Seth and Veronica
The Film: The Fly (1986)
The Inappropriate: Drunk and jealous scientist Seth misinterprets the actions of his new girlfriend Veronica, who goes to confront an ex about his constant meddling in her life.
Seth therefore decides to test his new teleporting invention, unaware that in doing so his DNA has been crossed with that of a fly. Slowly, Seth starts to turn into a hybrid monster...
How They Make It Work: Veronica can’t handle the fact that lover boy is mutating into a hideous monstrosity, and is forced to turn a gun on him. Love hurts.
Antony and Cleopatra
The Film: Cleopatra (1963)
The Inappropriate: The matter of duty and honour makes this one of the most famously tragic inappropriate couples.
Antony belongs to Rome, but he is bewitched by Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt. Their love is literally the thing of legend.
How They Make It Work: Upon hearing that Cleopatra has died (a plan hatched by the very-much-alive Queen), Antony attempts to kill himself, and dies in her arms.
Unable to bear the pain, Cleopatra poisons herself and joins her lover in the afterlife.
Unnamed girl and Maximilian
The Film: Rebecca (1940)
The Inappropriate: The fact that the leading lady in Daphne du Maurier’s tale is never afforded a name speaks volumes about the dysfunctional relationship she shares with Maximilian.
He likes her because she’s innocent and naive (she has that “look”), but that soon changes when our unnamed heroine begins to dig into the death of her new husband’s previous wife.
How They Make It Work: When the truth about Maximilian’s marriage to Rebecca is revealed, his new wife sticks with him. It’s her duty, you know.
Belle and the Beast
The Film: Beauty And The Beast (1991)
The Inappropriate: Some guys are hairier than others, sure.
But this one’s a beast. Like, literally. Be-horned, be-fanged, lurking be-hind ever dark corner and snarling whenever things don’t go his way.
How They Make It Work: Oh, alright, so the Beast is really just a cursed prince. And the only thing that’ll cure him... true love, naturally. So when he’s mortally wounded, Belle finally admits her heart flutters for he alone, and the Beast becomes a lovely long-haired hippy again. Happily. Ever. After.
Kermit and Miss Piggy
The Film: The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Inappropriate: He’s a frog. She’s a pig (both literally and characteristically). It’s a match made in hell.
Miss Piggy is pushy, demanding and manipulative, bossing poor old Kermie around even as she attempts to plant kisses on his gorgeous green visage.
How They Make It Work: Miss Piggy just can’t keep her trotters off Kermie.
Expect her to hound him ‘til the end of days. But he still probably won’t be interested.
Bella and Edward
The Film: Twilight (2008)
The Inappropriate: Just because Edward looks like a greasy-haired 17-year-old doesn’t make this any easier to stomach.
If you saw an 80-year-old man hobbling down the street with a gorgeous teenager on his arm, you’d feel more than a little queasy, right?
Well, Edward’s 104. We rest our case.
How They Make It Work: A lot ( a lot ) of angst, a love triangle, some lip-biting, some mild-to-extreme peril and a lot of moon-gazing. No matter what, these two just can’t be apart. Sigh.
Jake and Neytiri
The Film: Avatar (2009)
The Inappropriate: Another improper human-alien tryst.
Jake and Neytiri fall for each other when ex-marine Jake infiltrates her peoples’ planet using an avatar that makes him look like a native. Their sex scene was cut from the final print.
How They Make It Work: Jake turns rogue and refuses to take down the Na’vi for the sake of unobtanium (snicker). Defeating his human comrades, Jake joins the Na’vi and becomes entirely alien himself.
Dawn and Earl
The Film: Female Trouble (1974)
The Inappropriate: Teen runaway Dawn encounters the station-wagon-driving Earl while hitchhiking. They go back to his pig sty of a place and shag. Dawn ends up pregnant.
If that isn’t inappropriate enough, drag queen Divine played both Dawn and Earl in some very cleverly choreographed (not to mention stomach-churning) clinches. Divine shagging himself? There's a joke in there somewhere.
How They Make it Work: “Go fuck yourself,” yells Earl when Dawn demands money to help raise their baby (ah, there's that joke). Let’s just say it didn’t end amicably.
Erica and Julian
The Film: Something’s Gotta Give (2003)
The Inappropriate: Pairing charisma-vacuum Keanu Reeves with anybody generally ends up being a travesty (see Dracula , The Lake House et al).
But shoving him with increasingly barmy ‘older woman’ Diane Keaton takes the biscuit. It’s not quite Harold and Maude wrong, but it’s still pretty wrong.
How They Make It Work: They get married, are happy, blah blah blah.
It’s still wrong.
Sam and Molly
The Film: Ghost (1990)
The Inappropriate: Duh, the clue’s in the title.
Even though he’s deceased, Sam just can’t leave Molly alone. Mostly because he wants to protect her, but also, apparently, because carnal desire reaches through the veil of death.
How They Make It Work: Sam saves Molly and crosses over. It was beautiful while it lasted.
