With Valentine's Day around the corner and the recent release of New in Town, I've begun to wonder...

Does movie love have to hurt?

Can two opposing forces turn repulsion into attraction in a romantic, yet comical, liaison that doesn't leave us feeling hostile and hollow, vowing to never trust Hollywood again?

Thankfully, behind the bad memories good love keeps some torches burning. There are still some charismatic mismatches on film that make for high-caliber kiss-n'-chuckle combos that won't make Cupid (or you) want to shoot himself in the head with an arrow.

Good Love

The African Queen
Hepburn and Bogart thoroughly test and prove the opposites-attract theory. After a bumpy start, the prissy, spinster-missionary and coarse, grimy, gin-chugging tramp steamer captain fondly forge on to save the world in this WWI epic.

Star Wars
More fireworks fly in their verbal shootouts (or should I say foreplay?) than in the sum of every Empire-versus-Rebels clash. To her, Han Solo's a scoundrel-like space smuggler. To him, Leia's a snooty, bossy princess. Together, it's swashbuckling space luv.

Bridget Jones's Diary
Bumbling, brash Bridget Jones finds the Mr. Darcy of her dreams in aloof, uptight barrister Mark Darcy. At first the two fit each other as uncomfortably as a wooly, reindeer-faced Christmas sweater. But in the end, beneath their itchy exteriors, they're a plum pair.

Rushmore
Extracurricular-aholic teen misfit Max Fischer makes a deliciously delinquent comic foil to the first-grade teacher he pines for. Even if his obsessive affection doesn't make the grade in the end.

Romancing the Stone
Another reckless soldier of fortune meets a sassy, out-of-her-element female, this time in the dark heart of Columbia. Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner have a simmering cinematic chemistry that money can't buy. Or at least one that Hollywood hasn't purchased in the last decade.

Bad Love

What should you miss this weekend?
(And I know, one person's cheese is another's cherished favorite.)

Maid in Manhattan
Does "Jenny from the Block" want you to know she can go from Cinderella to Senatorial arm candy and still keep it real? Well, sadly, J. Lo has more chemistry with her feather duster than with Ralph Fiennes.

Knocked Up
Gorgeous go-getter falls in love with slouchy slacker. Okay, Apatow, I suppose us ladies could buy into that bong-induced fantasy. But wait, the seed from which their love springs is a boozy romp that gets the girl knocked up? And she tumbles head over heels for the guy because ... his balls jokes and willingness to be a dad make her swoon?

Notting Hill
"After all ... I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her."

(Feeling ... queasy ...)

Why does Julia's self-depreciating portrayal of an off-screen movie star seem more Stepford-esque than sincere? Movie stars are people too? Oh, boohoo Hollywood. Boo. Hoo.

Forces of Nature
A yuppie and a free spirit (free spirit = lots of mascara) endure catastrophes of biblical proportions -- rainstorms, a plane crash, a car wreck, hitchhiking horrors, and, heavens have mercy, a Ben Affleck striptease -- all so Ben can rush to his wedding and marry someone else.

Sweet Home Alabama
What's a girl to do? Reunite with her down-home husband in the land of Southern comfort? Or wed her dishy Big Apple fiancée? This stereotype-stuffed story is about as meaningful and appetizing as "sex on a stick."

I haven't seen this one but I dare Eric D. Snider to review the strange brew...

Mr. Wrong
Forget Mr. Wrong, check out Mrs. Wrong: Ellen dating Bill Pullman?

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us