Year in Review: Best Onscreen Chemistry of 2020
Wednesday, December 30, 2020 at 7:00PM 
by Team Experience
Chemistry may be something you can predict in a lab but in showbiz it's always been volatile, elevating some projects to unpredictable heights and dooming others with its absence or withholding or misdirections. Strong onscreen chemistry may be far less rare than capturing lightning in a bottle but it can feel just as miraculous. In the studio system they'd seize on any great example and repurpose it by ordering additional pairings of the stars involved. Modern Hollywood executive (and the stars themselves to some degree) have been notoriously dumb about capitalizing on incredible partnerships. This has made great onscreen chemistry basically a one & done phenomenon for the most part for decades... and thus all the more ephemeral and precious. So let's celebrate it.
We polled Team Experience on "best screen chemistry of 2020" and pooled the results. Sound off with your own in the comments...
20 Evan Rachel Wood & Gina Rodriguez (Odd Couple) in Kajillionaire
A love like theirs crept up on me before I even saw it was in the room, but once it was noticed it seemed immense, unmissable -- the big one!!! Writer/director Miranda July tasks this extremely odd couple with making the removal of press-on nails erotic and they do, do they ever. As Wood's Old Dolio says, "What, are you trying to get me all riled up?" Consider me riled. And as Emile Mosser's gorgeous score thrums around them and the sunlight blinks in and out together they made me believe in life after bubbles. - Jason
19 Anthony Hopkins & Olivia Colman (Father & Daughter) in The Father
The disorienting opening of The Father counts on emotional shorthand between father and daughter to raise the stakes. These two talented actors and Oscar winners step into their roles so effortlessly, we can easily believe their complex, frustrating, painful bond has been built over several decades. Hopkins and Colman pull this off within minutes, and their interactions fill in all the subtext. - Eurocheese
18 Jesse Plemons & Jessie Buckley (???) in i'm thinking of ending things
A symphony of anti-chemistry, perfect for Kaufman's intentions, Buckley & Plemons compliment each other like shards of a shattered mirror unshattering. They finish each other's sentences by swerving them off at right angles from their start -- right angle after right angle after right angle, forming a square, back to the start. They stutter like limbs of the same twitching thing. - Jason
17 Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried (Friends / Colleagues) in Mank
From the moment Herman "Mank" Mankiewicz and Marion Davies meet atop a fake on-set pyre, it's clear these two fun-loving if ultimately very different Hollywood alum march to the beat of each other's drum. Despite their age difference, Seyfried and Oldman make us believe that a young starlet and an aging drunkard would get along swimmingly as they stroll around the zoos and acres of San Simeon. Even when the friendship sours, their long glances cast a regretful pall over the previous hour, rendering what seemed frivolous in the moment as a true and meaningful bond. - Tony
16 Kristen Stewart & Aubrey Plaza (New Girlfriend and Ex Girlfriend) in Happiest Season
It's incredibly rare for audiences to come away from a rom-com wishing for the hero had chosen Other Girl over Lead Girl. Aubrey Plaza's Riley is just such an Other Girl, a reserved yet sardonic woman who's already revealed herself to the world. Plaza embodies that person who is free to be herself because she loves herself, and that endearing quality is like an intangible ray of light between her and her ex's new girl (Stewart) as they trade smiles over cocktails. - Tony
15 Principal Cast (Band of Brothers) in Da 5 Bloods
The surviving members of a band of brothers joyfully reunite at the Majestic hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, and instantly the groundwork for the latest Spike Lee joint reveals its deep-rooted foundation. Using his arsenal of character actors, Spike creates a thorny but loose ensemble, with lived-in performances that complement and contrast one another. Peters’ calming presence sedates Lindo’s fire and furry, forming the film’s beating heart. Lewis’s faux machismo unites the unit before revealing their limitations, while Boseman’s radiating star persona is funneled through Norm’s hopeful ideologies, always inspiring his cohorts to rise up to the occasion while the underserved Whitlock Jr. is the glue that keeps the ensemble together, filling the screen with a hearty joie-de-vivre. -Patrick
14 Yuh-jung Youn & Alan S Kim (Grandmother and Grandson) in Minari
