The ‘Beautiful Disaster’ Movie Has Lit Twit Incensed

I am a big fan of trashy romance and, from trailer, the film adaptation of Beautiful Disaster appears to be just that. We’ve got one (or both? Is this a Parent Trap situation?) of the Sprouse twins as some kind of underground boxer, a bet that forces our lovers into close proximity, and some questionably aggressive sex scenes. However, the honeymoon period was short-lived; the discourse immediately caught up to inform me that Beautiful Disaster, in theaters today, is bad news.

I unfortunately will be tuning into this shit show pic.twitter.com/Wa9RIZI9wI

— (⌒_⌒;) (@ravnboy) February 9, 2023

“Y’all know the book this is adapted from was written by a Nazi right?” tweeted @MxKantEven, quoting the trailer.

“Oh goody, one of the most staggeringly misogynistic ‘romance’ novels I’ve ever read, written by an anti-vaxxer MAGA-loving racist who supported the Capitol attack, is getting a movie, because fuck everything, right?” tweeted writer Kayleigh Donaldson when the adaptation was first announced in October 2021. Donaldson also wrote about Beautiful Disaster for Pajiba, saying, “She’s a big stonking racist!”

Indeed, author Jamie McGuire has come under fire online for her conservative views, ranging from supporting the US Capitol rioters on January 6, 2021, to equating the treatment of anti-vaxxers to the treatment of slaves.  The Mary Sue, has a great round-up of McGuire’s sordid views that you can read here, all of which contributed to her agent’s decision to drop her back in August 2020.

Setting her views aside, critics also say that McGuire just isn’t a good writer, and that there are many better romance novels out there, written by less problematic authors, that are more deserving of a big-budget adaptation. “I’ve read a lot of misogynistic garbage and this was the absolute worst one,” wrote Donaldson. “The ‘hero’ Travis is a callous, manipulative, and abusive bully…Travis gets violent and jealous at the drop of a hat, is prone to randomly smashing things, and punches a man for touching Abby’s arm…Look, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool romance lover and I totally get the appeal of a classic alpha romance, but this wasn’t that. It was a checklist of warning signs disguised as ‘every woman’s dream.’ Why adapt this now, of all things?”

“I cannot believe that authors like Mazey Eddings and Talia Hibbert and Jenny Howe and Erin Hahn and Helen Hoang are writing some of THE most romantic books I’ve ever read and yet we’re getting adaptions of stuff like Beautiful Disaster,” tweeted @theelvenqueen. Other tweeters highlighted the novels they’d rather see on screen:

romance novels hollywood should consider adapting into the screen instead of insubstantial wattpad mediocrity: pic.twitter.com/8tC7Oy25mV

— chai ⵣ🇲🇦 (@proyearner) February 12, 2023

It doesn’t seem like McGuire has ever responded to any online hate for her political views, and it’s unclear who represents her now. But all of the Beautiful Disaster novels spent a lot of time on the New York Times bestseller list, and the sequel is an Amazon editors’ pick for Best Romance at the time of this writing. I mean, in an era where major studio films are direct-to-streaming, this adaptation will actually see movie theaters this April! So I think McGuire is doing just fine, all the hate considered.