# Romantic-comedy characters who did (and did not) stay together after the story ended. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438 "2011-05-10T21:37:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/21 "2011-05-12T12:51:00Z")
> [@audit1](#): > > Rob and Laura Petrie have had a long and happy marriage. Wrong! After discovering the orgies at work between Rob, Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie, and the bald guy, they had an acrimonious divorce; she changed her name, moved to Minneapolis, and went into broadcast news. In celebration of her new life without him, she used to throw her hat in the air! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/22 "2011-05-12T12:58:38Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Wrong! After discovering the orgies at work between Rob, Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie, and the bald guy, they had an acrimonious divorce; she changed her name, moved to Minneapolis, and went into broadcast news. In celebration of her new life without him, she used to throw her hat in the air! > > 😃 That’s only because Rose Marie would do things a proper wife in that time wouldn’t. She learned a few special techniques during the war when she was younger, and worked as a prostitute in Singapore. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/23 "2011-05-12T13:14:30Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > …Hopefully Bill Murray realised that Andie McDowell wasn’t good enough for him after Groundhog Day. Gotta agree with this. Someone who drinks toasts to world peace and quotes 18th century French poetry would get on my nerves. He picked her because he needed a goal and she was the best looking woman around. Other thoughts… Breaking up with _The Nanny_ wouldn’t be enough, that voice would eventually lead to violence and murder. _Sabrina_ – old guy would die on his wedding night just seeing a naked Julia Ormand. _Houseboat_ – Cary Grant would get tired of Sophia Loren’s maintenance costs and tantrums. _What Women Want_ – lasts until the first anti-Semitic tirade. In summary, none of them last! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/24 "2011-05-12T13:50:53Z")
> [@audit1](#): > > Rob and Laura Petrie have had a long and happy marriage. Not really a fair prediction, since the (canon, I assume) reunion show of a few years ago has them still together. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/25 "2011-05-12T13:59:35Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > But as far as the movie goes, it seemed to me that it ended just as the characters were beginning to realize that they barely knew each other and had no idea what they were going to do next. Yeah, that was kinda the point. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/26 "2011-05-12T14:06:15Z")
I think Monica and Chandler Bing would stay together because they just plain liked each other so muuch. Ross and Rachel, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/27 "2011-05-12T14:12:54Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Yeah, that was kinda the point. See above. That wasn’t the point. The point was supposed to be that they were happy about getting away and then the director changed it on a whim. I realize my harping on this is just because I really hated The Graduate, but learning that the ending was just made up because the director liked the face Dustin Hoffman makes when he’s about to shit himself was just too much. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/28 "2011-05-12T14:18:20Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > See above. That wasn’t the point. The point was supposed to be that they were happy about getting away and then the director changed it on a whim. > > I realize my harping on this is just because I really hated The Graduate, but learning that the ending was just made up because the director liked the face Dustin Hoffman makes when he’s about to shit himself was just too much. Writers make screenplays. Directors make movies. In the screenplay of \*The Graduate, \*they were happy. In the movie _The Graduate_, they were happy \*and \*scared shitless. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/29 "2011-05-12T14:29:42Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > That’s what was so great about Karate Kid II. A few months after he wins the tournament, the girl, and his self-respect, at the start of the new movie we find she dumped him and he’s moving on to some Okinawan chick. Sure thats half the story. Nobody hears about her crushed self esteem. How she moved to Chicago to start over, had a shot at a real career, but had her dreams destroyed by vindictive parents after a baby sitting job went horribly wrong. And how, with nothing left, she ended up turning tricks in Vegas watching Nicholas cage drink himself to death… …damn you, Netflix… ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/30 "2011-05-12T14:51:49Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Writers make screenplays. Directors make movies. That’s the other thing. I think the auteur theory is crap. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/31 "2011-05-12T15:02:12Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I think Harry and Sally had what it took to stay together for the long haul. I was going to say this. _As Good as it Gets_ is a good nomination for “most likely to blow up spectacularly”. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/32 "2011-05-12T15:48:57Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > That’s the other thing. I think the auteur theory is crap. Your alternative doesn’t seem to be much better. In order to critically watch a movie, we must know exactly what happened on the set on each particular take? If a bird happened to fly overhead, which caused the kid playing the son to suddenly look away, and the camera operator catches it, the director likes it, the editor keeps it in, etc., we’re supposed to disregard it as meaningless because the incident had nothing to do with the movie? You don’t even have to agree with the auteur theory to accept that the _Graduate_’s ending on screen is the one we should take. (Except that you seem to be arguing for it partly in this case by saying that the director bullied everyone at all steps to make sure the scene was released this way.) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/33 "2011-05-12T17:13:11Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > See above. That wasn’t the point. The point was supposed to be that they were happy about getting away and then the director changed it on a whim. > > I realize my harping on this is just because I really hated The Graduate, but learning that the ending was just made up because the director liked the face Dustin Hoffman makes when he’s about to shit himself was just too much. So if the director changes the story, that’s not the real story. The real story is the original story, not what we see on screen? All stories are just made up. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/34 "2011-05-12T17:22:59Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’ characters probably stayed together after Sleeping in Seattle. Oh, thank god! I turned this off halfway through when I lost hope that they’d die in a mutual suicide pact. It looks like I made the right choice. I hope at least that the cuckolded boyfriend got some allergy shots and found a healthy relationship with someone less psycho. Squeaky Fromme for example. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/35 "2011-05-12T17:54:10Z")
**The original Star Wars trilogy** - As one of the few members of the rebel alliance with any governing experience, Leia assumes a significant position of power in the junta that fills the galactic power void now that the Emporer is dead. She quickly realizes that Han, an uncouth, small-potato space jockey from some “back woods” nether region world like Tattooine would simply never fit into the imperial court. She gives him the heave-ho faster than Obi-wan disintegrates. That’s just fine by Han though. He quickly realizes that the one true love of his life is…Chewbacca. The pair of them become poster children for the burgeoning movement to legalize same-sex, inter-species marriages. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/36 "2011-05-12T18:00:19Z")
I hate to say it, but I just can’t see Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable’s relationship going the distance. Ron’s got the wandering eye thing going and Kim’s always off saving the world. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/37 "2011-05-12T18:19:42Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > Your alternative doesn’t seem to be much better. In order to critically watch a movie, we must know exactly what happened on the set on each particular take? > [@Lemur866](#): > > So if the director changes the story, that’s not the real story. The real story is the original story, not what we see on screen? Look at the critiques of films that champion the auteur theory. All the credit goes to the director (even the acting and, most baffling of all, the special effects). But all blame goes to some other poor schmoe. More often than not, the writer. I think that’s a horrible way to look at a movie. Which is why, outside of a few names, I really could care less who’s directing a movie. That said, in the case of The Graduate, that story is just one more reason for me to dislike the movie on top of the actual movie itself being a dated piece of flotsam. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/38 "2011-05-12T18:51:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’ characters probably stayed together after Sleeping in Seattle. No way. First time he catches a cold, she’ll be off to the radio to latch onto the next sob story subject. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/39 "2011-05-12T19:20:57Z")
I really can’t picture Liza Doolittle staying long with Henry Higgins. They should have let Freddy have her, like in the play. **That** would have lasted – mainly because she’s smarter than he is. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438/40 "2011-05-12T19:43:57Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I don’t think Hugh Grant’s friends in Four Weddings would have liked Andie McDowell very much, and he would have found them gradually drifting away, and then realised that they were more important to him than Andie was. I think Hugh Grant’s character would eventually have realized that Kristin Scott Thomas’ character is the one he was supposed to end up with. By the end of the movie, I think only his character, and the screenwriter and director are the only ones who didn’t realize it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romantic-comedy-characters-who-did-and-did-not-stay-together-after-the-story-ended/581438.md?page=3)