The parents (Steven Yeun and Yeri Han) shoulder the weight and soul of the narrative and have fine tetchy chemistry of their own, but its classic Korean actress Yuh-jung Youn and the young discovery Alan S Kim, who give the film it's humor and heart. Neither of them are what the other expects in an instant new family member and their stubborn sass as they refuse to comply to expectations is a thing of beauty and giggles... especially because you see the love coming right around the corner. - Nathaniel
13 Levan Gelbakhiani & Bachi Valishvili (Lovers) in And Then We Danced
I wish someone looked at me, when I dance around my living to Robyn songs, the same way that Irakli (Valishvili) looks at Merab (Gelbakhiani) in my favourite film of the year. Georgia is now on my list of countries to visit in 2021 - Baby Clyde
12 Principal Cast (Long-time Colleagues) in Another Round
While Mads Mikkelsen is unquestionably the star of Another Round, the movie wouldn’t work nearly as well as it does without the easy, free-flowing camaraderie between his protagonist and the three friends and colleagues (Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe, and Magnus Millang) who join in his quest to stay buzzed in order to stay sharp. Even as their “experiment” in defeating middle-aged malaise goes predictably off the rails and reveals rather than heals deep psychological and emotional cracks, their collective bond of trust and support never weakens. Plus their increasingly ridiculous shenanigans look way more fun and way less pathetic than they should, in large part because the quartet clearly enjoy each other’s company, sloshed or sober. They’re like the Four Musketeers of day-drinking—all for one, and one for all. - Lynn
11 Carrie Coon & Jude Law (Spouses) in The Nest
The quintessential definition of the "fuck or fight" relationship. While the film showcases quite a bit of the fight, when it is the alternative, it is SMOLDERING. It's of little surprise when two actors of this caliber and this level of beauty fit so perfectly together. - Ben
10 Carey Mulligan & Bo Burnham (Lovers) in Promising Young Woman
Emerald Fennell's most brilliant and luckiest move (because you can't predict chemistry this good) is to plop a rom-com right down in the center of this rape/revenge comedy where it has absolutely no place being. That Carey as Cassandra and Bo as Ryan make you wish that a film like this could have a happy ending, while never going off-character to sell it, even as you know that this rom-com does not belong, is the electric charge of their complicated duet. - Nathaniel
09 Elisabeth Moss & Michael Stuhlbarg (Spouses) in Shirley
Stuhlbarg and Moss achieve a sort of poisonous telepathy as Shirley Jackson and Stanley Hyman in Josephine Decker’s Shirley. One of the great cinematic pleasures of 2020 was in decoding all those mischievous glances ricocheting back and forth between them as they wreak havoc on the poor saps who happen into their toxic orbit. - Michael
08 Bill Murray & Rashida Jones (Father & Daughter) in On the Rocks
Over the relationship of Laura and her lothario father exists a layer of scar tissue made of equal parts resentment and affection. Jones and Murray acknowledge that uncomfortable surface, though they're never overwhelmed by its ugliness, privileging rueful humor instead of heartbreak. They feel like father and daughter, as if they've learned how to play off each other over many years of mutual prickliness. - Cláudio
07 Marielle Heller & Anya Taylor-Joy (Mother & Daughter / Business Partners) in The Queen's Gambit
The miniseries may well be the perfect form for shifting chemistry as a relationship evolves. Initially their rapport feels lacking, purposefully, because its arranged and because Taylor-Joy plays up the on-the-spectrum aspects of her chess prodigy. But over the course of their episodes together their relationship morphs beautifully into a nearly comic business "arrangement" and a conforting companionship. You only see the unique emotion of the chosen-family bond they've grown into just as you're losing it, doubling the grief. - Nathaniel
06 Sydney Flanigan and Talia Ryder (Cousins) in Never Rarely Sometimes Always
They are family by blood but best friends by choice. And they are everything in between. The sacrifices the two make for one another and the lengths that each will go to protect the other, whether it’s dealing with creeps or stealing money for a last minute abortion, it speaks to how special their relationship is. The way Flanigan and Ryder look at each other makes it seem like one is essential to the other, the person always in their corner and a rock to stand on. - Ginny
05 Viktoria Miroshnichenko & Vasilisa Perelygina (Best Friends) in Beanpole
Two starkly different faces of trauma. Though, like Janus double visages, Iya and Masha are two halves of the same whole, forever bound by what they suffered, what they survived. If Miroshnichenko plays a paralyzed implosion, Perelygna is a freight train exploding outwards, always complementing each other with frightening beauty. - Cláudio
04. John Magaro & Orion Lee (Companions) in First Cow
