Vitriolic Best Buds/Film

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Vitriolic Best Buds in Film include:

Live-Action

  • 90% of The Hidden Fortress consist of Tahei and Matashichi arguing with each other.
  • Veronica and her dad in Heathers.
  • The two main characters from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, who form an Odd Couple.
  • Grumpy Old Men is based on a variant of this trope.
  • Gran Torino has Walt and his friend the barber.
  • Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has Harry and Perry, which is somewhere between the two types. Harry is sure that Perry is really his friend, and somehow ends up being right. Harry would give as good as he gets, except he's a colossal ditz and no-one can out-insult Gay Perry anyway.
  • The Boys in the Band. Michael and Harold. While it isn't clear they are best friends, two moments reveal their deep relationship: Michael's gift to Harold, and Harold's quiet assurance after giving him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech "I'll call you tomorrow."
  • Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, both in their "Road" pictures and in cameos in other films.
  • In Calamity Jane, Jane and Bill think they have this going on. At the end, they realise it was actually Slap Slap Kiss all along.
  • Will Turner and Jack Sparrow, from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. The principled blacksmith and scheming pirate are frequently at loggerheads, but in the first movie Will risks everything to rescue Jack from the gallows, and in the third, Jack sacrifices immortality to save Will's life.
  • In Made, the two main characters are best friends from high school, but they bicker almost nonstop due to Bobby's short temper and conservative approach in contrast to Ricky's loud, reckless and unreliable personality.
  • Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars film series and the expanded universe (Clone Wars and The Clone Wars) until not so much after the former's Face Heel Turn.
    • At least they become friends again near the end of Return of the Jedi.
    • See also Luke's relationship to Han Solo. Especially when they're arguing over Leia.
    • R2-D2 and C-3PO qualify as well.
  • In the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Legolas and Gimli are portrayed in this manner. Basically Legolas is Bugs Bunny and Gimli is Daffy Duck. As much as Gimil was exasperated by Legolas and as often as Legolas would act smarmy towards Gimli, the two always ended up being there for each other. This is an exaggeration of a similar relationship in the books.

Gimli: "Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an Elf."
Legolas: "What about side by side with a friend?"
Gimli: "Aye. I could do that."

  • Sam French and Jake Wyer in Fifty/Fifty have this in spades, although Jake likes to pretend he can't stand Sam.