For Valentine’s Day, we’re celebrating romantic couples from some of our favorite films. What makes a great love story? Which is more important the premise of the movie or the chemistry between the actors? In this quiz, we’re going for chemistry. We’ve limited our list to 20 films/film couples, so there will be films and couples you love excluded from this quiz. Jane Fonda and Robert Redford made our list as a couple twice – once as a young couple in love (1967) and 50 years later (2017) they reunited a fourth time to star in another film on our quiz.  We love the contrast between young love and mature companionship in these two films. We’ve also counted the “Before trilogy,” as one film because the three films follow a couple from the beginning of a relationship, nine years later when they meet again, and nine years later as they struggle to balance their relationship, family, and careers.

Quiz answers are in this month’s final article, Next Month in This Awful Awesome Life – March 2021. Here is the link, https://www.thisawfulawesomelife.com/home/2021/2/12/next-month-in-this-awful-awesome-life-march-2021.

Match the movie title, the movie couple, and the actors who play them with a brief description of the film.

Love and Basketball    Ilsa/Rick              Jane Fonda/Robert Redford

The Way We Were           Alice/Noah Jr.     Nia Long/Larenz Tate

Amelie                                  Addie/Louis         Debra Winger/Richard Gere

The Notebook                    Elena/Salvatore  Tessa Thompson/Nnamdi

Asomugha

Casablanca                         Mary/Tim            Ruth Negga/Joel Edgerton

Before Sunrise                   Paula/Zack         Diane Keaton/Jack Nicholson

Barefoot in the Park          Nina/Darius      Rachel McAdams/Domhnall

Gleeson  

Brokeback Mountain        Corie/Paul          Audrey Tautou/Mathieu

Kassovitz

Like Water for Chocolate  Emily/Kumail   Rooney Mara/Cate Blanchett

Atlantics                                Ennis/Jack      Agnese Nano/Marco Leonardi

Cinema Paradiso                 Tita/Pedro        Mame Bineta Sane/

Ilbrahima Traore

Love Jones                             Monica/Quincy  Zoe Kazan/Kumail Nanjiani

Loving                                     Katie/Hubbell     Ingrid Bergman/Humphrey

Bogart 

Carol                        Amelie/Nino Lumi Cavazos/Marco Leonardi

Something’s Gotta Give      Mildred/Richard  Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy  

The Big Sick                          Sylvie/Robert         Barbra Streisand/Robert

Redford

Our Souls at Night               Therese/Carol        Sanaa Lathan/Omar Epps

An Officer and a Gentleman      Jesse/Celine  Heath Ledger/Jake

Gyllenhaal

About Time                           Ada/Souleiman       Jane Fonda/Robert

Redford

Sylvie’s Love                         Erica/Harry               

Gena Rowlands/James/Garner/Rachel McAdams/Ryan Gosling

Fill in the blanks: The February 2021 Isn’t It Romantic Quiz:

1.    In ________________, newlyweds, ____________, played by _______________________ share a sixth story apartment in Greenwich Village and struggle to balance her free spirit with his uptight reserve.

2.    __________________, played (as teens and adults) by ________________________, meet as children who share a love of a sport that dominates their future and ultimately brings them back together in __________________________.

3.    __________  is the story of a young man who learns he can travel through time and change his future. When he finally meets the love of his life, he also learns that changing his life can change the lives of the people he loves in unpredictable and often sad ways. ___________ are played by _______________________________________.

4.    _____________________ play the characters, _______________, two cowboys who meet in the wilds of Wyoming and fall in love. Over the years, they dream of being together permanently, but can’t fight societal taboos in the groundbreaking film, __________________.

5.    Two former lovers, ____________, meet by chance in Morocco during the WWII and he must choose between having the woman he loves or saving her husband, a leader in the Czech resistance in the film, ____________ which stars ________________________________.

6.    Mis-matched young lovers, _______________________ are played by _____________________________ in ___________________. ___________________________________ are unforgettable as the couple in the twilight of their lives.

7.    For _______________ played by ________________________________, timing is everything when a Chicago poet falls for a photographer who might not be over an old relationship in the film, ____________________.

8.    __________________________________ star in _________________ as ___________________, a young couple in love whose relationship is challenged by their families because they come from different cultures. When Zoe falls ill and slips into a coma, Kumail’s family seizes the opportunity to try to fix him up with suitable mates with comical consequences. Based on a true story of the courtship of the writer of the movie and the lead actor.

9.    ___________________________is the story of ______________________________, mismatched college lovers played by ________________________________. She’s Jewish, pro-Marxist and anti-war. He’s an easy going W.A.S.P. without strong political opinions. Opposites attract, repel, attract, and repel again as he tires of her activism and she remains truthful to her convictions.

10. In ________________________, a young boy befriended by the projectionist at the local theater finds solace from the war in movies and develops a lifelong love of films. After he falls for a local girl, he must decide whether to stay or pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker.  _______________________________ star as the young lovers, ________________________.

11. The film, ____________, is set in the conservative 1950’s when ______________________, an aspiring photographer and an attractive older woman going through a divorce become friends and lovers. _____________________________ star in this tale of forbidden love.  

12. _____________________________________ are ______________________ in the “Before Trilogy.” Bonus points for naming the three films and the years they were released. _______________________________, ________________________________, and ___________________________.

13.  _____________ is based on the true story of _________________________, an interracial couple who married in 1958, only to be jailed and later banished from their home state of Virginia. They took their battle for the freedom to marry all the way to the United States Supreme Court. _____________________________ star as the couple who fought to successfully invalidate state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

14. ___________________________________ star as ___________________ in _____________________________________, the tale of a rebellious candidate at the United States Navy’s Aviation Officer Candidate School who meets a Townie, falls in love, and finds success with the help of a tough Navy drill instructor played by Louis Gossett, Jr.

15. ___________________ is the story of a shy waitress who lives vicariously through watching other people. She decides to try to improve their lives while remaining anonymous. She falls in love with a quirky young man who collects discarded photos of strangers from passport photo booths and finally finds happiness for herself.  _______________________________________ star as ________________________________.

16. ____________________ is a supernatural romantic drama set in Africa and directed by Mati Diop, who became the first black woman to direct a film featured in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. ________________________________ played by ______________________________________ can’t be together because she is promised to another man, but their love transcends death.

17. _______________________________________ is the story of two lonely neighbors who develop a platonic friendship after the deaths of their spouses and fall in love despite the disapproval of their children. ______________________ played by ________________________________________ must decide between their duty to family and their own happiness.

18. ________________________________________ starring _______________________________________ is the story of _____________________ who are in love but are not allowed to marry because tradition dictates that she must care for her mother. After he weds her older sister, her powerful emotions begin to surface through her cooking. Through the years, their love endures.

19. In the film, ______________________,           _______________________ played by _______________________________________ have a summer romance while working at her father’s music store in Harlem. Years later they reconnect and discover their affection for each other hasn’t waned.

20. An aging womanizer falls for the mother of the young woman he is dating in the film ____________________________. _____________________________ star as ____________________________ in this romantic comedy written and directed by Nancy Meyers.