The Most Satisfying Movie Kisses Ever

What are the most satisfying movie kisses ever? You know, those long-awaited smooches that finally happen after hours of tension? Or perhaps the kisses that melt your heart and make you weak in the knees, thanks to the actors' insane chemistry? You know what we're talking about. Those kisses.

Certainly there are tons of movie kisses worthy of mention, like the innocent smooch in My Girl that reminded you of your own first kiss, or the epic paintball kiss in 10 Things I Hate About You. However, some kisses stand out because they transport you off of your couch and into the film, almost like you're actually there. It takes a perfect storm of savvy writing, sizzling chemistry, perfect scenery, and, of course, the right actors to create these memorable scenes that can warm even the coldest hearts.

With romance in mind and desire in our hearts, we sorted through all of film history to compile a list of the most satisfying movie kisses to grace the silver screen. So without further ado, here they are.

When it comes to romantic films, few are more intense than Baz Luhrmann's 1996 adaptation of Romeo + Juliet. Much of that is thanks to the insane chemistry between Claire Danes (Juliet Capulet) and Leonardo DiCaprio (Romeo Montague), which was on full display during their famous elevator kiss. That was just the first they'd share in the film, too, and it took around 23 takes before they got it just right. "The amount of kisses that are in this movie is astonishing," Danes shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "I'm getting kind of used to it." Um, can you really get used to kissing Leo, though?

When it came to the sensual scenes in the film, however, DiCaprio said that Danes was quite modest. "Claire has to be covered up," he explained. "There's no real love scenes. We just say a bunch of stuff, and then I roll over in the sheets, and then we wake up the next morning."

Danes did accidentally break off part of the elevator, however, and the two even bonked heads once while filming the super satisfying smooch. Sounds like it was fun on set!

When Amy Heckerling's Clueless dropped in 1995, starring Alicia Silverstone as the funny and likable Cher Horowitz, both our lingo and our fashion were forever changed for the better. And when Cher finally locked lips with Paul Rudd's Josh, fans of the film were absolutely delighted. It was oh-so-satisfying, as they finally figured out that they were totally in love, despite being near-polar opposites.

Some folks had their feathers ruffled by the famous smooch, however, according to assistant director Danny Silverberg. "In fact, we all had to wrap our head around: Are they brother and sister?" he explained to Vulture. "They're not brother and sister, are they? No. They're kissing right in front of us." To be clear, the characters are not biologically related, so we were all totally into it.

Apparently Rudd was as well, as, in spite of his nerves, he said he was actually pretty "psyched" about sharing a tender kiss with Silverstone. "I remember thinking, 'This is pretty awesome,'" he revealed. "I sound like a total perv." 

Cher and Josh's kiss is — hands down — one of the best moments in Clueless.

Katniss Everdeen shared a lot of smooches with two different fellows throughout the Hunger Games franchise, but her most satisfying kiss is the one she shared with Peeta Mellark on the beach in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The scenery was gorgeous, the music sweeping, and the kiss itself was both passionate and tender in the 2013 film. That's when viewers knew for sure that Katniss truly loved Peeta and that she really does need him.

The chemistry between the actors who played these characters, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, wasn't lost on them, either, as Lawrence tells it. "We're great together," she revealed in a chat with CNN. "We can really kiss." That's a good thing, given how many times they had to pucker up throughout the four films in the franchise.

What's super sweet is that Lawrence was Hutcherson's "first real big kiss in a movie," though he said that she wasn't exactly gentle. "It was a little abrasive, if I'm being honest," he confessed. "A little shocking." Knowing how J-Law is, we can't say we're all that surprised.

When it comes to the most classic romance films of all time, there's no doubt that Casablanca is high on the list. The 1942 film starred Humphrey Bogart as Rick and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa, who were deeply in love with one another and achingly not meant to be. Naturally, Bogart and Bergman were stunning on-screen, as their palpable chemistry had all of us convinced that Rick and Ilsa were the real deal.

While it isn't the only smooch in the sweeping film, the most satisfying kiss that Rick and Ilsa share is while he's remembering when he fell in love with her. It's in that scene where Bergman delivers the famous line, "Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time," which is so insanely romantic. 

