Film

Best Friends

Name: Best Friends
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 1982
Cast: Burt Reynolds, Goldie Hawn, Jessica Tandy, Barnard Hughes, Audra Lindley

Romantic comedy
Comedy
Light-hearted

A romantic comedy about a couple who've been living and working together for years, only to discover that marriage fundamentally changes everything they had. It's a thoughtful film about the gap between companionship and commitment, lightly touched with humour. For anyone who's wondered if the people we love most are always the ones we should marry.

TMDb rating

2.6

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Nine to Five1980

Goldie Hawn's co-star Jane Fonda leads this sharper, funnier film about workplace dynamics and female friendship. It's got more bite than *Best Friends* but the same warmth about women navigating professional and personal identity.

But It's dated in ways that sometimes undercut the message. The broad comedy can overshadow the sharper points it's trying to make.

Starting Over1979

Burt Reynolds and Candice Bergen in a similar romantic premise: two people who fit together in theory but need to learn who they actually are. It's gentler than you'd expect, surprisingly introspective about reinvention.

But It meanders a bit, and the resolution feels more conventional than the setup deserves. The pacing can test your patience in the second half.

Same Time, Next Year1978

Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda play lovers who meet once yearly for decades. It explores how relationships evolve and what it means to build something outside normal life—a perfect thematic companion to *Best Friends*.

But It's essentially one room and two people for two hours. If you need plot momentum rather than character study, this will feel static.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Best Friends

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Poseidon Adventure1972

Both films hinge on the revelation that years of proximity don't guarantee you know your partner. The difference is *Poseidon* proves it while everything is literally burning.

Ernest Borgnine and Shelley Winters as a long-married couple facing catastrophe. It's a disaster film, not a romance, but it asks the same core question: do you know who you're bound to when everything falls apart? The answer is brutal and moving.

But It's an ensemble disaster film, so Borgnine and Winters are one thread among many. You have to be willing to sit through action and spectacle to get the emotional moments.

Chapter Two1979

Neil Simon's film about falling in love after grief and loss. James Caan and Marsha Mason have real chemistry, and it finds genuine emotion in the mess of second chances and learning to be vulnerable again.

But It can feel stagey and occasionally strains for laughs in moments that don't need them. The romantic scaffolding sometimes shows.

I'll Take Sweden1965

Burt Reynolds in a romantic comedy that shares *Best Friends'* interest in mismatched couple dynamics. It's lighter and sillier, but Reynolds has charm and the film doesn't overstay its welcome at 96 minutes.

But It's pretty thin as stories go. The plot is basically an excuse to film in Sweden, and that's about it.

The Other Side of Midnight1977

Susan Sarandon and Roy Scheider in an ambitious, romantic epic that cares deeply about whether two people can actually survive knowing each other's full history. It's sweeping and occasionally ridiculous, but never boring.

But The plot is sprawling to the point of incoherence in places. You need to be in the mood for glossy melodrama that doesn't quite know when to stop.

Rich and Famous1981

Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen as lifelong friends watching each other's marriages, affairs, and compromises. It's gossipy and warm, interested in how friendships survive romantic entanglements.

But It's meandering and sometimes feels more interested in fashion and wealth than actual stakes. The tone can feel dated in its attitudes.

The Breakfast Club1985

Both films are fundamentally about whether compatibility on paper survives the actual texture of living with someone. *Breakfast Club* suggests it might; *Best Friends* suggests it's more complicated than that.

It's about strangers forced to spend a day together and realising they have more in common than expected. That's *Best Friends* in reverse: it shows how quickly connection forms when two people actually listen. The alchemy of genuine friendship.

But It's a teen film, sometimes earnest to the point of cheese. If you watch it expecting sophistication, you'll be disappointed. You have to meet it on its own terms.

Faces1968

Where *Best Friends* asks gently whether marriage changes friendship, *Faces* asks viciously whether marriage is even salvageable. Same question, completely different register and answer.

John Cassavetes' improvised, brutal portrait of a marriage coming apart over a single night. It's raw and unromantic—married people destroying and rebuilding each other. It's the anti-romantic comedy version of *Best Friends*' question about who we marry and why.

But It's 193 minutes long, unglamorous, and often uncomfortable. There are no laughs. If you need beauty or narrative momentum, it will exhaust you.