McGosling + Much More: The 10 Most Incendiary Onscreen Couplings

Do you like stories about true love and crying? Well, then, today is a big day for you! It’s the 10th anniversary of The Notebook, a movie that redefined true love for the 21st century audience. What really made The Notebook an instant classic wasn’t its Nicholas Sparks source-material, but the incandescent chemistry of its stars.

Truly great on-screen chemistry is rare, but it can salvage a sub-par movie, set fire to the box office and leave us with all sorts of fantasies about what the actors are doing together off-screen. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are just two of the latest performers to join the ranks of the most incendiary onscreen couples.

» Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams

If you stop to think about it, Noah and Allie’s story in The Notebook is kind of boring. Rich girl and poor boy fall in love. They get separated. Ryan Gosling builds a house with his bare hands. They kiss in the rain. It shouldn’t be all that compelling. However, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams transported us into a world exploding with passion every time they glanced, smiled or frowned at one another. Is it any wonder, then, that we all went bananas when they kissed in the rain?

The Notebook is available to rent on Amazon and Google Play.

» Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy

It’s easy to be cynical about true love in the modern world. Can two people meet and instantly connect? And if they do, is it all about sex, or can it still be about their souls converging? Can it be both? Richard Linkletter’s beautiful film Before Sunrise tackles these questions and makes a resounding case for the power of love. Of course, the strength of the film lies on Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy and their own electric connection as performers. Their chemistry was so strong that they’ve continued their characters’ stories twice in the past decade in the sequels, Before Sunset and Before Midnight.

Before Sunrise is available to rent on Amazon and Google Play. 

» Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall

Humphrey Bogart always oozed sexual confidence on screen, but he was at his hottest opposite his wife, Lauren Bacall. The two met on the set of To Have and Have Not, when he was 45 and she was 19. The two smoldering classic film stars fell in love, got married and became one of the great love stories in Hollywood history. Of course, they lit up the screen again—most notably in the landmark crime drama, The Big Sleep.

The Big Sleep is available to rent on Amazon and Google Play. 

» Shailene Woodley & Ansel Elgort

Sure, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams defined romance for the past decade, but there’s a new tragic film couple for today’s generation: Shailene Woodley & Ansel Elgort. The duo played siblings in the recent Divergent adaptation, but made a massive summer box office splash as doomed lovers in The Fault In Our Stars. The kids seem over the moon about their love story and the kids can’t be wrong, can they?

The Fault In Our Stars is available for pre-order on Amazon.

» Gary Oldman & Chloe Webb

Love is not always a wonderful, beautiful thing. Sometimes, it’s a destructive and disgusting nightmare. Enter Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb in Sid & Nancy. No other film gives so unflinching a portrait of how the magnetism that inexplicably pulls two people together can tear them both apart.

Sid & Nancy is available for rental on Vudu. 

» Raul Julia & Anjelica Huston

Have you re-watched The Addams Family recently? Three things about the movie hold up: the effects work on Thing, Christina Ricci’s delightfully macabre performance and Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston’s sexual connection. Everything about the way Gomez and Morticia Addams interact with each other, from the way they dance, to the way they look away from each other, screams sex. We’re not sure our parents should have let us watch this as children (but we’re kind of glad they did).

The Addams Family is currently streaming on Netflix and Addams Family Values is streaming on Amazon. 

» George Clooney & Jennifer Lopez

Both George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez are still considered two of the sexiest stars in Hollywood, even though they’re both hitting middle age. Do we still think they’re hot because they are hot, or are we still associating them with their steamy scenes opposite each other in Out of Sight? The two actors suggested more sensuality in a glance in the film than many couples express in a lifetime.

Out of Sight is streaming on Hulu.

» Richard Gere & Debra Winger

We know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering why we’re ranking Richard Gere and Debra Winger over Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. The answer: sex. Down, dirty, all-consuming, world-destroying sex. The connection between Gere and Roberts is bubbly and sweet. The connection between Gere and Winger in An Officer And A Gentleman is desperate and dangerous. Let’s just say we like a little danger at Decider.

An Officer And A Gentleman is available to rent on Amazon and Google Play.

» Kirsten Dunst & Josh Hartnett

Director Sofia Coppola tackled the seductive secrets of the young female psyche in The Virgin Suicides, but you could argue that the film wouldn’t have worked unless we could feel the raw, desperate combustibility between Kirsten Dunst’s Lux Lisbon and Josh Hartnett’s Trip Fontaine. He’s the classic high school god and she’s the platonic ideal of the lovelorn Lolita. Add a dash of classic Heart, and you’ve got the epitome of a teenage dream.

The Virgin Suicides is currently streaming on Netflix.

» Myrna Loy & William Powell 

If you’ve never heard of Myra Loy, William Powell or seen The Thin Man, it’s time to get an old school Hollywood education. This classic Hollywood duo appeared in 14 movies together. Yup. They were that beloved by 1930s and 1940s Americans. The secret ingredient to their classy chemistry? Because of censorship, their sexuality was all in the subtext. A well-timed wink, a knowing smirk and witty repartee served as their foreplay. Once you’ve seen their two most famous characters, Nick & Nora Charles, tackle a case (and a bottle of booze), you’re not going to be happy with real romance until it looks just like one of their perfectly-acted movie scenes.

The Thin Man is available to rent on Amazon and Google Play.