The 10 greatest movie couples!

Ah, romantic films. For centuries, men and women have sat down and enjoyed a romantic film/play/cave drawing with one another. From 1st date to 500th date, a film about love always works a charm.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we’re going to begin celebrating love in all its wonderful forms. Take heed lovers, and unfairly compare your own relationships with these flawless cinematic couplings. So, here are the 10 greatest movie couples, beginning with…

10. Mickey and Mallory (Natural Born Killers)

So what if they’re vicious, murderous maniacs with no regard for human lives other than their own? These two have something in common, and that’s special in a relationship. Imagine sitting across from Mickey during a particularly arduous speed dating session? Or taking Mallory to the movies to see the new George Clooney flick. It wouldn’t work. But Mickey and Mallory together, shooting Robert Downey Jr in the face? That’s love.

9. Juan Antonio and Marie Elena and Cristina (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Juan Antonio and Marie Elena are unhinged firecrackers, whose love is so passionate they might just be forced to kill one another. But throw in the voluptuous American Cristina and it’s the perfect relationship. Would you believe me if I said this ménage was more about love than sex? Nah, me neither. Lucky jerks.

8. CC and Fran (The Apartment)

Corporate pushover C.C. lets his superiors use his humble flat to romance their mistresses, while he goes to the movies, or sometimes just waits outside his building. When unstable elevator girl Fran attempts suicide in his apartment, C.C. jumps in to keep her awake. Somewhere between watching her get slapped in the face repeatedly by the doctor and making sure she doesn’t fall asleep, he falls in love. I know what you’re thinking. Cli-che!

7. Jamal and Latika (Slumdog Millionaire)

What is the most effective way to romance the love of your life? A) Pick up a box of chocolates for her on the way home, and NOT eat any before you hand them over. B) SMS your intentions – “I rly rly rly luv u. L8er!” C) Start a discussion in which you try to say you don’t want to celebrate Valentine’s Day, “because it’s just another corporate Hallmark holiday that doesn’t MEAN anything”. D) Escape the slums of Mumbai, fight your own brother, try to rescue her from gangsters, and finally appear on Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the hopes that she is watching. Jamal just set the bar fellas.

6. Jack and Karen (Out of Sight)

It’s widely agreed that the car boot kidnapping of cop Karen Cisco by charming criminal Jack Foley is one of the sexiest sequences in cinema. Pretty impressive for a scene in which George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez simply talk to one another. That’s it. All they do is talk about their favourite movies in the trunk of a car; pressed against one another in the confined space; dim red light highlighting only bits of their bodies; tiny beads of sweat collecting on their brow; you can practically hear their tongues rolling of their own lips when they speak. I’m sorry, I’m going to need a minute.

5. WALL-E and EVE (WALL-E)

Little is said between these two robots other than their own names, but I’ll be damned if there was a more touching romantic coupling in 2008. Realistically, we’ve seen this love story a million times before – quirky, unattractive guy manages to charm the smart, impossibly beautiful girl. Also, the film is set 700 years in the future, when WALL-E is literally ‘the last guy on Earth’. But bless those animators over at Pixar – you can really feel these two fall in love.

4. Jesse and Celine (Before Sunrise/Before Sunset)

Jesse and Celine only shared one day together – they met on a train on the way to Paris, and decided to spend the evening with each other until parting ways Before Sunrise. These two idealistic kids never forget about one another, and eventually collided again 10 years later. Now they only have the afternoon to decide whether to part ways again. What will they choose?! You decide.

3. Harry and Sally (When Harry Met Sally)

Who hasn’t fallen in love with a friend before? I know I have a nasty habit of doing such (much to the chagrin of my constantly harassed poker buddies). When Harry Met Sally asks an important question – can you just be friends with a member of the opposite sex? Harry and Sally give it a good shot, but ultimately, they can’t fight true love. Or Pecan Pie.

2. Bleeker and Juno (Juno)

Sardonic teen genius Juno MacGuff and track-team and Tic Tac aficionado Paulie Bleeker’s relationship gets off to a rocky start (his ‘doodle can’t be undid’ as I recall). But not even they can deny they’re a match made in indie heaven. Maybe they won’t be together forever, but neither will forget the time he left the marathon early to lie next to her on the hospital bed. That moment makes my girlfriend cry every time.

1. Joel and Clementine (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)

Kate Winslet’s defining cinematic romance was NOT aboard the Titanic, but instead inside the crevasses of Jim Carrey’s memory. Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry’s imaginative and so-truthful-it-hurts romance holds a special place in the hearts of all who see it. I don’t think I could ever surmise it better than the film’s own tagline – “getting someone out of your mind is easy; getting them out of your heart is another story”. See it with someone you love, like, literally right now.

We’d love to hear from you! What are your favourite movie couples?