Do you have any best friends that started off as enemies? Maybe you have some enemies that you’d like to turn into friends. If that is the case, see the following ten movies below for you crash course in “How to Win Enemies and Influence Friendships”.
With every passing year, I trust my childhood opinions on movies less and less. I was seven when The Emperor’s New Groove came out so that is certainly in that time frame where I could be remembering the movie with childhood glasses tinted with nostalgia. Those glasses have a strong prescription. However, I am confident that this movie truly was as awesome as I remember. In fact, I don’t think this movie gets as much love as it could. The dynamic between Pacha and Kuzco as they team up is captivating. A heart felt relationship, creative comedy, and excellent music numbers all in an animated movie that isn’t a Pixar flick? This movie is something that we hadn’t seen before and haven’t seen since.(Blake Hodges)
One of Paul Feig’s more hidden gems, The Heat takes the ‘buddy cop’ genre and flips it on its head…and then beats it up a bit. The adventure follows strait-laced FBI Agent, Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) and foul-mouthed Boston detective Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) as they attempt to take down a drug trafficking ring. I remember when I went in to see this for the first time, I was expecting a good time, with maybe a couple of laughs. What I got instead, was one of the most hilarious experiences I’ve had in the cinema. I mean, it was a ‘laughing so hard I was crying’ type of deal. The jokes are quick, witty and dirty, the action was fun and funny at the same time, and the story was enjoyable to follow from beginning to end. Of course, the key pairing at the heart of it are magnetic, working off each other effortlessly. As they grow through the movie’s runtime, with Ashburton becoming looser and Mullins becoming empathetic to her fellow man, the end will leave you wanting more (sequel anyone?). I’ll tell you something else, after seeing this, you will never look at a phonebook the same way again. (Alice-Ginevra Micheli)
X-Men First Class did a lot of great things. In fact, I would say the movie was so shocking in so many different ways that we forgot as an audience just how jarring it was when we realized a young Professor X and young Mystique were going to be friends rather than enemies. This turned a classic hero verse villain dynamic on its head. While Professor X and Magneto are the overarching frenemies in the franchise, the Professor X and Mystique relationship feels like an even more nuanced frenemy relationship. I could be seeing things that aren’t there. The two are allies after all in this iteration of the franchise. However, I’m watching this with a brain that has already seen them as enemies before. If the recent X-Men movies have soured you on the franchise, give First Class a chance. I promise you that the Professor X and Mystique relationship is just one thing on a long list of reasons to give this a chance. (Blake Hodges)
What do you get when you mix two combustible elements like Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy? You get cinematic gold in the form of the 1982 Crime Comedy, 48 Hours (Directed by Walter Hill). Police Officer Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) is on the hunt for a killer and he will need to enlist the help of the loudmouth convict Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) in order to bring the perp in. This film was Eddie Murphy’s breakout role after his stint on Saturday Night Live and would make him a superstar overnight. Nick Nolte at this point had been a solidified performer in mainly drama’s up to that point. The two of them together have an Odd Couple like quality about them. Nick Nolte is salty and full of piss and vinegar, whereas Reggie Hammond is having a great time and enjoying the little freedom he has for the limited partnership they will share. There is a back and forth between the two the entire time that will keep the viewer on their toes and laughing all the way through. (Joseph Vargas)
With all the comic book movies that release nowadays, very little compare in how great Sam Raimi’s second Spider-Man film was. I think the way Raimi captures a young adult version of Peter Parker is fascinating. In Spider-Man 2 we see Peter brought to his lowest point in life. His friendship with his best friend Harry is slowly fading as he gets more frustrated with Peter for supposably still taking pictures of Spider-Man after convinced that he murdered his dad. Also he’s struggling with keeping a job, as well as keeping up with schoolwork. And on top of all of that, the love of his life is getting married soon…and he’s loosing his powers! I think the progression that Peter goes through is great to teach him the importance of being Spider-Man and it gives us a different take on super heroes that we just don’t get anymore. (Alex Henderson)
In the great traditions of the buddy cop film, two very different characters start off by not getting along and begin to gain appreciation for each other. But what happens when two private investigators are on a collision course because one of them is there to put the muscle on the other? They obviously can become friends by the end even if one of them breaks the other one’s wrist, right? That is the lovely set up for The Nice Guys. Ryan Gosling is a slimy P.I. who is a bit of a klutz (especially when he almost dies by cutting his wrist breaking a window). He tries to make things work while looking after his significantly more adept daughter (played brilliantly by Angourie Rice). Russell Crowe is a heavy who is more of a good intentioned blunt instrument than anything else. But in the end, they find themselves ready to take on any case that comes their way (despite the fact that the box office will most likely stop them from working together again). I would love a sequel just to spend more time with the wonderful combo of Crowe and Gosling. (Shane Conto)
At the point of the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The MCU had already established a solid base; however, they were coming off of two financially successful but luke-warm movies (Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World). The Winter Soldier was facing an uphill battle. Could the guys who brought us You, Me, and Dupree and Community really deliver a home run with this? The answer is an emphatic yes. Captain America: The Winter Soldier elevated the MCU from being fun, summer blockbusters to possible Oscar contenders. It’s been said so many times but it’s the best way to describe this movie: it’s a political action thriller passed off like a superhero film, and it transcends the entire genre as a whole. It has breathe taking action, twists and turns, and an emotional heartbeat of friendship throughout the film. The most powerful scene is between Bucky and Steve at the end with Steve saying the now-iconic line of “I’m with you till the end of the line”. I adore this movie and it continues to stand tall among most of the marvel films. (Ben Davis)
All Cady Heron wanted to do was to fit in somewhere. After living her life in South Africa, she finally gets into the real high school world in suburbia Illinois. Mean Girls is all about making friends, frienemies and figuring out who’s the Queen Bee of them all. Cady does what she must to become one of “the Plastics” (Regina George, Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith). Becoming Regina George herself, Cady loses out on what means the most to her: true friendship. Mean Girls shows you what it really takes to be a girl in high school. You can be the baddest bitch in high school or someone who just happens to be the worst! It’s not easy trying to fit in, but all you can do is just be yourself! (Chantal Ashford)
With Toy Story 4 only a month in the rear-view window, the franchise is fresh on my mind. Surprised to see this movie on the list? I don’t blame you. The three Toy Story movies that came after the original did a swell job of cementing Buzz Lightyear and Woody as the best of friends. However, they started off in the enemy camp. The fun part of a frenemy movie is watching the pair start off entrenched in the enemy camp and then slowly transitioning into the best friend camp. These two could compete strongly for the title of best frenemies of all time. To compete in that category, they would have to take a break from their other competition: “Best Animated Movie of all time”. (Blake Hodges)
I think the purest form of a “frienemies” relationship is when two characters can go from being friendly business partners in one scene to leaving each other for dead in the desert in the next. That is the “friendship” Sergio Leone gives us between Blondie and Tuco in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Blondie is a towering figure that squints his way through this epic western who is perfectly fine selling in his partners for bounties in order to literally save their necks at the last moment. Tuco is a slimy, little man who will sell anyone out at any moment for his own benefit. But who can blame him when he does it so well? Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach are both iconic in these roles as they have great chemistry with each other. They are so good that they kill it in every scene together, even when one is basically torturing the other. Hell, they even make up 2/3 of the greatest standoffs in the history of cinema! (Shane Conto)