A-List: Classic Movie Couples
By Josh Spiegel
April 8, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Yes, I'm assuming that Date Night is going to suck, and all of that despite Carell, Fey, James Franco, Mila Kunis, and a large enough cast that should impress most people. Granted, I could be wrong (but the mere presence of Shawn Levy as director fills me full of unease). For all I know, the characters Carell and Fey play could become among the best couples ever captured on screen. This week's A-List will look at five truly iconic cinematic couples, married or otherwise. Some of these films are not action movies, some are not comedies, but all feature truly exciting male-female duos (sorry, all of you readers hoping for me to throw in a Butch and Sundance combination), which is rarer and rarer these days.
What makes this list a bit bittersweet - again, assuming that Date Night isn't, at the very least, a potentially classic comedy - is that Steve Carell and Tina Fey should be a perfect pairing. No, scratch that: they are a perfect pairing. Hell, I'm going to end up seeing Date Night at some point, but probably on Netflix, and not because of my feverish excitement. No, I feel an obligation to support Liz Lemon and Brick Tamland (or, fine, Michael Scott), and I'm even a bit admiring of the idea of a married couple having their relationship get rekindled. If only it didn't involve them getting in car chases, facing down Ray Liotta, and dealing with a shirtless Mark Wahlberg. Anyway, none of these movies involve any of those people, so it's a start, to be sure. Let's get to the list.
Nick and Nora
There can be no list about couples in film without including, at the very top, without any hesitation, Nick and Nora Charles, first seen in 1934 in The Thin Man. Though there were plenty of sequels, it's the original film that you must see if you haven't. The Thin Man is ostensibly a detective story, a whodunit in the drawing room genre, but what makes the film a classic are William Powell and Myrna Loy, who play Nick and Nora, respectively. Any time we talk about two actors having chemistry in film or on television, this should be the standard. Why? It's not so much that Powell and Loy create sparks - they do - so much as that you absolutely believe that they've been married for years. Nick and Nora Charles were, as mentioned in previous articles by far smarter critics, kind of alcoholics, and were somewhat bonded in their love of the drink. But their love for each other is as obvious and hard to avoid.
Powell and Loy were in plenty of other films, but they were never better than in The Thin Man series. Their relationship in the films starring Nick and Nora is what any other screen couple could aspire to. The New York Times, in covering Date Night, has compared that film to The Thin Man and, while I could rant and rant for the mere thought of the two movies being compared at all, the aspiration is admirable. At least the folks behind the Carell-Fey film have their hearts in the right place. That said, what Powell and Loy had was an easy charm, something that never had to feel forced. Powell and Loy had what most actors never had, back then or even now: plausibility. It seems simple, but if you watch The Thin Man, it's hard not to imagine these two as an actual married couple.
Harry and Sally
I suppose that When Harry Met Sally could be the reason why we're still stuck with Nora Ephron and her mostly forgettable movies (yes, that does mean that I'm one of the only people in this country who wasn't charmed by Julie & Julia). That said, when you have Rob Reiner at the helm (back when he was making good movies), Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as the title characters (and try not to strain your brain too hard when you think of those two as big stars, just 20 years ago), the movie's got a good chance. Crystal and Ryan's characters fall in love over a long period of time. They meet in college, they get involved with other people, and try to maintain a friendship for years despite being of the opposite sex. Harry thinks it can't happen without love getting in the way. Sally says different.
Of course, we all know how the movie ends. At the very second that the ball drops at Times Square (yes, this is the kind of movie that does the old New Years' gag), Harry realizes that he loves Sally, and the feelings are likewise. What makes When Harry Met Sally such a classic of the romantic-comedy genre is not its surprising plot. Even the best romantic films aren't too shocking; what makes this movie work is Crystal and Ryan. Crystal may not seem like a typical romantic lead, but his fast-talking nature and self-deprecating charm are incredibly ingratiating. Ryan, of course, has an iconic scene here where she fakes an orgasm in a diner, but her flighty charm was solidified here. The two actors may never have been better, but they're great here.
