As the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, many people search for the all-important New Year’s Eve kiss — maybe with a significant other or a mysterious stranger.
If you choose to celebrate the age-old tradition by locking lips with someone, get inspired by some of the best on-screen clock-strikes-midnight lip-locks from movies and TV.
1. When Harry Met Sally
How often does “I hate you” lead to a kiss? Harry (Billy Crystal) gives an adorably dorky speech and gets to seal the deal with a kiss from Sally (Meg Ryan).
Spoiler alert: This movie ends with one of the most famous New Year’s Eve kisses of all time.
2. About a Boy
Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) and Rachel (Rachel Weisz) share a super-sweet New Year’s Eve kiss in this movie. The two meet at a New Year’s Eve party where the romance begins and Will lies to her about having a son.
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Spoiler alert: All it takes for Will to grow up is a kiss from Rachel.
3. Gossip Girl
Serena (Blake Lively) and Dan (Penn Badgley) share a super sweet smooch on New Year’s Eve in the Upper East Side of New York.
Spoiler alert: This episode in particular is good, but is full of flashbacks that may leave some viewers confused.
4. Friends
You can always count on Friends. Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox) were secretly dating, and desperately wanted to kiss when the clock hit midnight. Joey (Matt LeBlanc) helped them seal the deal by organizing kisses between all the friends on New Years Eve.
Spoiler alert: Joey is the ultimate matchmaker, “Who you kissing at midnight?”
5. The OC
Before Marissa (Mischa Barton) switched schools and moved into a trailer on The O.C., she and Ryan (Ben McKenzie) were busy being very in love. Just as Marissa unhappily comes to terms with the fact she’ll be spending the rest of NYE with her friend Oliver, Ryan rushes to the party. He gets there just in time to kiss Marissa.
Here is the slow-motion kiss that will go down in history for teen dramedies.
Spoiler alert: If cheesy slow-mo running makes you anxious, this isn’t the New Year’s Eve episode for you.
6. Bridget Jone’s Diary
This post-Christmas kiss between Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) can warm anyone’s heart on a cold winter night. She runs down the street in her underwear to get that New Year’s Eve smooch.
Spoiler alert: This movie starts on one New Year’s Eve and ends on the next.
7. New Year’s Eve
Paul (Zac Efron) and Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) share a passionate New Year’s Eve kiss. Paul helps Ingrid cross off a cute item on her resolutions list. This movie grabbed a lot of headlines after showcasing the kiss between Efron, who was 24 years old at the time of filming, and Pfeiffer, who was 53. Efron claims the kiss is “the best part of the movie!”
Spoiler alert: There was no actual kiss in the original scene, but the two suggested it to director Garry Marshall.
8. The Godfather II
It’s not a romantic kiss but it is one of the most famous kisses of death. It happens when Don Corleone (Al Pacino) gives his brother, Fredo Corleone (John Cazale), a smooch after he discovers Fredo betrayed him by taking part in an assassination plot.
Spoiler alert: This crime drama about the Italian mob in the first half of the 20th century isn’t your typical holiday film but the kiss of death happens during a New Year’s Eve scene.
9. The 5 Year Engagement
Tom Solomon (Jason Segel) and Violet Barnes (Emily Blunt) meet at a “make up your own super hero party” on New Years Eve. She dressed as Princess Diana and he dressed as some sort of super bunny. Their relationship kicked off with a New Year’s kiss.
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Spoiler alert: 365 days later they get engaged just as New Year’s Eve fireworks begin.
10. Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown attempts to read War and Peace by Leo Tolstroy for a book report on Dec. 31, but instead of keeping him awake, the book ends up putting him to sleep. Though he misses the countdown, he still gets a kiss on the cheek from Marcie when she and Peppermint Patty show up at his house after midnight.
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Spoiler alert: No holiday would be complete without a Charlie Brown special.