Best & Worst Movie Friendships

[Spartan Girl]

I swear I thought we had a thread for this, but I must have been thinking of TWOP.

Like movie families, there are great movie friends, and then there are terrible ones that wind up stabbing you in the back.  What movie friends do you think are the worst?

This first one may get me in trouble, but I recently rewatched Harriet the Spy, and Janie and Sport were real jerks.  I could understand them being upset about what Harriet wrote -- even though it was private and they shouldn't have read it/listened to someone else read it the first place, but to willingly team up with the bully Marion Hawthorne just to spite her?  I know kids can be vicious, but that was just awful.  They're even worse in the original novel because Janie is the one that steals and reads Harriet's notebook, not Marion.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Athena
Title Edit

[Janet Snakehole]

The Devil Wears Prada. I do actually feel bad for Andy's boyfriend when she misses his birthday, but man, the rest are such jerks giving her a guilt trip about her job but still taking all the free shit she offers with glee.

[Bruinsfan]

Rhiannon in Easy A. Bitch was a shitty friend of the worst sort, I wish the movie had ended with her not being able to find anyone who would talk to her except Amanda Bynes' religious zealot nutcase.

[Spartan Girl]

3 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

Rhiannon in Easy A. Bitch was a shitty friend of the worst sort, I wish the movie had ended with her not being able to find anyone who would talk to her except Amanda Bynes' religious zealot nutcase.

I hated her too. And why the hell would she subject Olive to having dinner with her nudist parents?! Any other girl would be mortified by that!

[Spartan Girl]

Bumping this up because I have no patience for friends that steal each other's potential love interest, and in that category, Fernand in The Count of Monte Cristo, who frames his best friend just to get his hands on his fiancee, deserves the title of Worst Friend Ever.

And Josh Hartnett in Pearl Harbor was a lousy friend too, not just for hooking up with Rafe's girlfriend when he was MIA and presumed dead, but for basically blaming the whole thing on him leaving both of them behind.  Dude, you did a shitty thing.  Own up to it, don't pass the buck on someone else.

[jah1986]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Bumping this up because I have no patience for friends that steal each other's potential love interest, and in that category, Fernand in The Count of Monte Cristo, who frames his best friend just to get his hands on his fiancee, deserves the title of Worst Friend Ever.

I love this movie. But I always thought Fernand actually got the girl because she realized she was pregnant and thought Edmund was dead. Not saying he wasn't horrible, because he was, but I don't give him all the credit for that one.

[ribboninthesky1]

Yeah, Mercedes pretty much says so.  Fernand betraying Edmund because he'd been tricked by Bonaparte was much more egregious for me.  The man was a coward, and deep down he knew it. I still chuckle at their final battle, when it's apparent he's lost, and in his entitled way asks, "What happened to your mercy?" Um, dude, you had your chance to leave and live, and still couldn't take Edmund being happy.  Heaven forbid a commoner have joy! Shut up and die, Fernand. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

It's pretty hard to top Fernand in The Count of Monte Cristo. You don't get any more evil than that.

Actually, there is someone just as evil. Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but, charisma aside, Erik "Magneto" Lensherr in the X-Men movies is the stuff nightmares are made of as a friend. Yeah, he's played by 2 actors I adore, and, yeah, he has a sympathetic backstory, but even if you prefer him to Charles, you have to admit the way he treats his "old friend" is beyond abominable. Let's see, Erik (in just a few examples I can think of):

-Is technically responsible for Charles being paralyzed and wheelchair-bound, and then abandoned him on an island without a second thought or a "bye, Felicia".

-Recruited Mystique to poison Charles through Cerebro to get him out of the way. 

-Stood idly by while megalomaniacal Apocalypse kidnapped Charles in attempt to use him physically and mentally to destroy the world, and only lent a hand after some crappy writing... I mean, appeals to his better nature, I mean... eh, whatever.

And, saving the worst for last...

-Took advantage of the brainwashed Charles in order to have him mentally annihilate the entire human race through Cerebro... and very nearly succeeded, if Storm and Nightcrawler hadn't shown up! 

