The Most Epic First Kisses In Teen Movies
What are the most epic first kisses in teen movies? While it may not be very cool to admit it, most of us can't resist the charm and nostalgia of a good (or bad) teen movie. While these light flicks sometimes feature goofy plot lines, unrealistic situations, questionable acting, and even more questionable fashion, they can be a fantastic way to zone out of the daily grind and fill your head with some fluffy, carefree love stories. Plus, iconic films like A Walk to Remember or The Princess Diaries are sure to give you that familiar pang of nostalgia!
If you're in the mood for romance, we've done some (very serious) research into the very best first kisses in teen movies. These romantic moments are sure to get your heart fluttering, and give you an adorable couple to fantasize about for the next few weeks. Without further ado, here are the most epic first kisses in classic teen movies.
The famous "Only Hope" moment in A Walk to Remember is an epic first kiss
The 2002 adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel A Walk To Remember stole the nation's heart, and left most us in puddles of tears. The teen movie tells the love story between the sweet girl next door Jamie (played by Mandy Moore) and bad-boy Landon (played by Shane West). And while it ends in tragedy, there are some seriously swoon-worthy moments in the meantime.
The unlikely couple share their epic first kiss on stage during the school play, after Moore's character sings "Only Hope." It's an unstaged moment that takes both Jamie and viewers by surprise. It's definitely enough to melt your heart, and the epic first kiss is completely unforgettable.
It turns out, the scene was memorable to film for Mandy Moore, who's undergone a stunning transformation. As she told Entertainment Weekly, "I remember putting on that beautiful ice blue, silk dress and everyone fawning all over it. It was the first time that I wasn't in a ratty sweater and an oversized housedress." Of course, it's also the scene with one of the best on screen kisses ever!
The epic paintball kiss in 10 Things I Hate About You is perfect
The 1999 teen movie 10 Things I Hate About You took Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew, and shook it up for a modern teen audience. It's a pretty classic story of unlikely lovers. Kat (played by Julia Stiles) is the no-nonsense feminist high schooler tricked into dating Patrick (played by Heath Ledger), a rough-around-the-edges new kid. Even though Kat initially finds him pretty repulsive, and Patrick was actually paid to take her out, the pair inevitably fall for one another. They finally share their first, first, epic romantic kiss after bonding over a crazy paintball session. The moment is pretty perfect — the pair falls into a bail of hay laughing and covered in paint, and Patrick leans over and kisses Kat. It's seriously adorable.
What makes the moment even better is finding out that it was actually Stiles' very first on-screen kiss. And according to an interview with Cosmopolitan, she actually ranked that first kiss as her best on-screen kiss ever! We can't say we're too surprised — it's a truly special moment.
The epic first kiss in Spider-Man (2002) is totally legendary
There have been quite a few versions of the Spider-Man character over the years. But before there was Tom Holland or Andrew Garfield, there was Tobey Maguire; he made his first appearance in the role in the 2002 in Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst as Mary-Jane. You may not remember much about the movie — but one thing's for sure — it's pretty much impossible to forget the totally epic, upside-down first kiss in the rain.
The kiss is arguably one of Spider-Man's most iconic moments — but apparently, the cast had no idea it would become so famous. In 2014, Kirsten Dunst explained on The Graham Norton Show that while she never expected it to become so iconic, despite the fact that the director had purchased a coffee table book of movie kisses and said, "Let's try and make this one as epic as these kisses." She went on to watch as Dawn French and Bear Grylls did a hilarious recreation of the kiss, with Grylls hanging from a trapeze!
We think it's safe to say that only Maguire and Dunst could have pulled off this totally epic kiss.
The first kiss in The Princess Diaries is epic and magical
Anne Hathaway –who's undergone a stunning transformation — broke out in the teen movie The Princess Diaries as the gawky teen Mia Thermopolis, who discovers that she's the heir to a distant European throne. After an iconic makeover, she starts to come out of her shell and embrace teenage life with a little more vigor.
One of Mia's dreams is to have her first kiss — and as she tells her mom, she dreams that her foot will pop like in old films. At the end of the movie, she finally gets her epic first kiss with nice-boy Michael. It's at a ball, in the garden, and, when her foot pops, she flicks on the fountains and the fairy lights. It's a pretty iconic and magical moment that we definitely swooned over as teens!
It's pretty safe to say that plenty of young movie-goers grew up thinking that the "foot pop" kiss was the ideal. As both Bustle and Hello Giggles pointed out, a whole generation of teenage girls were obsessed. Sadly, most of us were in for a disappointing reality check when we finally got our first kiss!