The heart and soul of a film built on delicately layered implications and unbearably heavy realities. Magaro as "Cookie" and Lee as "King-Lu" contribute two of the quietest, loveliest performances of the year, creating a truly special bond as their partnership evolves. Whether you read First Cow as the latest entry in the “be gay, do crimes” cinematic genre or an astonishingly touching example of male camaraderie, the foundations of hardscrabble determination, dreams of prosperity, gentle confidence, and a clear, mutual sense of appreciation all inform one of this year’s most riveting, heartfelt duets. - Nick
03 Andy Samberg & Cristin Milioti (Lovers) in Palm Springs
Samberg and Milioti come into the film (and out of again of course) as expert comic actors, but Palm Springs gets that romantic comedies only ascend into greats of their genre when they nail both love and laughs. Samberg's Nyles and Milioti's Sarah are funny people but it's their fragile tentative love that proves the film's revelation with the actors getting a total dramatic workout, too, with this organic, deeply felt but jittery budding romance. Watch their eyes for all of this fling's nervous hopes and past scars. We're going to be disappointed if either of them is left out of the Golden Globes Best Lead Comedy Acting nominations- Nathaniel
02. Maya Erskine & Anna Konkle (Besties) in Pen15 (Season 2)
It takes real chemistry to make it through middle school together. Thirtysomethings Maya and Anna, brilliantly playing fictionalized versions of themselves as teenagers, are able to survive pool parties, divorces, traumatizing sleepovers, school plays and more thanks to their unbreakable friendship. "Vendy Wiccany" forever! - Christopher
01 Paul Mescal & Daisy Edgar Jones (Lovers) in Normal People
One of the most startling depictions of both intimacy and loneliness committed to screen. How did the actors manage such vulnerability and complexity in tandem? You see their attraction intellectually and physically, and also reluctantly understand their self-sabotaging incompability. They're together when they're apart and apart when they're together in agonizing contradiction. Mescal's Connor and Daisy's Marianne are such complete three-dimensional portraits on their own that their union and separations achieve extra dimensions; an otherwordly achievement but also unmistakably, regrettably human in every moment. - Nathaniel
Previously in 2020's Year in Review
- Stocking Stuffers - Team Experience
- Animals of the Year - Team Experience
- First time old movie watches - Christopher
- Style Icons - Cláudio
- Movies that inspired fan art - Nathaniel
Reader Comments (28)
I haven't seen so many of these, but those that I have... well done for their inclusion! I'm especially in agreement with the #1 pick. Mescal and Jones are TOO hot to handle; their chemistry could power a whole nation.
My one addition is Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield in THE PHOTOGRAPH. I know the movie came out in February i.e. a few decades ago, but their chemistry was electric. In fact, Issa Rae should probably also be cited for her work in INSECURE since she pretty much has chemistry with every character on that show.
Kaley Cuoco & Michiel Huisman in The Flight Attendant
Radha Blank & Peter Kim in The Forty-Year-Old Version
George MacKay & Nicholas Hoult in True History of the Kelly Gang
Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn & Michael Ward in Small Axe: Lovers Rock
The band in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Michael Benjamin Washington & Robin de Jesus in The Boys in the Band
Regé-Jean Page & Jonathan Bailey in Bridgerton
Micaela Coel & ensemble in I May Destroy You
Matt Berry & Natasia Demetriou in What We Do in the Shadows
Lesley Manville and Liam Neeson in Ordinary Love.
Streep and Keegan Michael-Key
Bill Murray & Rashida Jones had zero chemistry. The movie fails because of that.
Jamie -- oh, that's a fun one.
working stiff -- we had some Ma Rainey suggestions but none that were repeat. my favourite actor chemistry in that batch was COLMAN and VIOLA as kind of imbalance of power co-workers. thought they nailed that and i would loooove to see them work together again.
01. In "DAU. Nataša" - Nataša (Natalja Berežnaja) in different parts of the movie - with her colleague Olga, with the foreign scientist and with Azhippo, the investigator.
02. In "Persian lessons" - The nazi (Lars Eidinger" and the "persian" (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart)
03. in "Berlin Alexanderplatz" Albrecht Schuch and Welket Bungué a.k.a. Reinhold&Francis
Honourable mentions:
"Ammonite" girls
"Kajillionaire" girls
"Asia" mother-daughter
"Beware of children" - gay couple
"The painter and he thief" - Barbora and Karl-Bertil
"Another round" guys & alcohol
"Babyteeth" Eliza Scanlen & Toby Wallace
Kris
😅Shout out to one of my choices that didn't make the cut - Coogan and Brydon in The Trip to Greece. A comedy pairing for the ages, possibly coming to a close this year.