[ribboninthesky1]

Yes, I've never bought this profound friendship between Erik and Charles.  But then, I'm pretty sure I was meant to be sympathetic to adult Erik in First Class, and nope! 

[Spartan Girl]

Will Ferrell's friend/sponsor in Everything Must Go, who pretends to support him while he's basically shacking up with his soon-to-be ex-wife behind his back. And it's only when Will finds out that this so-called friend shows his true colors by calling him a drunk piece of shit and giving him a sanctimonious lecture about how he screwed up his own marriage.  Yes, it was true, but that didn't give him the right to take advantage of the situation. Especially when he was their SPONSOR.

The worst part is that even after all that, this douche still had the nerve to act like the "good guy" in the situation, saying that he and the ex "weren't giving up on him." How does kicking him out of his house and moving on with each other NOT giving up on him?!

[katha]

9 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

It's pretty hard to top Fernand in The Count of Monte Cristo. You don't get any more evil than that.

Actually, there is someone just as evil. Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but, charisma aside, Erik "Magneto" Lensherr in the X-Men movies is the stuff nightmares are made of as a friend. Yeah, he's played by 2 actors I adore, and, yeah, he has a sympathetic backstory, but even if you prefer him to Charles, you have to admit the way he treats his "old friend" is beyond abominable. Let's see, Erik (in just a few examples I can think of):

-Is technically responsible for Charles being paralyzed and wheelchair-bound, and then abandoned him on an island without a second thought or a "bye, Felicia".

-Recruited Mystique to poison Charles through Cerebro to get him out of the way. 

-Stood idly by while megalomaniacal Apocalypse kidnapped Charles in attempt to use him physically and mentally to destroy the world, and only lent a hand after some crappy writing... I mean, appeals to his better nature, I mean... eh, whatever.

And, saving the worst for last...

-Took advantage of the brainwashed Charles in order to have him mentally annihilate the entire human race through Cerebro... and very nearly succeeded, if Storm and Nightcrawler hadn't shown up! 

The problem here is I think that the movies want to have it both ways. Erik is one of the most compelling characters IMO, he's played by two great actors who give him nuances that probably aren't really in the script, and his backstory is tragic and makes his bitterness and lack of faith in non-mutant humanity understandable. But he crosses into hardcore-evil and the movies kinda don't want to deal with the consequences of that. It makes Magneto even scarier that he's smart and was once friends with Charles and that he has good impulses and noble feelings and there's kindness and goodness there as well. But he's still a villain, just a three-dimensional one. The movies always want to forget that when it's inconvenient for a random nonsense plotline.

[ribboninthesky1]

The problem is that, in the more recent live action films, Erik's lack of faith in only non-mutant humanity doesn't make much sense. It was a mutant who murdered his mother. 

[katha]

I don't think that's quite true, though? Shaw comes into it, but the Nazis in general are responsible for the murder of his family. So that's bound to make him jaded about both mutants and non-mutants, and I'd argue that's what plays out in the movies: Someone who doesn't have a lot of faith in anyone.

[ribboninthesky1]

Shaw was working with the Nazis, if memory serves.  He shot Erik's mother in front of him because he was trying to make the boy use his powers.  You mentioned his bitterness and lack of faith in non-mutant humans.  I don't think Erik has ever been depicted as bitter towards mutants. I do agree that the live-action films wanted to have it both ways with the character, and particularly depict this so-called deep connection between Charles and Erik.  The actors (both sets) elevated the material and had great chemistry with each other, so I think it's easy to overlook how dysfunctional and superficial Erik and Charles' friendship was. At least as depicted in First Class and later films. 

[JessePinkman]

In the original X-film I believe we were meant to surmise that Erik and Charles had been friends for years before Erik went rogue (heh). In First Class they knew it each other for a few months? Weeks? It always felt very weak to me.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

4 hours ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

 I don't think Erik has ever been depicted as bitter towards mutants.

From what I can recall, Erik wanted to turn the rest of the world into mutants,  which is why he kidnapped Rogue in X-Men. He thought a war was coming because of the Mutant Registration Act, So he decided on a preemptive strike in the form of making the 'enemy' humans exactly like them. So it was pretty much always humanity he had the problem with.

