

Played by: Bette Davis 

Classic Hollywood grande dame Bette Davis made her name out of playing unlikeable characters. In fact, she sought them out so routinely, this list could have easily been just Davis performances. One of her most iconic and oft-quoted ones is the temperamental actress Margo Channing, who suspects that the sweet new acting ingénue on the theatre scene might have more nefarious motives than just a love of the stage. The dynamic between Margo and the titular Eve (Anne Baxter) is one of the most delightfully complex to ever be put on film. 

Movie: The Last Seduction (1994) 

Played by: Linda Fiorentino 

Bridget Gregory is mean, cutting and greedy. After a con-gone-well, she runs off with the loot, leaving her patsy husband behind, shacks up with a himbo in a small town, gets a new job and prepares to run another con. Why? ‘Cos she can. No one in this film is likeable, but Bridget outsmarts them all, so she’s right by default. Linda Fiorentino’s portrayal as the femme fatale in the John Dahl neo-noir solidified her as a viciously capable actress (that is, before she got blacklisted for being ‘difficult’). 

Movie: The Devil Wears Prada (2006) 

Played by: Meryl Streep

The reclamation of Miranda Priestly is complete, and almost unnecessary to bring up. The extremely chic editor-in-chief of ‘Runway Magazine’ is very good at her job – and if that makes her unlikeable, so be it. Seeing the world of fashion editorials through the snarky point of view of her new assistant Andy (Anne Hathaway), we see Miranda reign with ruthless precision, even villainous efficiency. But it’s just a magazine, right? 

Movie: Grease (1978) 

Played by: Stockard Channing 

Before you start sharpening the pitchforks, let me just say for the record that I love Rizzo (much more than Sandy), but Grease spends a lot of time setting her up as the bad, slutty one to make Sandy’s messy but pure-hearted innocence shine even more. Clad entirely in black, Rizzo is slut-shamed to infinity until she gets her own solo song – ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’ – where she showcases the vulnerability behind the carefully constructed bitch-mask. Whatever you make of Grease’s politics, Rizzo is the most compelling character.

Movie: Baby Face (1933) 

Played by: Barbara Stanwyck 

The daughter of an abusive bar-owner, Lily, aka ‘Baby Face’, is inspired by a Nietzsche-reading mentor to use her looks to get her way and leave the hardship of her life behind – so she does. She sleeps her way, quite literally, floor by floor to the top of a New York office building until she hooks up with the president of the bank. The idea of a woman using her sexuality to advance her social status was hugely controversial at the time, and the film was butchered by censors in order to avoid, erm, inspiring any viewers. 

Movie: Destroyer (2018) 

Played by: Nicole Kidman 

Possibly the least well-known film on this list, this Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body) neo-noir starts off with an LAPD Detective arriving at the scene of a John Doe murder and bluntly declaring she knows who did it. As the details of the victim’s identity and how they wound up dead reveal themselves, Detective Erin Bell’s backstory unfolds, and Kidman goes unbelievably hard as this spikey, volatile, violent character. Every male detective with a bad personality is just a detective, but Erin’s makes her unlikeable. 

‘Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate’ is available now via Sourcebooks