8. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
If you got a buddy like Tim Robbins or Morgan Freeman to keep you company, anything becomes bearable, even a couple decades in prison.
In a place where the only women present are on the silver screen, bromance of the best and worst kind abounds, as guards and prisoners alike support and exploit each other in a myriad of ways. Hell, bromance can even save you from the loneliness of the outside world, as Freeman is only able to find peace when Robbins calls from across the border with a message of hope and love.
7. Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (1987)
This is an odd couple road trip movie, where a lot of the suspense comes from the fact that the world was still analog rather than digital. As is the case with most movies, the leads make all the difference.
Steve Martin is the marketing exec trying to make it from New York to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving, and the late great John Candy is the shower ring salesman who seriously complicates the process. Martin treads the delicate line of remaining likable enough to keep our sympathy, while enough of a jerk to keep his misadventures laughable for us.
Candy also has his own balancing act to perform, as he must remain lovable enough to root for, but obnoxious enough to get the hits to keep on coming. Did I mention those hits include accidentally stealing taxis, driving the wrong way on a freeway, and setting fire to their car?
6. Lethal Weapon (1987)
Most badass bromance ever, and it’s not only the best buddy cop movie, it’s THE buddy cop movie.
Danny Glover is the grizzled veteran and a loving family man, Mel Gibson is the seriously unhinged, suicidal loner still reeling from the death of his wife. (Needless to say, subsequent events have made his performance really believable.) And the car chases! The crashes! The fights! All before CGI came along and ruined action movies. We will never be too old for this shit.
5. Anything with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), Paul (2011), The World’s End (2013). Need I say more?
4. Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
Sometimes, you gotta fight for your right to party. In Bill and Ted’s case, the never-ending party that is their friendship changes humanity for the better.
When it looks like their dynamic duo might be permanently divided, George Carlin is tasked with using time travel to keep them together and ensure that the beautiful music they will make together ushers in the world’s utopian future.
3. The King’s Speech (2010)
The male friendship between Colin Firth’s King George VI and Geoffrey Rush’s speech therapist Lionel Logue not only proves essential to the making of a monarch, it’s pretty damn handy when it comes to the future of a nation and a world when it goes to war.
Firth’s stutter is already an issue for a man of royal blood who is expected to directly address the people thanks to the development of the radio. But when he has to take the throne after his more dashing brother abdicates, he has to become a balm to his country during England’s darkest hour.
Rush has his own burden too, representing all those people Firth must inspire as he faces his own trials. It’s all the more touching for being based a true story.
2. The Odd Couple (1968)
“The Odd Couple” set the standard for bromance on film. It’s a beat we all know the steps to, but never gets old. Two very different but very close pals find their friendship put to the ultimate test-by each other of all things-when they are somehow forced to share a living space.
And “The Odd Couple” raises the stakes by a harsh look at how the things that make us who we are can push away those we love, and even drive us to what may be the funniest suicide attempt ever brought to the screen.
1. Lord of the Rings (2001)
This is the original definition of epic bromance. The women are such an afterthought in this, it’s actually kid of funny. And where to begin? Sure, there’s Frodo and Sam, but there’s also Merry and Pippin, Pippin and Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn, Aragorn and Boromir, Aragorn and Gandalf, and, well, Aragorn and pretty much everybody. Plus there was Gandalf and Frodo, Gandalf and…this is getting repetitive. And that’s just the first movie. You get the point. Blame it on all the close-ups.
These are friendships so epic, they built a franchise too big to fail…so it failed, by splitting “The Hobbit” into three movies, a completely unnecessary, profit by any means move that almost ruins a great story. Let’s just thank our lucky stars that the original trilogy came along before that was a thing and gave us the best brorgy ever.
Honorable Mentions: I Love You, Man, Wedding Crashers, Stand By Me, The Hangover, Dumb And Dumber, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Wayne’s World, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.