[Bruinsfan]

Not the whole world, just all its leaders who were visiting NYC that day.

[callie lee 29]

Magneto is hard - he's such a colossal asshole but the actors are amazing. And while Charles gets the brunt of his "freindship" he's pretty shitty to Mystique. Chick has been his loyal follower/enforcer/cheerleader and took the serum shot for him. What does he do?  Steps over her human form, naked as a jaybird and says dismisses her "Such a pity" (or something like that). 

[methodwriter85]

Can we open this thread up to "Best" friendships as well, because it really doesn't look like there's an opposing one to this and I don't really want to start a new thread just to talk about "good" friendships when this is an established thread.

I really liked Reese Witherspoon and Gabby Hoffman's friendship in Wild. It was pretty short on screen time, but it felt real and you could feel that these two had gone through thick and thin with each other. The scene where Reese is taking her pregnancy test and drops it as if in shock while Gabby has this "Oh god, NO" reaction was great.

[Athena]

7 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Can we open this thread up to "Best" friendships as well, because it really doesn't look like there's an opposing one to this and I don't really want to start a new thread just to talk about "good" friendships when this is an established thread.

Good idea. Titled Edited.

[Spartan Girl]

Cool!  Allow me to add some more good movie friendships:

I always liked Penny and Johnny's friendship in Dirty Dancing.  More proof that it's possible for people of the opposite sex to be friends without sex getting in the way.

George and Julianne from My Best Friend's Wedding.  A good friend is someone that calls you on your crap, and George did that beautifully.  And yet as much as I despised Julia, I did smile at the end when George shows up at the reception to support her in her moment of heartbreak.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Spartan Girl

[cpcathy]

I'd always kind of hoped George would get his own movie.

[Spartan Girl]

I really liked the friendship between Arthur and Iris in The Holiday.  They helped boost each other's confidence and self-esteem quite well.  I wish I had a neighbor as cool as Arthur.

[DisneyBoy]

I love the friendship between Michael Gough and Michael Keaton in Tim Burton's Batman movies. The way Alfred helps Bruce and Selina when they are both running out on their date...the way Alfred frowns when Bruce decides he wants to go to the ball after Alfred has ripped up the invitation...even the way Alfred lets Vicki Vale into the batcave because he believes it's a step Bruce will never willingly take in their relationship...

Even though it might be considered a father-son dynamic, I always saw Alfred as respecting Bruce as a true friend and having his back. All four Batman movies are better for having had Michael Gough in them.

Edited April 6, 2017 by DisneyBoy

[Spartan Girl]

The friendship between Susan and Nancy in Spy was nice.  

And while this might be a strange one considering the fact that Susan has feelings for him the entire time, but I think Milton Fine (Jude Law's character) was a good friend to her too.  Yes, he was clueless and might have taken her for granted at times, but he was ultimately a good guy and he appreciated everything he did for her.  It wasn't the classic trope of a guy stringing along his ugly duckling best friend; he genuinely cared about her.  It was clear in the scene where they were having dinner together and she was trying to laugh off her desire to work in the field by putting herself down, and he wouldn't let her do that, and kept telling her she was great.  That was refreshing.

[ribboninthesky1]

Agreed on both friendships, Spartan Girl.  Law does contemptible asshole quite well, so I expected it.  It was indeed refreshing that his character genuinely cared about and valued her.  Plus, she got to hook up with Jason Statham's crazy ass, all's well that ends well!

[methodwriter85]

Rewatched Valley Girl- man, Stacey was a pretty horrible friend to Julie. Basically manipulating her into dumping Randy so she can go back to Golden Boy Tommy, because Julie having a punk boyfriend would reflect on her. I like to think after getting ditched at the prom and having Fred lick whipped cream off her face, she basically said "Fuck it" and went with him. She had pretty good chemistry with Fred.

[Spartan Girl]

Aladdin and Genie. Their friendship was the driving force in the movie. 

