I think there are a lot of great answers in this thread, but chemistry is really subjective. As an example, the BBC show Merlin. I think Colin Morgan (Merlin) and Bradley James (Arthur) have enormous chemistry that pretty much eclipses everything on the show. My best friend is pretty meh to it though she loves the relationship between Arthur and Gwen–to me they are a black hole of chemistry. This clip is a good example. Watch from 1:22 to 3:28, for a contrast between Arthur/Gwen and Arthur/Merlin interaction if you want to see what I mean.
I agree with several people above. Chemistry is mostly “do I believe them as a couple.”. For example, Obsessed with Beyonce and…umm some guy. I didn’t buy them as a couple that was really into each other. For great chemistry, see almost any of the music videos with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Of course they actually are a couple but the chemistry is palpable.
That’s a great example. I watched “Adam’s Rib” a while ago, and they were the most believable married couple I’d ever seen in a movie. If Tracy’s wife wasn’t aware of their affair, she should have been after that.
But I tend to blame casting more than acting. There are so many subtleties iun the way we interact, especially sexually, that not every actor (or even many) can fake real interest very well. Most times they get tested together, and if there is no chemistry the director and casting agent should see it. I’d bet that a lot of problems come from deals put together by agents or by trying to find two stars to open a movie, and so the lack of chemistry isn’t allowed to kill the deal.
I hope you mean that this is an example of good chemistry in movies, because otherwise I don’t get the concept at all! I remember seeing it when it came out, and I thought that George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez had good back-and-forth banter and seemed very comfortable with each other.
I have a few more examples off the top of my head where I thought that a couple showed good chemistry - anyone care to correct me and show me that I am still clueless about the whole idea?
[ul]Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly in Rear Window, and also James Stewart and Thelma Ritter in Rear Window
In Jimmy Stewart’s place, I would have picked the friend with the glasses, because I would have been too intimidated by glamorous Grace Kelly.
[li]Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember - After seeing the movie, I really believed that they were deeply in love.[/li][li]Maris Tomei and Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny - At first glance, I thought that Joe Pesci was too short and shrimpy for her, but she made me believe that she really was in love with Vinny.[/li][li]Brad Pitt and Julia Ormond in Legends of the Fall - I could definitely see some attraction there.[/li][li]Wall-E and Eve in Wall-E - such a cute couple![/li][*]C-3PO and R2-D2 in Star Wars - like an old married couple arguing about everything.[/ul]
Yes, now that you have explained it so well, would you care to build a chemistry detector to help automate movie critiques? 
+1 for the humor
+1 for the metaphor
-1 for lack of elaboration of metaphor
I agree that body language conveys additional queues that we interpret subconsciously. Although there is a particular acting group (or school?) I recall from college classes, whose technique is, instead of trying to either try to be ‘in the moment’ as the character, or draw on their own personal emotional history, instead try to replicate the real life body language of people in a similar situation. (One example - they videotaped a party of themselves acting naturally and then tried to duplicate it in a play by paying attention to everything, not just the dialogue).
I don’t really agree with the Simon-Kaylee thing. While Kaylee had more obvious physical chemistry with original-engineer-guy cause he had nice abs and they were shown having sex, I saw her relationship with Simon as being more complicated. She was obviously way into him. He eventually obviously started getting clued in, but also obviously, his protection of his sister was a huge overbearing obstacle to any other possible goal. It wasn’t until Serenity, when she was given some moderate peace of mind, and also given de facto amnesty, that he was able to relax and swing his attention back to Kaylee. And I found that scene where he finally makes love to her to be pretty satisfactory.
But certainly, I can understand how the ‘delayed consummation’ could temper people’s feelings in the same way as my aforementioned ‘conflict tension turns into sexual tension, but it’s too little too late’ factor…
Yes and no and yes.
Yes, there’s a third person, the viewer, who has to be convinced, and their gullibility level will be variable.
No, one character’s appeal to the viewer will generally not affect the apparent chemistry of the pair.
Yes, on consideration of the above example, perhaps it will. I mean, the original engineer is a total douche. But, he’s totally hot. I have trouble differentiating between the possibility that I found their scene together full of chemistry because 1) he’s a total hottie and 2) Kaylee is a total… sexually mature woman. Also, in other cases, one actor/character may be so hot that while the chemistry might be one way, one has trouble imagining the chemistry being while one sided, not being nuclear in the direction towards the more sexually attractive partner…
It’s probably possible. And I probably could. But the demand is not all that high, and I still haven’t finished that detailed Inception diagram…
Romantic chemistry is just one kind of chemistry. There’s also comic chemistry, where two comic actors manage to play off each other for macimum effect. Look at any of the classic comic teams; or look at the characters of Sheldon and Penny from *the Big Bang Theory *- any scene between the two of them is comic gold, simply because the two actors are on the exact same comic wavelength.
And whatever the series and whatever their sexual orientation, Johnny Galecki and Sara Gilbert have romantic chemistry.
Jeff Goldblum and Emma Thompson in ‘The Tall Guy’…
Chemistry has nothing to do with the plot or dialogue, but with more subtle features of the way the characters interact. I didn’t notice any particular chemistry between Kaylee and the first engineer, but I notice it a lot between her and Mal and her and Inara. Inara and Mal also have fabulous chemistry and they never even kiss.
