19 Of The Best Onscreen Kisses Of All Time

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by Katie Rosseinsky |
Published on

What makes the perfect on-screen kiss? There's no hard and fast formula - after all, most iconic TV and film kisses are iconic because of the tribulations that precede them - although according to our extensive research, it certainly helps if you have two very photogenic leads, and some inclement weather conditions.

To celebrate International Kissing Day, we've rounded up some of our favourites...

Holly and Paul, Breakfast At Tiffany's

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The rain! The trench coat! The choral arrangement of 'Moon River'! We're getting a little emotional just thinking about the climactic scene of this Audrey Hepburn classic, and we haven't even thought about 'Caaaaaaat!' yet...

Ross and Rachel, Friends

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Before the break, before Vegas, before 'I got off the plane!' there was this glorious first kiss. He's her lobster!

Kat and Patrick, Ten Things I Hate About You

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'I hate the way I don't hate you, not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.' We're not crying, there's just something in our eye...

Allie and Noah, The Notebook

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Did someone say 'pathetic fallacy'? It's our humble opinion that the rain-soaked kiss from The Notebook beats the 'If you're a bird, I'm a bird!' scene hands down.

Blair and Chuck, Gossip Girl

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They had plenty of memorable moments over six seasons of will-they-won't-they, but that limo scene is probably the defining 'Chair' kiss - it's so iconic, the producers decided to splice to black-and-white half way through...

Ron and Hermione, Harry Potter

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OK, so the Harry Potter series isn't exactly your classic romantic narrative, but we invested eight films and God knows how many hours in Ron and Hermione's charmingly awkward relationship...

Seth and Summer, The OC

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Yes, we love the upside down kiss from Spider Man, but we love Seth and Summer's attempt at recreating it even more. Why? Because ten years on, Seth Cohen is still our favourite of all our fictional boyfriends.

Vivian and Edward, Pretty Woman

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Julia Roberts and Richard Gere - making fire escapes romantic since 1990.

Leia and Han, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

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'I happen to like nice men!' 'I'm nice men...' It's a testament to Harrison Ford's powers of, erm, being Harrison Ford that this line actually works. Either that, or the Force...

Lady and the Tramp

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Cutest Disney kiss, hands down. Plus - spaghetti.

Romeo and Juliet, Romeo + Juliet

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Before things take a turn for the tragic (curse you, Shakespeare), Baz Luhrmann's re-imagining of the tale of star-crossed lovers is filled with more impossibly photogenic kisses than we could count. Worthy of extra special mentions are that elevator moment...

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And the swimming pool. Sigh.

Baby and Johnny, Dirty Dancing

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Nobody puts Baby in the corner, after all...

Mia and Michael, The Princess Diaries

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Her foot pops! The fairy lights switch on! It's true love! (Until The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, that is, when Michael's absence is explained away in the opening voiceover. Sob...)

Jack and Rose, Titanic

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'I'm flying, Jack!' Cue the sound of a million hearts breaking, to the strains of a woodwind arrangement of 'My Heart Will Go On.'

Molly and Sam, Ghost

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Who knew that pottery was such a romantic hobby?

Joey and Pacey, Dawson's Creek

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This moment was certainly a long time coming...

Cecile and Kathryn, Cruel Intentions

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The characters? Horrible. The kiss? Iconic.

Bridget and Mark, Bridget Jones' Diary

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If anyone deserves a 'happy ever after,' it's our Bridget.

Monica and Chandler, Friends

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Three cheers for the sweetest moment from the only Friends couple you'd actually want to hang out with in real life. NB: do not try this at home. The fire hazard risk is just too high.

Have we missed your favourite on-screen kiss? Let us know on Twitter @GraziaUK

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