[Spartan Girl]

Ned and Peter in Spiderman: Homecoming.

It was so nice for Peter Parker to have a best friend that cared about him. Who remained supportive when he found out his secrets. Who didn't steal the girl he liked, who didn't blame him for his shitty relationship with his dad...

*looks askance at Harry Osborne*

[memememe76]

I love the friendship amongst Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Owen, William Lee Scott and Chad Lindbergh in October Sky. 

For women, I love the women in Steel Magnolias. 

For mixed group of friends, shoutouts to Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill.

Between two guys, I love Arnold and Tom Arnold in True Lies.

Between two girls, I love Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey in Beaches and Alicia Silverstone and Stacey Dash in Clueless. 

Between one guy and one girl, My Best Friend's Wedding has been mentioned, so I will add Geena Davis and Tom Hanks in A League of their Own. A relationship founded on mutual respect, but didn't go there even though it so obviously could have. 

[Zola]

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

A lovely buddy-comedy starring the late great Steve Martin and John Candy. The slapstick comedy was great, and they bounced off each other very well, and certainly had great chemistry together. The ending was also incredibly moving - had me in tears!

[Spartan Girl]

Rod and Chris from Get Out. Rod not only takes care of Chris' dog, but is also quick to catch on the strange things happening in that house and his gut insticts about the girlfriend and her family were right on the money. 

[tribeca]

7 hours ago, Only Zola said:

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

A lovely buddy-comedy starring the late great Steve Martin and John Candy. The slapstick comedy was great, and they bounced off each other very well, and certainly had great chemistry together. The ending was also incredibly moving - had me in tears!

We use to watch that movie every year during Christmas break.  Told dad I felt so sad for John Candys character.  Dad said don't worry he probably still staying there LOL.   

[Zola]

I watched "The Shawshank Redemption" last night, and not for the first time either!  Often considered one of the greatest dramas ever made, and I think still ranks as the most popular film on IMDb.

I think the relationship between Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman certainly adds a big chunk of credence to those claims. It's like one of those dad/son relationships I would imagine, but more than that: Robbins' Andy Dufresne, comes across as childlike, demure, philosophical, a little naive, perhaps a bit secretive too; compare and contrast that with Freeman's "Red" - world-weary, intelligent, commanding, capable but pessimistic.

Took some time to develop, but as the film unfolded both Robbins and Morgan's characters seemed to fuse into genuine friendship and hope against all the adversity thrown at them. And of course the ending (which I never really liked - too cliched), just underlined that long-standing friendship.   

[Ohwell]

On 7/23/2017 at 4:43 AM, Only Zola said:

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

A lovely buddy-comedy starring the late great Steve Martin and John Candy. The slapstick comedy was great, and they bounced off each other very well, and certainly had great chemistry together. The ending was also incredibly moving - had me in tears!

I love that movie but I can't bear to watch it anymore since John Candy is gone.  It really is too painful for me.

[amaranta]

I think Thelma and Louise are both one of the best and one of the worst.

[methodwriter85]

Now that we're in that time of year, I gotta say, I always liked Laurie and Annie's friendship in the original Halloween. Annie was a sarcastic cynic who teased Laurie about how shy she was, but she really did seem to care about Laurie and wanted her to be happy. That little moment where Annie and Laurie talk about Laurie's crush on Ben Tramer was cute, as was Annie's attempt to set them up.

Edited October 17, 2017 by methodwriter85

[Spartan Girl]

I know there are people that hate Disney's version of Hunchback of Notre Dame but the friendship between Quasimodo and Esmeralda is worth mentioning on this thread. Unlike her novel version, Esmeralda genuinely cares for Quadimodo  is one of the few people to see past his appearance from the beginning. And even though she ends up with Phoebus, Quasimodo avoids falling into the Nice Guy troup and in the end is happy for both of them.

[Annber03]

16 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Now that we're in that time of year, I gotta say, I always liked Laurie and Annie's friendship in the original Halloween. Annie was a sarcastic cynic who teased Laurie about how shy she was, but she really did seem to care about Laurie and wanted her to be happy. That little moment where Annie and Laurie talk about Laurie's crush on Ben Tramer was cute, as was Annie's attempt to set them up.