Not sure what year it counts for, but I found the family relationship in Sorry We Missed You totally believable and the center that holds the film together.
Kristen Stewart picking her bitch of a girlfriend over the smoking hot and not a bore Audrey Plaza was fucking stupid man.
“The Old Guard”, Joe and Nick, immortal lovers
“Midnight Sky”, Felicity Jones and David Oyelowo, not for what they say, but for the deep contentment they have in each other’s presence.
Kelly O'Sullivan & Romana Edith Williams (nanny and child) in SAINT FRANCES are a personal favorite this year!
Another vote for Eliza Scanlen and Toby Wallace in Babyteeth!
Also, as indifferent as I was to Mank in general, the chemistry between Seyfred and Oldman was the best part of it for me.
I'm in shocked that the clearly best onscreen chemistry of the year isn't on the list?
Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova, for God's sake! I can only explain it if you all got oblivious about what the film achieved and how they worked together... on a first take, and with adjusting their improvisation continuously in front of unaware "victims" without being really able to communicate (Cohen spoke jewish and Bakalova, bulgarian, when in character, so they did not understand what the other one was saying). Why do you think Bakalova is almost sweeping on precursors? For being able to match Cohen's genius.
ohhhh I was just about to hit Create Post when I realized it would be a spoiler alert - from Sex Education
I also really enjoyed the rarely explored facet of a struggling friendship between Isa Rae and Yvonne Orji
Do people generally consider John Magaro & Orion Lee‘s characters to be gay? I didn’t really get that.
@ Ashley — Not sure but I’ve read interpretations suggesting so.
Seems like the same people that want Taylor Swift’s song ‘Betty’ to be about a lesbian when it’s clearly not.
On the topic of Gary Oldman as Mank and Seyfried as Davies, as great as their chemistry is, I googled the ages of the actors they portray in Mank and they were exactly the same age, Davies was in fact older by 11 months. Why in the world did Hollywood feel it was okay to cast Seyfried and Oldman in the same movie. Its an ageist casting choice, Oldman is 62, Seyfried is 35. Not to take away from performances but the only time something like this happened in a major production the other way round was Lincoln with Sallly Field and DDL and Field was very vocal about how she had to really convince Speilberg for the part.
Some of the greatest chemistry between lovers in 2020 can be seen in some boys' love (BL) series from Thailand, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines. Highlights are Gameboys (Philippines; it's on Netflix now!), I Told Sunset About You (Thailand), Life~Love on the Line (Japan), and Cherry Magic (Japan). There's a lot of really good stuff in the genre nowadays.
Ashley -- I kept thinking about it while watching the film and didn't arrive at a definitive answer for myself -- i lean towards no but still think it's a fun interpretation of the film.
Joseph -- but isn't Taylor inviting that interpretation? anyway love love love that song.
Ashley -- I kept thinking about it while watching the film and didn't arrive at a definitive answer for myself -- i lean towards no but still think it's a fun interpretation of the film.
Joseph -- but isn't Taylor inviting that interpretation? anyway love love love that song.
Andrea Riseborough and Karim Saleh in Luxor
TJ, I was thinking of Andrea Riseborough & Christopher Abbott in Possessor **Spoiler** as 2 minds occupying the same body but I realise they don’t actually share the screen at any point. A testament to Abbott’s performance I think ( & Riseborough is always good!)
In the same way that Beanpole and And Then We Danced are 2020 movies... Minari and The Father are 2021 movies.
Rizz: I'd suggest that the reason for the Oldman/Seyfried casting in Mank is, Mankiewicz was an incredibly dissipated 43 at the time the film was set, and there aren't many (great) actors in that age range who could suggest such decay without it being a Monster-like showy transformation. It was important to Fincher to show that, despite the age commonalities, Mank was way over the hill while Marion was still fresh as a daisy.
I'm not saying you can't argue it, but I don't think it was the standard Hollywood "cast Sean Connery & Catherine Zeta-Jones as love interests" approach. There was method to it.
IF we're including television, then the duo of the year is clearly Michaela Cole and Weruche Opia in "I May Destroy You."
I actually thought some of the best on-screen chemistry in 2020 was between Peter Macdissi as Wally and Sophia Lillis as his boyfriend's niece in UNCLE FRANK. There's a lot of that in real life, people absolutely adoring an in law or friend of a friend in ways that kind of trump the primary relationship. The movie was smart about that.