Alvy and Annie
These days, the Annie Hall routine has gotten old. Diane Keaton has tried it in Because I Said So (and for those of you who've been blessed to not watch this movie, keep it that way) and Something's Gotta Give (a movie where I'm supposed to buy that Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves are sexually attracted to her - what a dream world), but it's never really worked outside of the 1977 classic Annie Hall. Woody Allen wrote, directed, and starred in the film as Alvy Singer, a stand-up comedian who falls in love with a truly flight young woman named Annie Hall. The Onion A.V. Club has given a name to the type of character Annie is: the manic pixie dream girl. It's hard not to argue, though the idea that Annie is a) muse-like or b) revolutionary enough to change Alvy is a bit much.
Still, Allen and Hall have great chemistry, and why not? Before Annie Hall, they were a couple and it's very easy to see the biographical elements of the film, straight down to Allen being a comic for years before this film, which marked his transition from goofy comedies to something a little more serious. Granted, Annie Hall is a movie replete with random cameos, pop culture references, out-of-body sexual experiences, and an animated interlude by way of Snow White. So this isn't as serious of some of Allen's later efforts, such as Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and Interiors. But the movie does end unhappily, though realistically. Annie and Alvy don't wind up together, but maybe it's for the better. The two of them have too many flaws, but the memories they'll always share, whether it's cooking crabs or having to deal with Annie's crazy brother (Christopher Walken in an amazing cameo), are as timeless as their relationship.
Westley and Buttercup
An interesting theory I'll posit about The Princess Bride goes as such: most people love the movie almost in spite of the two main characters. When I was a kid, what I loved about this 1987 film (also directed by Rob Reiner) was not Westley or Buttercup or their swooning, sentimental love story. What I remembered was the journey of Inigo Montoya, the battle of wits between the man in black and Vizzini, Miracle Max, Peter Falk, Fred Savage, and Andre the Giant. But The Princess Bride works as well as it does because of the romance between these two beautiful people. Would the movie be as successful if not for the binding element that is love? Yeah, it's sappy, but this movie, written by William Goldman from his novel, is like any good movie or TV show: it's about the characters.
Story arcs are amazing, but only when the characters going through those arcs are as fascinating as the plot points. Yes, The Princess Bride isn't a plot-heavy film, but all of the various twists and turns only matter if we're invested. Cary Elwes and Robin Wright (in her first big role) don't have as much chemistry as Powell and Loy, for example, but that's because their personalities aren't as outsized or crazy as the various supporting characters in the film. However, it helps that they are, as I mentioned before, wildly attractive people. Westley also is a former pirate and manages to be as daring and dashing as Errol Flynn while barely alive. You gotta give a guy a credit where it's due. This couple may be the most beautiful, but they're just great to watch, time and time again.
Jack and Karen
No, not Jack and Karen from Will and Grace. And let's be honest, at least one or two of you was thinking that. No, I'm referring to Jack Foley and Karen Sisco, as played by George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in 1998's Out of Sight. This film, which helped catapult both Clooney and its director, Steven Soderbergh, into the serious A-List spotlight, is one of the most charming capers ever to hit the silver screen. Though the film is ostensibly about how Foley, an escaped criminal, tries to make one big score in Detroit while being hunted down by the federal government, what makes the film memorable, what makes the film one of the sexiest movies ever is the chemistry, the heat between Clooney and Lopez. For those who have not seen the film, I know it's hard to believe that Jennifer Lopez is more than just a pretty face, but she's actually a damn good actress.
At least, she is as Karen Sisco, a U.S. Marshal whose hunt for Foley takes a turn when it turns out that she's got the hots for the guy. Their introductory scene is the typical Meet Cute; except, of course, most Meet Cutes don't take place in the trunk of the car, with one of the participants handcuffed. Their meeting later in a hotel bar is among the stuff of romantic legend on film. Soderbergh's unique style is perfect for the sequence, which cuts between the two flirting at a bar knowingly and them in mid-coitus in Karen's hotel room. Their relationship has its ups and downs, of course, what with him being an incorrigible criminal and her being a dedicated member of the law, but it's always going to remain a constant, unchanging thing. Clooney and Lopez manage to not only be beautiful, but to sell their coupling. Here's a duo made for each other, as opposite as they may be.