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Image by Federico Napoli
Chemistry between stars is a mysterious yet powerful thing in cinema. It is difficult to describe or quantify as an observer, and nigh impossible for co-stars to conjure artificially, and yet when it exists it is nothing short of an entrancing and exceptional treat to watch. It is unsurprising then that when certain stars have shared the screen with such rewarding results, they often want to collaborate again and again to capitalize on the lighting-in-a-bottle movie magic while it lasts.
This has seen many on-screen partnerships rise to prominence, distinguished and delightful duos whose work together never ceases to present anything other than performative perfection. From comedy icons of many decades ago to romantic sensations in more recent times, and even to dramatic scene partners, these 10 on-screen duos are routinely flawless.
10 Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan
Best Collaboration: 'You’ve Got Mail' (1998)
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Image via Warner Bros.
The A-team of 1990s rom-com cinema, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan worked together on three separate occasions across the decade, leading to some of the most defining flicks of the era and some of the best romantic comedies of all time. The duo first worked together in the underrated 1990 movie Joe Versus the Volcano, which became a flop at the box office despite both stars’ prior success and their palpable chemistry.
Thankfully, the film’s poor performance didn’t dissuade producers from hiring Hanks and Ryan together on future projects, with Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail both fairing far better and enduring as genre classics. With Hanks’ everyman charisma and Ryan’s endearing yet effortless charms, the duo brought a gleam of old-timey optimism to the rom-coms they co-starred in. Their working relationship was briefly resumed in 2015, when Hanks appeared alongside Ryan in her directorial debut, Ithica.
Release Date December 18, 1998
Director Nora Ephron
Runtime 119 minutes
9 Simon Pegg & Nick Frost
Best Collaboration: 'Shaun of the Dead' (2004)
Image via Rogue Pictures
While there may be a few contenders to their throne, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost stand as film’s greatest comedy duo of the 21st century thus far. The pairing began their partnership on screen in the late 90s with the British sitcom Spaced, with their successful collaboration (alongside Edgar Wright) soon spawning off into 2004’s Shaun of the Dead and kick-starting what would come to be known as the Cornetto Trilogy.
The trifecta of genre-meshing comedy genius is the defining pillar of the duo’s work together, but they have further expanded with such films as Paul, The Adventures of Tintin, and even as the best part of the otherwise underwhelming Slaughterhouse Rulez. With their shared unabashed appreciation of geek culture, their impeccable comedy craft, and the fact that their real-life friendship oozes onto the screen in their collaborations, Pegg and Frost offer a sense of infectious, endearing fun in their partnership that has appealed to millions around the world.
Shaun of the Dead
Release Date September 24, 2004
Director Edgar Wright
Runtime 99 minutes
8 Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy
Best Collaboration: 'Sons of the Desert' (1933)
Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Two of comedy’s most iconic figures of yesteryear, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were the men behind the famed duo Laurel & Hardy. Interestingly, the duo first appeared in 1921’s The Lucky Dog, released some six years before their first official teamed picture release in the form the short Putting Pants on Philip. While they experienced much success with their slapstick antics through the remainder of the silent era, they truly thrived with the onset of the “talkies”.
With both of them being trained theater performers, they were able to pivot to sound films with tremendous grace, seizing them as an opportunity to implement their razor-sharp wit and an enhanced performative punch to their hysterical slapstick routines. As a recognized partnership, Laurel and Hardy appeared in over 100 films together including 23 feature-length movies. Their astonishing hilarity and comedic genius never waned, and it has endured for almost a century through such timeless classics as Sons of the Desert, The Music Box, and Way Out West.
