Chemistry: either you have it or you don't.
And when chemistry between actors is sorely lacking, it's painfully obvious and a chore
for viewers to endure.
After all, chemistry is the heat, steam, and tension that makes an on-screen romance feel
genuine.
Here are some high-profile pairings that simply failed to click.
Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp
On paper, you'd expect Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp's chemistry to be off the charts.
But their heat was nil in their 2010 flop The Tourist.
"What awaits me?"
"Trouble, certainly."
"Danger?"
"Oh yeah."
It just goes to show: even if your stars are insanely attractive, your film won't generate
any on-screen fireworks if it's stuck with a crappy script.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan
Gatsby and Daisy's fictional love story in The Great Gatsby is one for the ages.
In the most recent film adaptation, the characters are played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey
Mulligan, two beautiful people...who fail to ignite any sparks whatsoever.
The film has amazing visuals, but the romance at the heart of the film just sputters.
Each actor is insanely talented, but they're passion-free when paired.
Taylor Schilling and Laura Prepon
Some might consider such a statement blasphemous, but Taylor Schilling and Laura Prepon lack
serious chemistry as Piper and Alex in the jailhouse series Orange is the New Black.
Their conversations are so snarky and there's enough baggage between them that they could
fill an airport.
There doesn't feel like any real lust or longing between these two, and their relationship
feels largely like a matter of circumstance and convenience.
"I had a chance to make a life!"
"Okay, you need to shut up."
Sarah Jessica Parker and Mikhail Baryshnikov
While most Sex and the City devotees of the series think Carrie Bradshaw's best chemistry
is with her eventual husband Mr. Big, their romance eventually feels more about the witty
repartee than generating any real sparks.
But before she gets her man, Carrie dates Aleksandr, played by dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov,
and even moves to Paris with him.
It was shocking at the time, mostly because their chemistry is ice cold.
Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise
Because she usually embodies the fun party girl in her other roles, maybe it's the fact
that Diaz plays a psycho ex-girlfriend in Vanilla Sky that's so unsettling about her
performance here.
Or maybe it's that she and Tom Cruise were thrown together as a plot device that led
to them having no heat, despite the fact that they were two of the biggest A-listers on
the planet when they starred in this film.
Whatever the reason for their utter lack of sizzle, it's pretty fitting that this boring
couple starred in a movie with the word "vanilla" in the title.
Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc
When Jennifer Aniston's Rachel was paired with Matt LeBlanc's Joey on Friends, it was
a sacrilege.
Viewers knew Rachel belonged with with David Schwimmer's Ross, but the writers, following
convention, had to find creative ways to keep them apart so that they could eventually have
the big reunion.
But Rachel and Joey as romantic partners was a total snoozefest.
"I've been thinking about, y'know, 'us.'
Okay, dial it up a little."
Aniston and LeBlanc had absolutely no heat and their characters had nothing in common.
They were better as, well, friends.
This small screen romance was scorch-less.
Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl
Sure, the success of Knocked Up hinges on the premise that a buttoned up, ladder-climbing
professional woman gets, y'know, knocked up by a sloppy slacker after a drunken one-night
stand.
But Rogen and Heigl still exhibit nothing in the way of charisma together.
They're totally "blah" as a couple.
Heigl went on to famously diss the film's concept in her Vanity Fair cover story.
Her attitude may have even been prevalent while on-set, which could've led to a lack
of chemistry.
Good thing the comedy was more than enough to keep the good times rolling.
Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman
Forget Jar Jar, or the midichlorians—the worst part of the Star Wars prequels was this
pair of duds.
Christensen and Portman had chemistry colder than the vacuum of space in as Anakin and
Padme.
Theirs has been universally regarded as a sizzle-free pairing.
Both felt a bit miscast, which likely led to the failure to click on the big screen.
Winona Ryder and Richard Gere
You might not remember the romantic tearjerker Autumn in New York, in which Ryder and Gere
play a May-December couple, because it flopped pretty hard.
There's no two ways about it: the couple's chemistry is completely lackluster and they're
simply unbelievable as a pairing.
And the storyline itself, about a young, terminally ill girl making a middle-aged, onetime hunk
appreciate his life even more, is so tired.
It's all fizzle, no sizzle.
"Alright, didn't anyone ever tell you it was bad manners to stare at a girl while she's
eating like a pig?"
(SNORT)
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