What Makes a Good Film/TV Love Interest?

Since practically the beginning of storytelling, we have seen tales with a main character and a love interest. The main character is the person whose eyes we see the story through and guides us through what is happening. Then there is the love interest, the person that is meant to sweep our main character off their feet. As media has evolved, there has been development of the different ways the two characters can fall in love and what their happily ever after means. In addition, as time goes on, we have had new mediums of telling the love story, like movies and television, which means we see the love interest in new ways. As these stories become fleshed out and evolved over time, the big question gets even bigger: What makes a good love interest? The writers can not just throw a hot guy or girl at our main character and call it a day. There are a lot of elements that are needed in order to make an epic love story. How else can we get the modern love stories like Harry and Sally from When Harry Met Sally, Jim and Pam from "The Office", Kat and Patrick from 10 Things I Hate About You, Monica and Chandler from "Friends", and more? There are not a lot of necessary criteria for the love interest, but all criteria are important.

It may seem obvious, but in order to make a good love interest for someone, we have to make sure that they are actually a person. By that, I mean they can not just be a blank slate with no notable qualities. That is usually the unfortunate fate of a side character’s love interest. For the main character, though, there needs to be someone exciting awaiting their future. The love interest does not necessarily have to have everything in common with their main character either. In fact, the opposites attract trope has become popular in the media. When looking at Cher and Josh in Clueless, they may not seem like a match on paper -- She is a rich girl obsessed with fashion and pop culture while he is a chill college student with dreams of being an environmental lawyer. However, they are both fully developed characters with distinct characteristics. Cher is able to see that Josh has passion through his interest and that he is someone that cares, instead of just falling for looks. As long as we, the audience, have the ability to describe the personality of the love interest, then they are a good character. If the main character can see that, they can admire them for their traits, learn more about them, and their interests can mesh together to create a vivacious couple.

It might seem kind of obvious to expect a love interest to be kind, but it’s suprising what type of love interests appear in media. Sometimes, the love interest will be absolutely awful to the main character and their peers for the whole story, but then a grand gesture at the end is supposed to make up for all of that. That does not necessarily mean good stories are free of angst and the main character and love interest are completely sweet to each other all of the time. However, there is fine line between snarky rudeness and an awful garbage person. The audience should be able to see that, even if the love interest is the type of person that seems standoffish on the outside, they can still be an empathetic person that still cares if the people around them get hurt. In "Never Have I Ever", Ben seems to love to constantly annoy and make fun of Devi. However, as the series goes on, we see that Ben has some insecurities of his own, and he actually values the rivalry that he and Devi have. He may be a bit mean to her, but he still cares about her well-being. He may want to be the best, but he still wants her to succeed. This romance demonstrates that the layers of meanness can be pulled back for some kindness. We also can not forget the love interests that are sweet the whole way through the story, like Emmett to Elle in Legally Blonde. Basically, in order to be a good love interest, they have to have some redeeming qualities.

Sometimes, those previous qualities can be meaningless without chemistry. It is hard to explain where it comes from, but it is a criteria that usually comes from acting as opposed to written love stories, though the chemistry can be found there too. It is when the two characters are just totally in sync with each other and there is a connection lying there that is just too powerful. Sometimes, the previous two qualities can be there, but it leads to friendship. However, when the chemistry appears, all bets are off. Look at Carrie and Mr. Big from "Sex and the City". They have had a rocky path together that has involved some questionable situations. However, when the two of them are together, they are able to naturally play off each other. Even though Mr. Big is supposed to be the suave and detached professional to Carrie’s wacky and frazzled writer, it is like the two become one when they are together. That is what caused audiences to root for them for 6 years; the couple fit with each other like a puzzle. It may be hard to quantify a potential love interest’s chemistry, but when it’s there, it’s crystal clear.

The love interest can be a key component to make a story entertaining. Even if the focus is not necessarily on the romance, it is nice to know that there is someone great awaiting our main character. Overall, a well-written love interest should be someone that we could see ourselves falling in love with if we were in the main character’s shoes. There might be too many differences between you and the love interest to think about it from your shoes, so it is best to look at the love from within the story. If you were the main character, would you end up with the love interest as well? If you answer no, either the love interest is not right or this might not be the story for you. However, if you answer yes, then the writer has done their job correctly. The criteria listed above are usually pretty decent indicators of whether you are going to answer yes. There may be more factors that you consider, or there might be a flaw in the character that this criteria does not cover. However, these qualities should give you an idea of the character’s nature. Love can be a beautiful thing to see played out when done properly. That is why you should think about if the love interest you are seeing is actually worthy of that magical affection.