I don’t think it’s the characters either – it’s the actors. It has little to do with the script and everything to do with the real people on set. I haven’t watched Firefly in ages, but I’ll never forget how in the scene where Kaylee and Simon are chilling on a couch together and Kaylee puts her feet on Simon’s face, Sean Maher looked like he could barely contain his distaste. He smiles but it’s a pained smile that contradicts his dialogue. That’s an example of the actor pulling out of a scene (and I don’t blame him at all – feet are gross).
I agree with this completely (sorry, I had quoted it earler but forgot to address it :)). These spontaneous affectionate gestures, or the lack thereof, or even subconsciously hostile or distracted gestures come from the actor and his/her psyche, not the script, and these absolutely affect the semblance of their relationships with the other actors/characters.
Another good example is Kristen Kreuk on Smallville (at least in the early seasons, before I stopped watching). She always had much better chemistry in her scenes with Allison Mack than with anybody else, and not at all coincidentally, she and Allison Mack were good friends in real life. She was more relaxed and at ease acting with her friend, and it showed.
It’s been noted before that in True Blood Anna Paquin has very “meh” chemistry playing opposite her real life husband (and in-show character’s lover) Stephen Moyer, but her scenes (sexual or not) with Alexander Skarsgaard absolutely sizzle. If I didn’t know any better I’d assume she and Alexander were knocking boots offstage and that Stephen was a chance acquaintance. Maybe it’s one of those deals where the actors don’t want their private bidness splashed across a screen, but considering the remarkably carnal nature of the show it’s a bit puzzling.
That’s a good example - they’re talking about a serious, life-threatening situation which also involves other people, and as you watch, you keep expecting them to kiss throughout it.
James Garner is a good example of this - he seems to have excellent chemistry with everyone he’s on screen with, romantic or comedic or dramatic. One of my favourite movies of his is “Murphy’s Romance” with Sally Field - that’s an example of two excellent actors acting excellently with each other. They’re 30 years apart in age in the movie? Doesn’t matter in the slightest.
Well, there’s always a naysayer, and I’m it. The OP asked how you could tell the difference between chemistry and a good script done by good actors, and for me Out of Sight was hamstrung by the dreaded “I read the book first” factor. There was a good script, and Clooney is a good actor, but I detected no chemistry.
The theme of the book was the power of personal chemistry, and it was done very well (which is why it got made into a movie). When I listened to Clooney and Lopez recite the speeches the characters never came alive for me. They had great lines to say, but when they were saying them I never forgot that they were parroting Elmore Leonard.
I can think of several actors who set off my gaydar largely because of their seeming inability to establish romantic chemistry with female leads. (I’d rather not name names as I don’t want to play the “Is he gay?” game.)
What’s really weird is when two actors have chemistry, while the characters are not supposed to. One example common in the shipping community (people who investigate and put together fictional romantic pairings) is on the Disney Channel show Wizards of Waverly place. The two main leads are brother-and-sister, often appear to be more like a couple–in fact, there are rumors that the actors actually are, but are keeping it secret because Disney doesn’t want them to be, for obvious reasons.
When it gets gross is when you realize that there are some people who want the two characters to get together, called Jalex shippers. (Jalex is a portemanteau of the two character’s names, and shipper is short for relationshipper–someone who wants them to be in a romantic relationship.) Look up that term at your own risk.
Leonardo??
It’s not just the physical actors themselves–I think Homer and Marge Simpson have real sexual chemistry.
I know it when I see it, but I agree that it’s entirely subjective and can be a combination of things: barely-suppressed libido, frequent eye contact, casual touching, barely-concealed mirth, witty repartee that appears unscripted, the characters’ noticeable enjoyment of each other’s company, etc. If the actor and actress audition together and the room heats up, a casting director should take notice. Assigning Star A and Starlet B two characters which the script demands are attracted to each other, without more, foolishly ignores the unquantifiably human element of chemistry.
Some of my favorite examples of movie chemistry:
- Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca
- Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious
- Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in It’s a Wonderful Life
- Ahnuld and Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies
- Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn in Aliens
- Warren Beatty and Julie Christie in Heaven Can Wait
I can answer what I mean when i use that term.
Every person has a number of characteristics that, combined, make up their personality. These characteristics include amongst others, emotional and intellectual depth of analysis and correlation, several types of intelligence, experiences and circumstances as a baby, child, teenager, adult etc. What the person considers “normalised” and what it doesn’t, what it considers “good” or “bad”… The list can go on.
Every person will find that there are some individuals with whom a big enough number of these characteristics tend towards similarity, while with a great number of other individuals the number is not big enough, or the similarity is not close enough.
Because we “feel”, in many cases subconsciously, very different when we are with a person who we deem (again, in many cases subconsciously) “compatible” or not so much, we tend to show ques, often in body language and often imperceptible to someone who’s not looking for them or who doesn’t know what to look for.
“Good chemistry” is that compatibility shown through a lot of little almost imperceptible cues, which if not analysed by the conscious brain, create a “sense” of compatibility that’s perceived only by out subconscious mind. Reverse for “bad chemistry”
This is how I see it, I hope it helps!
myzzz, welcome to the Straight Dope.
First, notice that this thread is from 2010. Some of its participants are still around and active, but some are not.
Second, what you say may be a good explanation of chemistry between people “in real life,” but I don’t think it really applies to “chemistry” between romantic leads in a movie, which is what this thread is about.