Interestingly enough, according to Noah Isenberg, author of the book We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood's Most Beloved Movie, the line was originally "Hitler or no Hitler, kiss me," which sounds crazy. But as he told radio host Terry Gross on Fresh Air, that was indeed the case. Who knew?

In the '80s, film director John Hughes reigned supreme, the brains behind The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and of course, Sixteen Candles. And of all the kisses in all of Hughes' film, our favorite kiss is from that last one, which also happens to be his 1984 directorial debut.

The reason the smooch at the end of Sixteen Candles is so satisfying is threefold: Molly Ringwald's Samantha and Michael Schoeffling's Jake are totally gorgeous, they're finally together, and they're lit up softly by candles on a birthday cake. Talk about a totally romantic finale! We'd been waiting the entire movie for that first kiss, and it was well worth all the anticipation, making it one of the most epic first kisses in teen movies.

What's totally wild about that kiss is that the role of Jake was almost given to another actor, who read for the part with Ringwald. "Michael Shoeffling did not kiss me during the audition — Viggo Mortensen did," she revealed in an interview with Los Angeles Magazine. "He made me weak in the knees." She was only 15 at the time, too!

While some may question why Twilight is included on a list of the most satisfying kisses in movie history, consider the legions of Twihards who patiently waited to see Bella Swan and Edward Cullen's first kiss on screen. And while the films do deviate a bit from the books, the production team did their best to be as loyal as possible to the source material (via ScreenRant).

While those are both good reasons to give Bella and Edward's first smooch the nod of approval, it was the undeniable chemistry between actors Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson that truly sealed the deal. After all, the pair were literally falling in love on set, and fans couldn't have been happier about it. So it's no surprise that the pair won Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards for the famous smooch (via Us Weekly).

As Kristen Stewart, who's had a stunning transformation, tells it, falling in love with Pattinson was all but inevitable. "There was nothing I could do," she confessed on The Howard Stern Show. She added that their chemistry was immediate from the start. Now that's just satisfying all around!

In 2008, audiences were absolutely delighted by director Danny Boyle's sleeper hit Slumdog Millionaire. The film followed orphan Jamal Malik as he grew up, found his destiny when he won Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, and finally, kissed the enduring love of his life for all the world to see. The film won eight Academy Awards, as noted by The New York Times, and had everyone practicing their Bollywood dancing at home.

That incredibly satisfying kiss, shared by actors Dev Patel and Freida Pinto, spared nothing when it came to theatrics, said line producer Tabrez Noorani. "Basically, this is the end sequence where the couple kiss and two trains arrive and literally, thousands of people come out of the train, and they all break out in this amazing dance sequence," he explained to NPR. It really was quite a feat!

While that wasn't Patel's first on-screen kiss (that happened on Skins, as noted by W magazine), it was certainly one for the history books. Jai Ho!

If there's one kiss that's at the top of everyone's most satisfying smooch in film history list, it's Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater's epic first kiss in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic. The big moment happens when the couple are "flying" together on the bow of the ship, bathed in a sunset with the ocean in the background. Need we say more?

Ironically enough, as Kate Winslet tells it, she and Leonardo DiCaprio were actually quite over it by the time they finished kissing. "We shot that scene ... about four times, and to be honest with you, by the end of it, we were just like 'Ugh, we can't kiss each other anymore,'" she revealed to ET about the iconic moment that's gone down as one of the best first kisses in movie history. "It just got so boring, and I had his makeup on me, and he had my makeup on him." Sorry to burst your bubble, fans!

Cinematographer Russell Carpenter was later awarded for his work on Titanic, including that incredibly satisfying kiss (via The Hollywood Reporter).

When director Ang Lee brought Brokeback Mountain to the silver screen in 2005, it was groundbreaking, thanks to two A-list actors portraying a same-sex couple. While that wasn't exactly verboten in film at the time, seeing Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger go all in for their on-screen romance was certainly edgy and daring at the time.

The two actors didn't disappoint when it came to their intimate scenes in Brokeback Mountain, as both Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar were complex, nuanced characters with super expressive body language. That's what makes their passionate kiss by the side of Ennis' house so totally satisfying. Finally, after all the time they spent apart, they were reunited — and totally in love, in spite of themselves.

