The 10 Best Battle of the Sexes Comedies

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Wars start and end, treaties are signed, new borders get drawn… We could be talking about the history of global politics, or just what happened between you and your girl last weekend. You know the story: You want to watch basketball, but she wants to watch some lame reality show. Or, you have to walk her stupid dog because she has to put up with your boy sleeping on the couch. And then there's the common problem where you're both highly skilled assassins with a mission to destroy each other... Wait, what? OK, so that last scenario is more applicable to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but you get the idea.

Over the years, we've seen a number of these classic scenarios played out on the silver screen, more often than not for laughs, and we're betting that the new film Think Like A Man, which hits theaters on April 20th (along with a cool custom dating app available here), will be a quality addition to the genre. In the meantime, here are The 10 Best Battle Of The Sexes Comedies to date. Enjoy the list—but please, don't let this start any arguments.

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10. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

This film, about dueling undercover spies married to one another, marks the moment at which Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie fell in love in real life, and their innate chemistry is proven in some of the most authentic guy-girl action scenes ever shot. As the story progresses, Brad and Angie reconcile by uniting against a common enemy—and no, it isn't Jennifer Aniston.

9. Def Jam's How To Be A Player (1997)

Bill Bellamy is Dray, the title player in Def Jam's raunchy comedy about revolves around a scheme that a disgruntled sister who schemes against her panty-chasing brother (Bellamy) in order to teach him the perils of two-timing. Her strategy: She throws Dray a party and invites all his various side-shows.

It looks like the plan will backfire on her until the arrival of Dray's true love forces him to surrender. As you might expect, the Def Jam soundtrack reads like a laundry list of true players, from Too Short to Master P to Foxy Brown.

8. Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

Intolerable Cruelty is notable as one of the few Coen Brothers movies that never found a passionate following, but it's still a very strong addition to the battle of the sexes subgenre. In it, George Clooney plays the divorce attorney whom gold-digger Catherine Zeta-Jones (when she was really pretty hot) blames for ruining her greatest scheme. She concocts a new plot to both get rich and get revenge on her nemesis, which results in some quite effective, are-they-about-to-kill-or-bang-each-other tension.

7. His Girl Friday (1940)

Directed by Hollywood legend Howard Hawks, His Girl Friday stars Hollywood legends Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell as Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson, the editor and star reporter at a newspaper, respectively, whose marriage has just ended in divorce.

When Hildy announces her plans to re-marry and give up reporting, Walter does everything he can to prevent her from doing either, including having her new fiance arrested and giving her one last scoop too good to turn down. This is actually one of the few films on the list where the man is the scheming, controlling one; hey, it was 1940.

6. How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003)

Far superior to their heinous 2008 Fool's Gold(which isn't a difficult distinction to earn), this Matthew McConaughey/Kate Hudson vehicle tells the story of a man and woman each trying to settle a bet: He's got a wager going that he can win any woman in ten days, but she says she can lose any man in the same period of time.

Of all the films on the list, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days is the most obvious chick flick, but the hijinx are actually pretty funny, and you really get a sense of why, a decade ago, these two were at the top of the game.

5. The War Of The Roses (1989)

War Of The Roses stars Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a couple going through a divorce, and as far as this list goes, only Mr. & Mrs. Smithcan beat it for destruction of property.

Their characters, Oliver and Barbara Rose, take the whole "battle of the sexes" thing literally, tearing apart the house they both hope to keep as they fight to get the other out of the picture. While the film (directed by Danny DeVito) was maybe a little too dark for its own audience, it proved fertile comic ground for '80s romantic icons Douglas and Turner (more on them later).

4. Overboard (1987)

Overboard is one of the great examples of a film succeeding in spite of it's ludicrous plot. Goldie Hawn (Kate Hudson's mama, keeping our list all in the family) plays Joanna Stayton, a stuck-up, rich chick who hires carpenter Dean, played by Kurt Russell (Goldie's real-life man, keeping it even more in the family) to remodel a closet in her yacht. Once he starts the job, though, she decides to stiff him on his pay after she doesn't like the wood he uses, which isn't as X-rated as it sounds.

As it happens, Joanna then falls off her yacht and hits her head, developing amnesia. When Dean discovers this, he decides to exact his revenge by telling her they're actually married, and forcing her to look after his four sons.

At one point, there was talk of Jennifer Lopez wanting to remake Overboard, or at least the part about bossing people around on a yacht. The latter seems more believable.

3. 9 To 5 (1980)

The classic 9 To 5 has a slightly different vibe from other battle of the sexes tales, in that it's much more of a revenge fantasy than a straightforward love story. Three secretaries—played by Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton—conspire to take down their sexist boss (Dabney Coleman). These days, Coleman is known for playing the Commodore on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, and frankly, Nucky Thompson and Jimmy Darmody would have had a hard time coming up with better punishment for the dude.

Although he lives to the end of the film, Coleman's character winds up having his company and his dignity taken from him; then, he's shipped off to the Brazilian jungle, where he's never heard from again.

2. Romancing The Stone (1984)

Romancing the Stone is one of the great films of the '80s, and a real watershed moment for this genre. It helped launch Robert Zemeckis' unique brand of action-comedy, and established Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas as a great comic duo.

The action-comedy takes place mostly in the Colombian jungle where romance novelist Joan Wilder (Turner) has journeyed to rescue her kidnapped sister from some very bad dudes. At her side is treasure-seeker Jack Colton (Douglas), and the two irritate and undermine one another just as much they manage to help each other. But in the end, love wins the day (with an assist from some crocodiles).

1. Boomerang (1992)

Once upon a time, long before disasters like Norbit and Meet Dave, Eddie Murphy could do no wrong. He seemed to be very much aware of this when he came up with the story for Boomerang, which centers on Marcus, a black playboy who meets his match in new boss Jacqueline (Robin Givens), and then finds true love with the quieter Angela (Halle Berry).

As the film's tagline states, it's the story of "a player who's about to be played," but Boomerang is just as memorable for a scene-stealing supporting cast that includes Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, David Alan Grier, Grace Jones, and John Witherspoon (you got to coordinate!).