Comingsoon.net isn’t teaming up with anyone, but we’re still interested in finding out the best duos across film. Check out our selections in the gallery below!
What’s better than a dynamic and enthralling leading actor giving the performance of a lifetime? Two dynamic and enthralling leading actors giving performances of a lifetime, that’s what. Truth be told, there’s rarely anything better than a great on-screen duo, no matter what the genre.
It seems great on-screen duos have come from almost every type of film imaginable—horror, comedy, drama, action, romance, whatever. Throughout film history, we’ve seen some of the most iconic scenes cemented into the pop culture pantheon because of the help of a great on-screen pairing. We’ve compiled some of the best examples here.
Best duos
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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The earliest entry in this collection, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid promises a great duo right there in the title. Starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, the movie is a Western that gets its story from true events. Newman and Redford are just incredible.
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Fight Club (1999)
Brad Pitt and Edward Norton continue to be two of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood, due in large part to their collaboration on David Fincher’s Fight Club back in 1999. The movie is a psychological drama and a favorite among those who seek out edgy, abrasive films, but it’s also worth watching just to see Pitt and Norton working well off of each other.
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Hot Fuzz (2007)
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are obviously a dynamic duo—they’re always seen together, no matter what the movie. Hot Fuzz is the greatest example of what they’re capable of together, a buddy cop-buddy comedy hybrid that hits all the right beats.
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Lethal Weapon (1987)
The epitome of the buddy cop genre, Shane Black’s breakout hit Lethal Weapon puts Mel Gibson and Danny Glover at the forefront, both delivering quotable lines and bouncing off of each other with a mixture of frustration and admiration. Many have tried, but very few have succeeded at replicating its greatness.
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Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
The seminal Thanksgiving movie, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is so, so funny. It’s a road trip movie for the ages, putting two people who can’t stand being in the same vicinity in a car traveling cross-country. Steve Martin and John Candy are unbeatable here.
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Step Brothers (2008)
Speaking of dynamic duos from R-rated studio comedies, Step Brothers remains a classic over a decade after its release in 2008. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly deliver some of the best improvised lines in comedy history, feeding off of each other in a way only true improv comics could.
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Superbad (2007)
One of the last great R-rated studio comedies (a subgroup of the film industry that has seemingly disappeared in recent years), Superbad has a young Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as two high school best friends hoping to check off a few last-minute achievements before they graduate. Hill and Cera have never been funnier, helped only by a script co-written by Seth Rogen.
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The Notebook (2004)
An infamously cheesy adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel, The Notebook exceeds the expectations that its bad reputation has established. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are obviously superstars, so it’s no surprise to see them giving a wonderful performance as a couple in the 1940s.
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Toy Story (1995)
The only animated entry in this collection, it’s impressive to see how well Tom Hanks’s character Woody and Tim Allen’s character Buzz are together—especially considering the two were probably recording their lines on separate days or in separate booths. The franchise endures, with the fourth entry arriving summer of 2019, which is a true testament to these two characters.
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Wayne's World (1992)
Mike Myers and Dana Carvey are instantly recognizable as Wayne and Garth, two halves of the ever-popular based-on-an-SNL-sketch comedy Wayne’s World. The movie is one of the best comedies of the 90s and contains really wonderful performances from Myers and Carvey as two airheaded best friends with a public access television show.
