10 Unlikely Screen Pairings

Played by: Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton
An aging, racist, seemingly heartless prison guard falls for an African-American beauty whose husband’s execution he oversees. Brought together by mutual grief over the deaths of their spouses and sons, the unlikely duo’s bond grows stronger with (hyper-realistic) sex, booze, and chocolate ice cream. —Maane Khatchatourian

Played by: Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder
Long before Edward Cullen and Bella Swan first gazed longingly at each other, a beautiful teenage girl fell for a supernatural, slightly dangerous loner in Tim Burton’s neo-gothic classic. Who needs sparkly vamps when you’ve got romantic ice sculpture snow? —Hillary Busis

Played by: Bud Court and Ruth Gordon
He, a young man obsessed with death; she, a spunky septuagenarian secretly on the verge of it. More than half a century separated these two, but they each had something to teach one another (and us) in this 1971 cult classic. —Lanford Beard

Played by: Woody Allen and Charlotte Rampling
? Allen is the punchline half of an odd couple in most of his comedies, where aesthetically incompatible couplings are accepted, if not expected. And, of course, life imitated art when Allen had an off-screen relationship with frequent leading lady Diane Keaton and a long-term partnership with Mia Farrow. Allen’s unlikely trade-up here resulted in Sandy’s tempestuous relationship with screen goddess Dorrie. The impassive filmmaker falls in love, at his own peril, and is plagued by the memories of the volatile actress. For a filmmaker who liked to take home his work, it was a common theme. —Maane Khatchatourian

Played by: Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt
Who could love a misanthropic, OCD-addled author? Only a much-younger single mom who makes ends meet by waiting tables — and makes Melvin want to be a better man. They’re two quirky tastes that taste great together, as evidenced by Nicholson and Hunt’s matching Oscars. —Hillary Busis

Played by: Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider
Hyper-graphic sex scenes caused a public uproar — including walkouts and, reportedly, audience vomiting — when Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 art film hit theaters Stateside. A scene unseen, when Paul pushed for 25-years-younger Jeanne to have a one-night stand with a swine to prove her love to him. It was he who was the real pig, making a cipher of her and using her as a sexual punching bag. No woman would put up with a louse like him in real life, and, in the end, Jeanne didn’t either. —Lanford Beard

Played by: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett
? Although breathtakingly beautiful and perfectly matched for about 15 minutes — six years of their characters’ lives together — this curious couple’s relationship borders on pedophilia during the beginning and end of the film. Technically, there’s a six-year age gap between the two, but Button’s unusual birth defect of aging backward physically places him in his 70s when he strikes up a friendship with the six-year-old Daisy. Odder still, Daisy watches him grow younger until her baby daddy dies as an infant. Their characters were more compatible when Pitt and Blanchett teamed up two years prior in Babel. —Maane Khatchatourian

Played by: Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie
Sutherland and Christie’s ”Did they or didn’t they?” love-making scene sparked controversy for its realism. Less realistic? The odds that a mustached pile of chicken legs like Sutherland would land a fox like Christie. —Lanford Beard

Played by: Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi
The only thing this sardonic teen artist and her sadsack, middle-aged pal share is their loneliness — and, for much of the movie, that’s enough. Too bad their dalliance inadvertently lands Seymour in the hospital. —Hillary Busis

Played by: Min-sik Choi and Hye-jeong Kang
We can’t really hold the most perverse element of their relationship against these lovers since they’re not aware of what’s up until it’s way too late (if you see the movie, you’ll know what we mean). But it’s safe to admit their age gap and uneven grooming philosophies wouldn’t help these two blend in on a typical night out at the local TGI Friday’s. —Lanford Beard