Sons of the Desert
Release Date December 29, 1933
Director William A. Seiter
Cast Oliver Hardy , Stan Laurel , Mae Busch , Dorothy Christy , Charley Chase , Lucien Littlefield , Ernie Alexander , Brooks Benedict , Charita , Ellen Corby , Robert Cummings , John Elliott , Billy Gilbert , Charlie Hall , Pat Harmon , Ty Parvis , Hal Roach
Runtime 65 minutes
7 Robert De Niro & Joe Pesci
Best Collaboration: 'Goodfellas' (1990)
Image via Netflix
As two of the greatest icons of crime cinema who have helped define the genre alongside Martin Scorsese, it should come as no surprise that four of the seven collaborations between Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci have come in Scorsese pictures. Interestingly, they have also co-starred in the two pictures the De Niro himself has directed, with Sergio Leone’s crime epic Once Upon a Time in America being the seventh of their collaborations.
What De Niro and Pesci ultimately bring to the screen is a tremendous and urgent sense of intensity, a palpable and often unnerving energetic fervor that defines the underlying tone of many of their movies. The 2019 release of The Irishman saw the duo's partnership stretch across 39 years, beginning with the acclaimed classic Raging Bull while consisting of such films as Goodfellas and Casino as well. Had they appeared as true co-stars more often, as opposed to Pesci playing second fiddle to De Niro, the duo could have easily stood as the single greatest acting pairing in Hollywood history.
Release Date September 21, 1990
Runtime 145 Minutes
6 Bud Abbott & Lou Costello
Best Collaboration: 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein' (1948)
Image via T.C.A. Productions
One of the biggest partnerships in entertainment through the 40s and 50s and the highest paid duo during the course of the Second World War, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are among the most famous performers comedy has ever seen. The duo first worked together when Abbott filled in for Costello’s usual scene partner at the Eltinge Burlesque Theater in 1935. In 1938, they made their radio debut as a duo, before transitioning to the screen for the first time in 1940’s One Night in the Tropics.
Their comedic genius was defined by their rapid-fire wit and their knockabout slapstick routines that soared to new heights on the screen. In terms of their pursuits in film, they are known for their vast array of comedic inspirations, from war-focused hysterics like Buck Privates to horror-comedies like Hold That Ghost. As the Universal Monsters franchise began to falter, studio execs re-ignited the horror saga with new life by releasing a series of comedic spins on the classic creature features starring the comedy duo. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein remains a quintessential touchstone of comedy-horror cinema.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Release Date June 15, 1948
Director Charles Barton
Cast Bud Abbott , Lou Costello , Lon Chaney Jr. , Béla Lugosi , Glenn Strange
Runtime 83 Minutes
5 Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau
Best Collaboration: 'The Odd Couple' (1968)
Image by Paramount Pictures
In 1966, Billy Wilder released the black comedy The Fortune Cookie, which excelled at the box office and went on to win an Academy Award for four nominations. Far more importantly though, it introduced the world to the collaborative might of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, with the duo working together a further nine times over the following three decades to be the greatest comedy duo of the back half of the 20th century.
1968’s The Odd Couple will forever be their best and most revered movie. They also charmed the masses with movies like Grumpy Old Men and The Front Page. Like the aforementioned union between Pegg and Frost, Lemmon and Matthau found a ceaselessly gleeful energy in their real-life friendship. It ensured the duo remained a perfect partnership who could occupy the screen with majesty and hilarity even if the films they appeared sometimes left something to be desired.
The Odd Couple
Release Date May 16, 1968
Director Gene Saks
Cast Jack Lemmon , Walter Matthau , John Fiedler , Herb Edelman , David Sheiner , Larry Haines
Runtime 105 minutes
4 Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone
Best Collaboration: 'La La Land' (2016)
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Image via Lionsgate
While there have been acting duos that have been more prolific, there is no on-screen partnership this century that can match the divinity of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Their irresistible chemistry was present from their first moments on screen together in the 2011 romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love, a film that has become something of a modern gem of the genre largely because of Gosling and Stone’s performances.
