“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” swings into theaters on Friday, re-teaming Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as the web-slinging superhero and his girlfriend Gwen Stacy. The two lead actors fell in love with a thwip! on the set of its 2012 predecessor, and their “infectious chemistry” charmed critics back then as much as now. Early reviews of this sequel say the romance elevates an otherwise-typical action movie. “Garfield and Stone — a couple in real life — have a palpable connection that director Marc Webb uses to bolster [the] love story to full effect,” the New York Daily News wrote. The Associated Press was more direct: “With great chemistry, you see, comes great kissing,” its writer said.
Yes, onscreen love is often an act, but we’re enthralled long after the credits roll when co-stars couple up off-screen. (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie after “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” or Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in “Twilight,” anyone?) Today at Word and Film, I look at a handful of adaptations such as “To Have and Have Not,” “The Long Hot Summer” and “The Notebook” that spun a web of romance.