A kiss is worth a thousand words, which explains why so many kisses come at the end of movies, after one thousand words have been spoken. A good on-screen kiss can be the cherry on top of a perfect romance, or it can save a hopeless comedy from disaster. There's a reason true love's kiss is a mythical cure-all. A kiss might not be able to solve problems in real life, but in the movies, it's better than a miracle. The proof, I assure you, is in the pudding — just check out the 17 iconic kisses from '00s movies below.
It's tough to find truly memorable kisses from movies of that era because, well, they just haven't been around long enough to become truly iconic. Iconic movie kisses have a knack of finding their way into every corner of pop culture, but for '00s movies, there hasn't really been enough time for the most famous kisses to pop up in other projects. The infamous upside-down kiss from Spider-Man was recreated on The OC years later, but that's about it. Instead, iconic kisses from '00s movies are iconic because millennials are still obsessing over how to recreate them IRL. (Though, if you're hanging upside down from the roof of your house waiting for a kiss, maybe you should take a step back from this approach.) If you haven't imagined recreating these 17 kisses, then I don't know who you are.
1. The Notebook
Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling's crazy kiss in the rain from The Notebook is, hands down, the most iconic kiss of any '00s movie.
2. Spider-Man
Upside-down kiss. 'Nuf said.
3. Shrek
The big kiss in Shrek that turns Fiona to "love's true form" is mostly iconic because of how it recreates the transformative kiss from Beauty and the Beast, but even though it might be a copy-cat kiss, it's still iconic because ogres are better than beasts (yes, I said it).
4. X-2
Bobby and Rogue's kiss in X-2 was amazing for many reasons, the most important being that the romance factor was amped up to 11 because kissing Rogue could technically have killed Bobby, but he DGAF. That's hot.
5. Brokeback Mountain
When Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal teamed up on screen for Brokeback Mountain, audiences were unsure of what to expect, which made their impassioned reunion kiss that much more moving and instantly iconic.
6. Love Actually
The "To me you are perfect" kiss was uber romantic when Love Actually was released in 2003, but now it's universally accepted as sort of creepy and stalker-y.
7. The Princess Diaries
Foot pop = instant iconic status.
8. A Cinderella Story
The kiss at the end of A Cinderella Story is mostly iconic because of Hilary Duff's memorable speech that preceeds it, but the kiss that ended the Southern California drought deserves a spotlight.
9. A Walk To Remember
If you grew up in the '90s and early '00s, then A Walk To Remember was, at one point or another, the most romantic thing you had ever seen. Emotional first kiss included.
10. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
Awkward Harry Potter kiss was iconically awkward.
11. Atonement
Ok, so the Atonement kiss was really more of a love scene, but the initial kiss that starts it all in the library is definitely one for the books.
12. Enchanted
True love's kiss indeed.
13. Save The Last Dance
Once you see the kiss/love scene in Save the Last Dance, you'll never hear "True Colors" the same way again.
14. Sweet Home Alabama
Another kiss in the rain, the ending kiss in Sweet Home Alabama is iconic for its beach setting and just all around sweet factor. After all, the kiss has got to be good if the only reason Jake and Melanie want to get married is so they can kiss anytime they want.
15. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Because a kiss between Scarlett Johansson and Penélope Cruz could never be anything less than iconic.
16. Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl
The kiss at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean isn't particularly spectacular, but it becamea fan favorite, especially among fans who had major crushes on Legolas.
17. Catch Me If You Can
When a young Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) meets model Cheryl Ann (Jennifer Garner) at a hotel, iconic kissing is unavoidable. (This kiss scene is also iconic because of Garner's blue dress that is basically how I imagine I look every time I put on a dress.)
These iconic kisses can never really be re-created in real life, but, hey, at least we'll always have the movies. Thanks for setting impossibly high standards for hopeless romantics everywhere.
Images: New Line Cinema; Giphy (11); xmenladies/tumblr; nxpotter/tumblr; emmasneverland/tumblr; aryastark/tumblr; tidalmaa/tumblr; samuelljackson/tumblr