There is a peculiar irony in their greatness having a film as underwhelming as Gangster Squad in the mix, but the duo proved that their outstanding chemistry can elevate a weaker movie as well as accentuate an already great one. To truly reflect on their brilliance, however, one can only stand in awe and admiration of their mesmerizing work together in the Oscar-winning instant classic La La Land. Be it comedy, stylish crime intrigue, or musical drama, the duo’s romantic chemistry on screen is simply unmatched in recent years. Here’s hoping they work together many more times in the future.
Release Date December 9, 2016
Director Damien Chazelle
Runtime 128 Minutes
3 Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers
Collaboration: 'Swing Time' (1936)
Image via RKO Radio Pictures
One of the first great screen duos, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dominated the screen in the 1930s with their dance numbers charming moviegoers in nine films across the decade. Interestingly, their first picture together, 1933’s Flying Down to Rio, saw them occupy mere supporting roles, but their performance fast became the highlight of the film and led to 1934’s The Gay Divorcee, the first film in which they truly starred alongside each other.
Their vibrant dance sequences married beautifully with their natural chemistry and their sincere romantic performances, making for an esteemed body of work rife with genre-defining classics and plenty of charm to boot. The onset of the 1940s saw Ginger Rogers branching out to prove herself in more dramatic roles, a decision that saw her win the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1941’s Kitty Foyle, but 1949 saw the duo reunite for one final film, The Barkleys of Broadway. Despite the fact that it was produced by MGM, many of the crew members from RKO who had worked on the pair’s earlier films were present to see the two stars perform their final dance number together.
2 Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall
Best Collaboration: 'The Big Sleep' (1946)
Image via Warner Bros.
A partnership that is as iconic as any pairing during Hollywood’s Golden Age, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall still stand as one of the most well-known celebrity couples of all time. Joyously, their true love tale translated to the screen with exceptional results, with four of their five classic on-screen collaborations coming to be revered as defining highlights of the 1940s, while the fifth—a cameo appearance as themselves at the end of Two Guys from Milwaukee—highlights their stardom and their comedic fervor.
The very best of their appearances together is nigh impossible to select. They are electric together amid the enigmatic mystique of the noir classic The Big Sleep. Their romantic tenderness was never better than it was in To Have and Have Not. They occupy an entrancing, twisted air in Dark Passage, and then their work together in Key Largo might be the most underrated presentation of their shared energy on the screen. While Bogie & Bacall may not have been the most prolific acting duo of their time, their grace on the screen is truly timeless, and they remain one of the greatest romantic pairings cinema has ever seen.
The Big Sleep
Release Date August 31, 1946
Director Howard Hawks
Runtime 114 Minutes
1 Errol Flynn & Olivia de Havilland
Best Collaboration: 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' (1938)
Image via Warner Bros.
Chemistry and charm in a romantic pairing is liquid gold for filmmakers. To have two stars who can endear themselves to audiences with such qualities can single-handedly elevate films to be astonishing classics. Perhaps no romantic pairing has been as sensational in this regard as the one between Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, with their body of work through the 30s and early 40s consisting of such classics as The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, and Dodge City.
No matter the genre, the pair’s chemistry was infectious, with Flynn typically being the swashbuckling and mischievous hero cast against de Havilland’s graceful yet resolute and plucky love interest. Their relationship off the screen is as fascinating as their bond on it, with the duo reportedly being completely in love with each other yet never acting on their shared attraction. Perhaps that is the reason why their characters’ romances were realized with such exceptional passion that they stand not only as cinema’s best romantic duo, but as the greatest acting partnership the medium has seen.
Release Date May 13, 1938
Director Michael Curtiz , William Keighley
Cast Errol Flynn , Olivia de Havilland , Basil Rathbone , Claude Rains , Patric Knowles , Eugene Pallette , Alan Hale , Melville Cooper , Ian Hunter , Una O'Connor , Herbert Mundin , Montagu Love , Leonard Willey , Robert Noble , Kenneth Hunter , Robert Warwick , Colin Kenny
Runtime 102 Minutes
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