Top 11 Bromances

Who doesn’t love a good bromance? Whether it’s homo-erotic overtones or just a friendship with a lot of love and respect for the other, bromances are a special kind of romance. Normally they’re shared between a male and another male, both of whom are straight and play for the right team. We here at Atomic Popcorn (well, mainly me) have decided to take a look at the Top Eleven Bromances in cinema:

11. Point Break – FBI Special Agent Johnny Utah and Bodhi

I love Point Break, and would defend it as a legitimately good action flick. You could make a case for some bromance between Utah and Gary Busey’s Angelo Pappas, but the real love here is between Utah and Bodhi. Utah can’t bring himself to kill or harm Bodhi, so he fires his gun in the air whilst screaming ‘Aah.’ Keanu plays it like he does everything but it’s Swayze who makes the relationship work. Sure it’s a simple film when you get down to it, but that doesn’t make it any less great. Plus, Utah let’s his “brother” go the proper way.

10. Superbad – Evan and Seth

It wouldn’t feel right doing one of these without having this film on here. If Superbad does anything right, it’s the telling of a wonderful romance between it’s two leads. In fact it’s such a great tale of bromance you wonder if Michael Cera and Jonah Hill will eventually engage in full on french kissing. The film itself is hysterical and only enhanced by the homosexual overtones that embody it, particularly when each character goes his separate ways only to look back, longing for the others comfort.

9. Hot Fuzz - Nicholas Angel and Danny Butterman

Some may prefer Shaun of the Dead, but due to my love of action flicks I’m going to go with Hot Fuzz as the better film. As a parody of buddy cop films, there was probably no better duo than Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The two manage to capture two unlikely friends and never delves into homosexual territory even when Angel is holding Butterman (in a nice reference to another flick on this list.) Doesn’t hurt the film is excellent either.

8. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – Kirk and Spock

The quintessential friendship, and one of them is half alien. Yet their relationship is ‘the most…human’ of any science-fiction duo. They’ve battled Romulans, Klingons, and even each other and yet though all of it you can’t help but get teary-eyed at the end of this film when they share one of their “last” moments. Oh, and as much as Shatner overacts, his speech at the end is golden.

7. The Lord of the Rings – Sam and Frodo

If anything, these two are going on here for that Hobbitsexual kiss Frodo lays on Sam in the twenty different endings of this film. Being fair though this is a wonderful tale of friendship that spans all three films. Samwise has multiple times he could just say the hell with it, yet he sticks by Frodo every step of the way. Things get uglier (literally) when Gollum shows up and tries to break this bromance up. As all things, good prevails and Sam sticks with his tied and true friend ‘til the end of it all. The books were better at conveying the relationship, but who doesn’t hear “My Heart Will Go On” when Sam, Frodo, Merry, and Pippin frolic and jump on the bed at the first of many endings to Return of the King?

6. Clerks – Dante and Randal

Before Evan and Seth, and even before Jay and Silent Bob there was Dante and Randal. In Smithian terms, Dante’s the bitch and Randal’s the butch. They really are that couple that should break up yet continue to stay together. Randal does absolutely everything he can to ruin Dante’s life and pester him, but that’s because he loves him so much. Dante knows this, which is why their marriage will be a long and unprosperous one. But really, they are two guys who shouldn’t be friends at all.

5. Top Gun – Peter ‘Maverick’ Mitchell and Every Male

It’s probably true the romance between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis in this film was thrown in to remind everyone Maverick isn’t gay. True it’s a male dominated cast but it’s never felt so homoerotic than it does here. We have men shirtless playing volleyball (at least “Saved By The Bell” gave us Kelly and Lisa and Jesse in their volleyball match), and a handful of scenes of steamy men in nothing but towels. Not to mention Val Kilmer acts like he’s three steps away from macking out with Maverick in all of their scenes. Being fair, there is a nice friendship between Goose and Maverick which makes the fate of one of them tragic for the other. You just wonder how deep said character was hurt.

4. Lethal Weapon – Riggs and Murtaugh

Many will hail this as the best buddy cop film and they might be right. Everything works, especially the love Riggs and Murtaugh grow to have for the other. Instead of outright hating the other these two take the time to get to know the other and learn what’s good and bad about both. It’s done a lot subtler than recent films like say the Rush Hour series handled it. Edgar Wright said “there’s a real romance at the center of this film” and he’s right. By the end you feel these two have become the best of friends (as seen in the later installments) rather than the script forced them together.

3. Star Wars – Han Solo and Chewbacca

Han Solo has it easy for a number of reasons, the most of all being he’s got a giant tall walking carpet ready to rip arms out of their sockets. It’s always fun to try to guess what Chewie is saying given the responses Han gives to him. There’s levels of a kinship here like when Chewie screams in agony watching his long time friend be frozen in carbonite only to embrace him like a brother when he’s eventually set free. The two always have each others’ back through thick and thin, Chewie going so far as to strangle the life out of Lando for betraying him, Leia and his brother. Granted, I said Kirk and Spock where “the most human” of all science-fiction bromances, but we’re dealing with a Wookie and a human here, not someone who’s part human.

2. The Odd Couple – Felix and Oscar

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau started it all with this 1968 comedy adapted from Neil Simon’s 1965 play of the same name. If anything, it defines “bromance” well with two guys who drive the other absolutely insane but realize they in fact need each other. Writing a buddy comedy without seeing this film is like writing a vampire book without reading Dracula, disrespectful and retarded. It’s influence is felt today including on some of the relationships on this list, not to mention the TV spin-off, sequel, and an animated series.

1. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

For my money every buddy cop film owes it’s due to this masterpiece. These are two guys who would live and die for the other, fight over the same woman, banter with the other, or robbing banks and trains with a grin. Like love and marriage, you can’t picture one without the other. Newman and Redford are terrific actors and it shines right through here and the pair play off each other wonderfully, so much so they re-teamed a few years later for The Sting. This though, is their defining legacy as a duo and has cemented a legacy that will be felt in the film world forever.