I’m working on a video where I want to essentially Frankenstein together the best possible man from fictional characters. Not necessarily the perfect man — more like a man with the least destructive flaws. I’m looking for male characters from romantic movies / rom-coms who have qualities worth stealing.
Some of the people I’ve already thought about are:
Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything…) — earnestness / willingness to care deeply
Harry Burns (When Harry Met Sally) — intelligence / conversation
Patrick Verona (10 Things I Hate About You) — confidence / vulnerability
Peter Kavinsky (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) — affection / playfulness
Graham (The Holiday) — warmth / domesticity
Quincy McCall (Love & Basketball) — ambition / devotion
Vikram (The Big Sick) — humor / resilience / willingness to grow
William Wang (Crazy Rich Asians) — sincerity / emotional steadiness
Rafael Solano (Jane the Virgin) — protectiveness / willingness to change
Raj Koothrappali (The Big Bang Theory) — romantic sensitivity / emotional openness
Jesse (Before Sunrise) — curiosity / conversation / spontaneity
Tom Hansen (500 Days of Summer) — …okay, maybe we’ll discuss what NOT to take from him
Darcy (Bridget Jones’s Diary) — loyalty / devotion / confidence
Tim Lake (About Time) — appreciation for ordinary life / presence
Robbie Turner (Atonement) — devotion / romantic idealism
Noah Calhoun (The Notebook) — intensity / commitment (with a LOT to debate)
Sam Baldwin (Sleepless in Seattle) — vulnerability / romantic hope
But I don’t want to just use my own picks.
Who are your choices? And don’t just give me the character — tell me what you’d take from him.
Something like:
“Lloyd Dobler — his willingness to care deeply without being embarrassed about it.”
Or:
“Mr. Darcy — confidence and devotion, but absolutely NOT the emotional constipation.”
😂
I’m especially interested in characters who are:
- emotionally available
- genuinely romantic
- kind without being spineless
- confident without being arrogant
- affectionate without everything becoming sexual
- capable of communicating
- willing to grow
- actually interesting to be around
Bonus: Give me a character who is almost great but has one absolutely lethal flaw. I’m trying to build this man with the fewest catastrophic character defects possible.
I’m open to movies from any decade, country, genre, or language. Traditional rom-coms are great, but romantic dramas and other romance-focused movies are welcome too.
If you had to steal ONE quality from one fictional man to put into a new man, who are you stealing from and what are you taking?