A love story in a movie can work very well if it's done as an important part of the plot that ties directly into the main story. However, some movies merely include it as part of some Joseph Campbell checklist, and chances are the script in those films stinks. I'm not one of those guys who whines whenever a superhero movie has a love interest though-- far from it, in fact. Most superhero movies I've seen do a pretty good job of integrating the love story into the plot, because being a superhero is bound to have a pretty profound impact on the main character's personal relationships.
An example of a poorly executed love interest was Tony and Pepper in Iron Man 2. Their relationship made sense in the first movie, but in the second movie they just made things way too awkward and we never got a real sense of longing between the two of them. By the time we got to their "big kiss" at the end, it felt more like "huh!?" than "awww..." The way she interacted with Tony in the film wasn't really much different from how someone behaves with a close family member, and the same problem was in Batman Begins with Rachel. The romantic tension just plain wasn't obvious enough, even though the friendship was obvious.
In most other superhero films that I like, though, it was obvious how the hero felt about his leading lady, and their on-screen relationship worked. In Spider-Man, we knew how Peter felt about Mary Jane right from the start, and throughout his films we felt his emotional need for her that wouldn't be satisfied without her. The same could be said of Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, where we knew that Betty Ross was largely his inspiration for wanting to control Hulk-- he needs Betty, but he can't allow himself to risk hurting her. Heck, even the Transformers movies did a decent job integrating the romantic interest with the plot, even if it might not be the most high-brow of writing.
To sum up, love stories that work are the ones where we can tell that the leads have a strong bond and a need to be with each other, and this need profoundly affects many of the hero's key choices. If it's merely the hero's respect or friendship for the female lead that influences his choices, or if said choices are of minimal importance to the plot, the love story is going to end up feeling more arbitrary. The reason love stories make it into so many movies is because it's an important part of the human experience, but like any plot element if it's tacked on or poorly executed, it can bring down the movie's effectiveness.
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