New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

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.

Continued:       1       2       3