The epic first kiss in Clueless happened on an iconic stairway
Clueless is a pretty iconic teen movie, so it's no surprise that the first kiss between Cher and Josh was also seriously epic. Throughout the film, Cher (played by Alicia Silverstone) spends her time making matches and shopping at high-end stores. Her ex-stepbrother, Josh (played by Paul Rudd), is more serious, and tries to help Cher make better choices. It's an utterly adorable case of super close friends, prone to bickering, who finally realize they have feelings for each other – then kiss on the staircase of their huge Beverly Hills Mansion!
Apparently, the kiss was just as good in real life as it was on the screen. As Rudd said in the book As If!: The Oral History of Clueless by Jen Chaney, "Growing up you hear these actors, and...they're like, 'Oh, it's all technical. Nothing's there. Nobody's excited. It's all just kind of embarrassing.'" He continued to explain that, for him, filming his kissing scenes with Silverstone was "pretty awesome" (via Vulture). No wonder the kiss looked so great!
The vampire stalker kiss in Twilight is an epic first kiss
Twilight is definitely one of those guilty pleasure teen movies that we love to both make fun of and to lose ourselves in. The intense, longing stares between Bella (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire boyfriend Edward (Robert Pattinson) are a little ridiculous, but they're also pretty steamy — and their epic first kiss isn't any different. After sneaking into Bella's room and admitting, "I like watching you sleep," Edward and Bella get it on. It's slow build-up, followed by an explosion of passion that set our teenaged hearts aflutter back in the day. The moment was so iconic, it even won Best Kiss at the MTV Awards in 2009 (via US Weekly).
It's no surprise the scene was so charged, as Stewart and Pattinson were actually falling in love at the time (the couple dated until 2013). And as Stewart revealed in an interview on The Howard Stern Show, the relationship was pretty serious. She explained that she couldn't help but fall for him, saying, "there was nothing I could do." Having seen their first on-screen kiss, we can't blame her!
The epic first kiss in A Cinderella Story is every girl's dream
A Cinderella Story, we got to see the unpopular Sam (played by Hilary Duff) find her prince in Austin (played by Chad Michael Murray), a high school jock. After he falls for her over text messages and at a masked ball, the pair finally get together at the end of the movie — and share one of the most epic first kisses ever. This moment has everything you could want from a teen movie: a popular boy defying his mean friends, a huge crowd, a cheesy, emotional song, and a sudden downpour of rain. Cue the swooning!
Duff said that the scene was a lot of pressure to film on a DVD interview. "It was so technical," she said, explaining that the rain drop had to fall in the perfect position. Additionally, all of the extras and crew members were watching. Furthermore, they had to shoot the scene dozens of times!
Nevertheless, the final kiss came out great. We bet Duff had fun, too — apparently, she even had a crush on Murray at the time (via Cosmopolitan)! Talk about living the dream!
The birthday scene in Sixteen Candles ends with an epic kiss
The 1984 classic teen film Sixteen Candles depicts high school life as only John Hughes could, complete with cliques, nerds, jocks, and young love. In the film, Sam (played by Molly Ringwald) is celebrating her sixteenth birthday, but things don't go so well — her parents forget, her crush won't give her the time of day, and, gasp, someone is selling her underwear at school!
Luckily, things end well when Sam's crush, Jake (played by Michael Shoeffling), brings her back her missing undies and a birthday cake with, you guessed it, 16 candles. They then share an epic first epic first kiss that is sure to give you the butterflies!
Apparently, this iconic moment was almost pretty different. As Ringwald revealed at a film class at USC, the part almost went to Viggo Mortensen instead of Shoeffling! Ringwald even read the scene with Mortensen. "It got to the [final] Jake Ryan shot, and we had the kissing scene," she recalled. Allegedly, Shoeffling didn't kiss her during the audition– but Mortensen did! "He made me weak in the knees," she confessed (via LA Mag). Wow!
The elevator smooch in Romeo + Juliet is an epic first kiss
If these star-crossed lovers didn't make your swoon, we're not sure anyone could! When the modern day Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes was released in 1996, a whole generation of teens were introduced to the steamy side of Shakespeare. And few moments were as exciting as the couple's epic first kiss, just moments after meeting at a party — talk about love at first sight. The stolen kiss is both super sweet and pretty steamy. Apparently, Danes had a little crush on DiCaprio while filming — we can't say we blame her after filming scenes like this one!
Entertainment Weekly was on set the day the kiss was filmed, and apparently, Danes and DiCaprio were already firm friends. Just before the scene was filmed, however, Danes accidentally broke the elevator's up button. Then, during the first take, after being instructed to "fly at each other with passion," they butted heads and burst into laughter! The scene apparently took dozens of takes to perfect. But based on the end result, we think it was probably worth it.