Agreed. I like that scene, too, and that Annie totally gets why Laurie would like him. The way they talked about him made me wish we could've seen what he looked like!

[methodwriter85]

On 10/17/2017 at 3:23 PM, Annber03 said:

Agreed. I like that scene, too, and that Annie totally gets why Laurie would like him. The way they talked about him made me wish we could've seen what he looked like!

I like to think that had Michael Myers not killed everybody except Laurie, she and Ben would have had a fun time at the Homecoming Dance. Annie said that she would "consider" talking to Ben about it being a joke, meaning that she totally wasn't going to do it.

[Spartan Girl]

It's not every friend that would willingly shelter your frog mutant boyfriend after it kills their cats, so for that alone, Richard Jenkins in The Shape of Water deserves to be in the Best Movie Friend category.

[Spartan Girl]

Bumping this up because I do have a soft spot for Billy Ray and Coleman's friendship in Trading Places.

[Rose Quartz]

On 12/3/2018 at 12:22 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Bumping this up because I do have a soft spot for Billy Ray and Coleman's friendship in Trading Places.

This whole movie is so much more adorable than I ever expected.  The friendship that develops between all four of them - Louis, Billy Ray, Ophelia, and Coleman - as they band together to defeat the Dukes is just great and the final shot of all of them enjoying the good life together on a tropical island always makes me smile.  

[Spartan Girl]

8 minutes ago, Rose Quartz said:

This whole movie is so much more adorable than I ever expected.  The friendship that develops between all four of them - Louis, Billy Ray, Ophelia, and Coleman - as they band together to defeat the Dukes is just great and the final shot of all of them enjoying the good life together on a tropical island always makes me smile.  

Me too.

While on the subject, Louis' rich preppy friends probably would go under Worst Friends category, given how fast they ditch him -- even one of them went off with his ex-fiancée. I always feel bad for Louis when he shows up at the club and his slow realization that they're basically throwing him under the bus. Maybe the Dukes unintentionally did him a favor on that front.

[Blergh]

Re Terms of Endearment and Evening Star: I was always hoping that either Emma herself or Aurora would REALLY tell off Patsy for being the self-important creep she actually was instead of Emma's 'bestie' she pretended to be. I'd have been happy if one of Emma's grown offspring called her on her stuff but no one ever did. 

[Morrigan2575]

19 hours ago, Blergh said:

Re Terms of Endearment and Evening Star: I was always hoping that either Emma herself or Aurora would REALLY tell off Patsy for being the self-important creep she actually was instead of Emma's 'bestie' she pretended to be. I'd have been happy if one of Emma's grown offspring called her on her stuff but no one ever did. 

Why? I'm not countering I just don't remember much about the Patsy character I think there was something about Patsy wanting the daughter but, Emma wanted Aurora to have all the kids.

[Blergh]

1 minute ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Why? I'm not countering I just don't remember much about the Patsy character I think there was something about Patsy wanting the daughter but, Emma wanted Aurora to have all the kids.

Splitting up motherless sibs is NOT the mark of a 'bestie' IMO!

[Morrigan2575]

6 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Splitting up motherless sibs is NOT the mark of a 'bestie' IMO!

Ah OK. Yeah, I always thought that was shitty.

Edited December 23, 2018 by Morrigan2575

[methodwriter85]

Jamie Bell and Taron Edgerton seriously sold the hell out of the Bernie Taupin/Elton John relationship in Rocketman. To the point that I really want to see them play in a buddy cop movie or something.

[Spartan Girl]

Andy and Woody in the Toy Story movies for best.

Yes, I know this is a weird choice since a boy and his toy is a bit of a one-sided friendship compared to the bromance that is Woody and Buzz.  But Woody's love for Andy was the driving force threading through all three movies: Woody had to learn to share Andy with another friend while making a new one, had to learn to accept the idea of Andy growing up, and then finally having to let him go for real.

"So long, partner..."

Is it dusty in here?

Edited June 17, 2019 by Spartan Girl