Sweet Home Alabama
I’ll second Superman Returns.
Lucas.
I’m not so sure about the “can’t compete” part - flying out to save the day takes a lot more guts when you *don’t *have superpowers.
On the distaff side, there’s My Favorite Wife, where Cary Grant’s second wife seems like a perfectly nice woman, but loses Cary to his first wife.
But not in the remake Move Over, Darling, where Polly Bergen is a bitch on wheels, because who would do that to Doris Day?
Forgetting Sarah Marshall sort of fits, in that Russell Brand is the cheater who steals the main character’s girl. But he’s actually pretty cool, especially to the main character.
I completely agree - you actually want everyone to have a happy ending in the movie, rather than hating the boyfriend/girlfriend. I feel the most bad for Nancy - she sincerely cares for Patrick Dempsey, and is really trying to be friends with his daughter, but somehow she just can’t make it work.
Another one: Imagine Me & You.
[spoiler]Man & woman, who have been best friends since childhood then eventually lovers, get married. The man is nice, sweet, cute, basically perfect. But the woman almost immediately falls for another woman, and in the end, leaves her husband for her.
However, even though the husband is, understandably, devastated, he goes on with his life - and at the end of the movie, meets a gorgeous woman in a scene that’s similar to how his wife & her lover met[/spoiler]
I’m just saying that there is a whole 'nother layer of subtext going on below the nominal romantic triangle plot (and the blatant WWII allegory) that most viewers clearly miss. There are more machinations just below the surface of Casablanca than in The Spanish Prisoner. And if you draw the threads together, you find that they’re all connected to Ilsa, who is actually a nasty bit of work underneath that ingenue façade.
Stranger
Since The Notebook was stolen, I have one and a half left -
in Unfaithful, Richard Gere is a perfectly fine husband.
and until the end, in Run, Fatboy, Run the fiance (played by Hank Azaria) is a much better choice, but shows he is a jerk during the run.
Maybe I am not remembering correctly, but in Reality Bites doesn’t Winona Ryder end up with Ethan Hawke, Ben Stiller isn’t a complete douche. IN fact through most of the movie Hawke comes off as the asshole.
Aren’t there a lot of occurrences of this trope where the boyfriend is a genuine nice guy but that is portrayed as “bland” whereas the protagonist is the archtypical "bad boy"who steals the girl away from him (because, after all, don’t all women really want “bad boys” no matter what they say)?
Actually, what about Romeo and Juliet (if you count Paris as Juliet’s intended) and West Side Story, with Chino as Maria’s would-be suitor?
Oh goodness, what about Gentlemen’s Agreement? Or maybe this doesn’t count, since Celeste Holm’s character is just friends with Gregory Peck, though Celeste makes a play for Greg while Greg’s going out with cold fish Dorothy Malone? Maybe that’s a new topic – couples that shoulda been, but weren’t. (Jo and Laurie, I’m looking at you!)
Just thought of another one, similar to tanstaafl’s theme suggestion: Moonstruck has Cher’s Loretta engaged to Danny Aiello’s momma’s boy character. He’s kind of a sweetheart, but unable to make decisions on his own. Enter Nicholas Cage as Danny’s hot-headed brother.
And don’t Marsden and Menzel end up together, too? It worked out nicely for everyone!
This was the first example of thought of.
And this was the second. I hated, hated this movie. Toward the end I was pretending that James Garner was really the present-day version of whatshername’s nice stable fiance, and that at some point she would come to her senses and drop that whiny prick guy with the house.
I hated this movie too. I actually thought it could be improved immeasurably (anything > 0 is by definition better) by simply changing the credits so that James Garner is not the guy she married, but the other guy. Noah left her years ago, but he stays around and pretends to be him for the story.
I actually have only seen the last half, and I don’t know if it quite applies, but I think Dan in Real Life may be a case.
In Just Friends, After going from fat, awkward high schooler to good looking, rich Hollywood douche, Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds) is forced to compete with fellow former high school dork turned super-nice guy EMT songwriter Dusty Dinkleman (Chris Klein) for the affections of his high school crush and best friend (Amy Smart).
In the end it turns out that Dinkleman is really a “New Jersey player” and his “nice guy” act is just his scam for getting girls.
In Dan in Real Life, Steve Carell’s character falls in love with his brother’s girlfriend. Dane Cook, who plays the brother, surprisingly isn’t really a douche in this movie. He is mostly just portrayed as being more of an athletic “guy’s guy” and not as intellectual or artistic as the rest of the family.
They do.
What I came in here to post. Not only was the boyfriend (Charlie Sheen) not a douchebag, he was a genuinely good guy that liked Lucas and protected him from bullies.
In cartoonland.
Ducky in Pretty in Pink is actually a lot nicer than the feeble Blaine.
I came in to mention Sleepless in Seattle, but since it’s been taken, how about a gender-flipped example in The Wedding Planner? (Oh, haven’t seen it? Really? Shyeah right.) Jennifer Lopez falls in love with Matthew McConaghey while planning his wedding to Bridgitte Nielsen. But Nielsen isn’t a bridezilla or a castrating bitch, even though she does let the stress get to her sometimes. She’s actually really nice and on the ball, and when she realizes what’s developing between her fiance and Lopez, she steps aside. (Also, Lopez gets a comic relief romantic prospect who’s a doof, but turns in to a reliable friend.)
–Cliffy