Here’s an example of great chemistry that goes back a few years: Captain Frank Furillo and public defender Joyce Davenport on Hill Street Blues.
Oh yes. If I had been directing the film, it would have been these two kissing.
I don’t think of bad chemistry much because to me most romance is bad chemistry, i.e., I really don’t like romance in my flicks. I find it terribly annoying and thus don’t watch romantic flicks.
And once I thought of the Star Wars Anakin-Padme duo, it’s hard to think of anything worse than that.
Word. I remember from the very first film, buying the romantic tension between the two of them on the island much more than any between Elizabeth and Will. Spoilers for 3rd movie…
I still can’t believe they completely abandoned that in the third film. sob
And now, to delve into my other obsessive fandom:
Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper had amazing chemistry in the first season of the new Doctor Who. I know several folks who were pleasantly gobsmacked when they first watched the new Who, thinking “Jeez, they’d better tone it back a few notches if they plan on keeping the ‘No hanky-panky in the TARDIS’ rule intact!”
No mention of the great comedy acts of yesteryear under best?
Abbot and Costello
Laurel and Hardie
Hope and Crosby
I also thought Stanley Tucci and Tony Shaloub gelled in Big Night; both the original odd couple (Matthau and Lemmon) and their TV counterparts (Klugman and Randall) worked perfectly together.
Pesci and DeNiro always worked well together.
As for a TV couple that just doesn’t click for me, the actor and actress who play Lee Adama and Anastasia Dualla on Battlestar Galactica just don’t mesh.
While I agree there was chemistry between Travolta and Thurman in Pulp Fiction, I don’t think it was as sexual as some are making it out to be. For one thing, Travolta worked for Ving Rames character and was very, very leery of having to go on a “date” with his wife. He specifically asked about the Samoan (Rocky Something) getting tossed out a window for looking at Thurman. Plus, Travolta’s on smack, and smack doesn’t lend itself to too much sexual activity.
Thurman, for her part, plays a little cat and mouse with Travolta, but I never got the impression she’d stray from Ving Rames.
Can I just say I caught *Legally Blonde * over the weekend (hey, Reese Witherspoon is cute, and my daughter wanted to watch it) and Ali Larter was SO both Jessica and Niki in that movie! In the jail scenes she was Niki, but in the courtroom she was Jessica.
BUt y ou gotta admit Fred and Ginger had some great chemistry. I wouldn’t necessarily buy them as a romantic couple but they were fun to watch on-screen.
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned Before Sunrise and Before Sunset’s Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy). Holy cow- THAT was a scorching couple.
Did we mention Hiro and Ando in “Heroes” yet for good chemistry? (Danged senile brain.)
Bad chemistry - Ewan MacGregor and Scarlett Johanssen in “The Island.” Two very pretty people, pretty movie, no chemistry.
Good chemistry - Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn in “The Terminator.”
Ooh, ooh - thought of one for GREAT chemistry - Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman in “Beauty and the Beast” on tv. I was a heeeyuge fan of that show.
Yeah, I’m with you there. Personally (and I’m not even a particular fan of this pairing, but), I think Mal and Zoe have tons more chemistry than Zoe and Wash.
Man, are you kidding me? How else do you explain that moment where they were dancing their way into the house, and then they stop and just look at each other silently… then Vincent says “Is that what you call an uncomfortable silence?” to which Mia replies “I don’t know WHAT you call that.” If that’s not a clear indication of romantic tension, I don’t know what is.
Also, I can’t quote it right now 'cause I’m at work, but don’t you remember the little talking-to Vincent gave himself in the bathroom? Basically convincing himself to just behave, go home, and uh… deal with it?
It was chemistry. Vincent was first paralyzed with fear of his boss, and then thankfully saved from any further temptations by Mia’s overdose, but the desire was clearly there.
Travolta may have thought he was going to get some of Thurman, but I don’t see her doing it. Playing with him - stringing him along for a little sport - seeing just how far he’s willing to go (before he, too, takes a dive out of window) - but never giving in. Of course, once she needed the needle to the heart, all bets were off.
I thought he had great chemistry with Drew Barrymore in the Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates.
Also think Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderez had great chemistry in Original Sin.
Good chemistry: Elizabeth Montgomery & Dick York in “Bewitched” (early years).
Not so good chemistry: Elizabeth Montgomery & Dick Sargeant in “Bewitched” (later years).
No chemistry: Will Farrell & Nicole Kidman in “Bewitched” (feature film remake).
I am just posting to get The New and Improved Superman’s name off the “last posted” list as it takes up half my screen in my User CP!
Great chemistry. The scene where they get it on (conceiving John) is scorching hot.
Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix are two people I never would have thought could be good together, but they were really believable in Walk the Line.
Hot: Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin, The Big Easy
Not: Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock in Two Weeks Notice.
But Ron Livingston and Damien Lewis in Band of Brothers had mucho chemistry. Then, on Sex in the City, back to no chemistry with horseface.
My fave for chemistry would have to be O’Toole and Hepburn in The Lion in Winter. Snappy chemistry and snappy dialogue – what’s not to like?
Doesn’t matter for my argument whether or not she’d do it. All that matters is the desire to, and I guess that’s a point of interpretation, but man, to me it definitely seemed like the space between them was the product of a rigidly enforced effort.
Best ‘Buddy Cop’ chemistry: Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in 48 hrs.
Excellent Romantic chemistry in an under-appreciated film: Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turner in Undercover Blues. You can even make it a troika and add in Muerte (Stanley Tucci). Oh, how I wish we had gotten some sequels to that movie. Those characters deserved to live again.
I’ve gotta agree with the great chemistry between James Spader and William Shatner on Boston Legal.
Surprisingly, Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds had pretty good chemistry in City Heat.
Oh, and how about Kathleen Turner and William Hurt in Body Heat? Or maybe it was just Kathleen Turner… She was never hotter than in that film.
Speaking of Kathleen Turner, she had good chemistry with Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone.
We might as well add Nancy Allen and Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark.