Top Ten: Meet –cutes

6th Feb 2010

THE meet-cute orig­i­nated from screw­ball come­dies and rom­coms. But it’s used in any film that incor­po­rates a spot of romance! This lit­tle con­ven­tion warms our hearts/makes us cringe. Two char­ac­ters meet, there are sparks and their des­tinies are set.

10. The Hol­i­day

Mul­ti­ple meet-cutes for mul­ti­ple romances. The best: Iris meets retired script writer, Arthur. Though they don’t end up together roman­ti­cally, Arthur indi­rectly allows Iris’ real meet-cute with Miles to come to fruition. Smiles all round.

9. Avatar

Jake Sul­ley, in avatar form, meets his life-saver, Neytiri, next in line to be ‘shaman’. Boy saved by girl in this top­i­cal and trop­i­cal action-filled meet-cute.

8. His Girl Friday

Wal­ter never fell out of love with his ex-wife Hildy; a reunit­ing meet-cute full of lin­ger­ing sex­ual tension.

7.Broke­back Mountain

A fairly non­de­script meet­ing: two men hired to herd sheep together. Sim­ple and effec­tive: the right place at the right time.

6. Spi­der­man

A rather tragic first meet-cute. Parker, the out­cast in high school, boards the bus only to fall flat on his face in front of Mary Jane, love of his life. Bless.

5. Not­ting Hill

The awk­ward and love­able Hugh Grant ram­bles on about Turkey and kebabs whilst the reserved Julia Roberts car­ries on with her life. She leaves, he’s dazed…and then he spills orange juice all over her bosom in a ‘star-crossed’ col­li­sion… com­i­cal and sweet.

4. 500 Days of Summer

An Indie rom­com with a twist. There’s a happy end­ing but it’s not the one you expect. The film is based around an ‘anti-meet-cute’: Sum­mer and Tom meet but only he falls in love. The con­ven­tional ‘happy’ meet-cute doesn’t occur until the end when Tom meets Autumn…

3. Dirty Danc­ing

Across a sea of erotically-charged teens, inno­cent Baby sees the ‘time of her life’ man, Johnny, own­ing the dance floor. He’s hot. She car­ried a water­melon. Need I say more?

2. Casablanca.

Rick and Ilsa are reunited in the occu­pied Casablanca. As Time Goes By plays, an angry Rick comes charg­ing in to be stopped in his tracks when their eyes lock. A clas­sic film with a clas­sic meet-cute: it’s all in the eyes.

1. Break­fast at Tiffany’s

A sleepy Holly (Audrey Hep­burn), beau­ti­ful and strange, meets her new neigh­bour, Paul. A meet-cute to make you smile. It’s not love at first sight, at least not for Holly, and yet we know this will be the man that changes her.