Adorable childhood sweethearts share an epic first kiss in 13 Going on 30
Pretty much every woman who grew up in the early 2000s actually looked forward to their 30th birthday, when they'd be "30, flirty, and thriving." That was thanks to the 2004 teen movie 13 Going On 30, a hilarious, fun-filled romp in which the 13-year-old Jenna is flung into the future to experience life in her 30-year-old self's shoes.
Once Jenna finds out where life has taken her, she realizes that she and her dorky childhood friend Matt are no longer friends. The pair then rekindle their relationship and it's pretty adorable, sharing an epic first kiss after jumping off some swings. It's super touching to see these childhood sweethearts finally get their happy ending.
Looking back on this classic teen flick now, we can see the relationship through new eyes. As USA Today pointed out, Matt didn't exactly seem like the ideal Prince Charming to us when we were teens. After all, he wasn't a football star or a moody, misunderstood poet! However, re-watching the film now, it's pretty clear that the honest, kind character is nothing short of a prince!
The first kiss we'd all been waiting for in The Lizzie McGuire movie was epic
For many of us, the Lizzie McGuire show, which ran from 2001 through 2004, literally defined our childhoods. One of the best parts about the show was the painfully sweet relationship between friends Lizzie (played by Hilary Duff) and Gordo (played by Adam Lambert). It was pretty evident that Gordo and Lizzie were just friends, even though he clearly pined for Lizzie most of the time.
When teen film The Lizzie McGuire Movie came out in 2003, fans finally got to see a romantic spark between the friends. Their epic first kiss was nothing short of perfect, taking place on an Italian balcony, right after Lizzie blew everyone away with her legendary performance at the Colosseum!
As Bustle pointed out, the super cute little kiss was a huge thing for fans of the couple. After all, they'd been through two seasons of torturous will-they-or-won't-they drama. Plus, it was definitely proof that Gordo is the ultimate guy for Lizzie. Maybe we'll see them get together again in the Lizzie McGuire reboot.
The epic first kiss in The Last Song led to real-life romance
It's no secret that Nicholas Sparks is pretty much the king of the teen romance. His long list of successful credits includes A Walk to Remember, Dear John, and The Lucky One. His 2009 movie The Last Song starred Miley Cyrus as Ronnie and Liam Hemsworth as Will, an unlikely couple who initially don't hit it off.
The epic first kiss is totally adorable — but it turns out, it wasn't actually planned! Hemsworth explained in a featurette that the smooch was filmed on their first day on set, and it wasn't even scripted! "Halfway through the scene the director yelled out, 'kiss,'" he recalled. "It was kind of good because I hadn't had any time to think about it or get nervous about the kiss."
And it gets even more adorable. After Cyrus and Hemsworth shared their first kiss on their first day on the job, the co-stars eventually fell in love in real life. They even got married in 2018. Sadly, the couple couldn't make it work, and split in 2020 (via People).
The dramatic, steamy kiss in Pretty in Pink was totally epic
The iconic '80s teen movie Pretty In Pink is a classic, coming-of-age high school tale, featuring the famous duo of Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy. Ringwald plays Andie in the John Hughes film, an outcast with few friends. The plot centers around her complicated relationship with the super popular Blane; after some ups and downs, Blane finally asks Andie to the prom. What follows is an epic first kiss – the kind we definitely didn't want to watch with our parents as teens!
There are a few surprising facts about this famous kiss that you may not realize. In a 2012 interview with Access, McCarthy explained they actually had to reshoot the end of the movie — in the original version, Ringwald's character ended up with a different guy!
However, McCarthy also had a problem. "I was in New York doing a play and I had shaved my head," he explained. "They threw a bad wig on me." We think it's pretty hilarious that the original rom-com kiss took place with McCarthy in a cheap wig!
The ultra-romantic, epic first kiss at the end of She's All That was all that
It would be impossible to talk about teen romance movies without giving a shout-out to She's All That. The movie is loosely based on the play Pygmalion (or My Fair Lady as you may know it). Popular high schooler Zach (played by Freddie Prinze Jr.) gets socially disgraced when his girlfriend dumps him. So, he tries to transform the geeky Laney (played by Rachael Leigh Cook) into a prom queen. Naturally, the pair end up falling for each other for real. Cue the romantic dance and epic first kiss in a lit-up garden that the audience has been desperately waiting for!
The scene is iconic for multiple reasons, but the soundtrack is what really made it memorable, one of the things in She's All That you only notice as an adult. Moments after the dreamy kiss, the movie's theme song starts to play — "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer. Apparently, the song skyrocketed the band into stardom. Band member Leigh Nash told Entertainment Weekly, "It was so light and innocent, and certain aspects of that movie were really sweet."