I Almost Failed Chemistry in High School

I finally got to my Netflix movies this weekend. I watched Johnny Depp in The Libertine. He was great and it’s an interesting story of Earl of Rochester and King Charles II but overall it seemed long and lackluster. He’s a gem.

My other selection Ask the Dust (2006) was based on the novel by John Fante. It tells the story Italian-American novelist Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrel) and Mexican waitress Camilla Lopez (Salma Hayek). Both are struggling in Depression-era Los Angeles searching for the elusive American dream. For each it means leaping outside their ethic box and becoming more all American in name and manner.

The relationship is tense to say the least but there is a chemistry that can’t be denied. The movie was slow and at times tedious but the performances of Hayek and Farrell are worth watching. Hayek is smoldering as the headstrong waitress looking to get snatch prosperity with two hands. She is becoming my new favorite thing. I love that she’s breathtakingly beautiful and yet smart and creative. It doesn’t seem fair for one person to have all that beauty and brains too. Not for nothing but I’d feel better if she had chronic halitosis or something.

Farrell was clean and primped to play the cocky struggling writer. You could actually see his dark Irish good looks. His accent was flawless and the 1930s suits fit him perfectly. I look forward to seeing him in more of these roles. It’s exhausting watching play the burned out bad boy. It’s time for him to stretch.

Sparkling performances and raw heat make this worth a look. As we all know, chemistry can sell a mediocre movie or elevate a great movie. Hayek and Farrell made me think about the great on-screen chemistry that has made movie going such as pleasure over the years.

Here are some of my favorites:

Kathleen Turner and William Hurt- Body Heat (1981)

You can’t talk about sexual chemistry without a shout out to this groundbreaking film. This was Turner at her husky-voiced/long-legged best. Hurt was young and eager to please. All I can say is I found another use for the butcher block.

Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel – The Piano (1993)

I know what you’re thinking. Where’s the chemistry here? There is one scene that may be the most erotic scene in any movie I’ve ever scene. It’s where Keitel catches a glimpse of open skin on Hunter’s leg. Mind you she’s been covered up with petticoat over petticoat. He proceeds to stick his finger in the hole of her tights. It might not seem like a lot but it strikes me as HOT. I’m flushed just talking about it now.

Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas- The English Patient (1996)

Ironically, these are two of the most aloof actors to ever make it on the big screen. They specialize on remote and complex characters that rarely crack a smile. However, they filmed one of the steamiest scenes that proves you never know who two actors can do together. That’s why it’s called chemistry. I’m referring to the scene where he rips the buttons off her in an attempt to consume her. Who would have known that had it in them?

Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez – Unfaithful (2002)

Lord have mercy, this couple is pretty. If I could bottle the chemistry in this movie, I’d be a billionaire. Their first encounter is shockingly real. I don’t know where the emotional conflict came from but I had tears in my eyes. A revelation. Even the scene of him reading the cookbook to her made my temperature rise. My audience was made up of mostly women who repeatedly gasped throughout this film.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie – Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

What do you get when you put two of the most attractive actors on the planet in a movie? Perfection. Not only were they easy on the eyes. They developed a genuine on-screen relationship through humor and emotion. They didn’t rest on their good looks. They are another couple who seem to have hit the genetic jackpot. They transcend their pretty image through humanitarian efforts and their rainbow tribe of children.