Ledger and Gyllenhaal communicated extensively throughout filming in order to ensure that they did justice to Jack and Ennis' romantic relationship. "The best metaphor I can give is that it felt like we were both like, 'Are you ready? Yeah. Let's go,' and we dove off the boat into the deep end," Gyllenhaal told LiveAbout. Clearly, that approach worked.

According to the 1987 cult classic The Princess Bride, there have been five kisses throughout history that are equal parts passionate and pure. And of them all, it's the super satisfying kiss that Westley and Buttercup share at the end of the film that holds the esteemed, No. 1 spot over the others. We're inclined to agree, thanks to the intent expressions on Cary Elwes and Robin Wright's faces as they go in for the big smooch. Finally, the clever, gallant hero and his beautiful bride can be together. Oh, and don't forget the horse!

For as much as viewers loved the final kiss in the beloved film, it appears that Elwes and Wright couldn't get enough of it either; Elwes opened up about it in his book As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride. "When it came for this particular kissing scene, Robin and I kept asking for more takes," he revealed. "I think we were actually so giddy we were giggling like a couple of schoolgirls."

That was also the last scene they shot in the entire movie, which is just perfection.

Some movies just don't age all that well. However, when it comes to 1987's Dirty Dancing, it's aged like a fine wine, thanks to its progressive writing, excellent direction helmed by Emile Ardolino, and the insane chemistry between Jennifer Grey's Baby Houseman and Patrick Swayze's Johnny Castle.

That palpable chemistry was on full display throughout the film, but it really heats up during the pair's satisfying first kiss. After spending much of the film developing feelings for each other, Baby and Johnny share a steamy smooch — after Baby fully investigates Johnny's bare torso.

While you may be tempted to think Grey and Swayze had it going on off-camera, Grey didn't exactly sound enthusiastic when discussing her relationship with the late actor in 2015. "I didn't think we had chemistry," she explained in a chat with Glamour. "It's a weird thing, though. It doesn't have to do with whether you like someone or not. It's just you either have it or you don't." And as we all could see, they did.

According to The New York Times, the 2016 film Moonlight is one of the best movies of the 21st century, thanks to "the complicated, entangled humanity of all its characters." Directed by Barry Jenkins, the Oscar-winning film depicts the life of its main character, Chiron, in his youth, adolescence, and adulthood.

It's during the second segment of Moonlight that viewers are treated to an intense and satisfying kiss, courtesy of actors Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome. Sanders does a masterful job showing both his hesitation and desire in the scene, which takes place on a beach in Miami. Of course, more happens than just a kiss, but it's the amazing chemistry between Jerome and Sanders that makes the scene so perfect.

In a move shocking absolutely no one, the two actors won the award for Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards the following year. Sanders proclaimed after receiving the trophy, "This represents more than a kiss." Given that two Black men snagged the honor for sharing a queer kiss, he's absolutely right.

When it comes to movie kisses that defied gravity and delighted audiences, the first one that pops to mind is the satisfying smooch that Spider-Man and Mary Jane share in the 2002 film Spider-Man. Starring Tobey Maguire in the titular role and Kirsten Dunst as his love interest, the film's big kiss takes place in the pouring rain, as Mary Jane removes part of Spider-Man's mask and kisses him — while he's literally upside-down.

While the famous kiss easily went down as one of the most satisfying in film history, Dunst has said she was surprised by all the attention that epic kiss received. "I never expected it to be one of those things," she confessed on an episode of The Graham Norton Show. "You never know when you're making something." She also acknowledged that the famous smooch really is an iconic one. 

It still is, all these years later, too. Will anyone ever top this singular smooch?

Hopeless romantics everywhere got a treat in 2004 when The Notebook debuted in theaters, directed by Nick Cassavetes. The Nicholas Sparks film starred Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as Noah and Allie, respectively, two lovers with very different backgrounds. Because of that, they are prevented from being together for a good chunk of the film. But that doesn't stop them from stealing an incredibly satisfying kiss after being apart, replete with pouring rain and ample tears.

As Gosling tells it, there was no question that McAdams should play Allie in The Notebook. "The chemistry with Rachel was immediate," he explained to Access Live. "She came in, she was the last one to read, she was certainly the girl for the job."

It's no surprise, then, that McAdams and Gosling went on to date for a couple of years (via People). They even re-created their famous smooch at the MTV Awards after receiving the award for Best Kiss — and clearly were happy to do so.