[1990s Edition] Was my Old-School, Fictional Boyfriend Actually All that Great?

*** This is just for a bit of fun, and biased to my own likings, so take it all with a grain of salt. Also, stay tuned for the final installment featuring boys from the Early 2000s (as long as the film was made at least 10 years ago, to go along with the "nostalgic" feel).

To go along with my assessment of some typical heartthrobs from the 1980s, here is the next installment of my nostalgic look back on the boys that we loved. So please, Take a Look at the First Introduction to the subject, to see what it's all about.

I mentioned above, this inconsequential examination is a bit biased to my own personal likings, and only includes those characters from films that I actually have seen, as I wouldn't want to have to base anything on just reading other's opinions on the subject.

Alas, without further ado: A Character Assessment of our Old-School Fictional Boyfriends. Were they Really as Great as We Remember? [1990s Edition]

Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto): "My So-Called Life" (1994)

Is it just me, or is there something inherently smarmy about Jared Leto? And this thus rubs off onto the character of Jordan Catalano. Sometimes, you can get past the actor paying the part, but for this one I just can’t. I mean, I understand that sometimes the “bad-boys” with jerky attitudes can be kind of attractive, but this guy was a serious douche. He wouldn’t even acknowledge Angela’s presence in the halls sometimes, he wrote a song about his car instead of his girlfriend, and he couldn’t read. Are we supposed to feel bad about that? Seriously, just try. I don’t want to be insensitive, but I find illiteracy a real turn-off, and just never liked the character of Jordan. I know why Angela liked him, but he never won me over. No Sir, I wasn’t buying what he was selling. Plus he would have sex with your best friend given the chance, which is totally uncouth.

Character Grade: 2/10 (Just because I can understand why someone might fall for him).

Preston Myers (Ethan Embry): Can't Hardly Wait (1998)

Oh Preston, you certainly won me over, and I would have loved to have been your big-haired Amanda Beckett. Was it those puppy-dog eyes and hilarious expressions on his face? Maybe. Or maybe it was that he held onto his feelings for years, which many can understand, but never once tried to break up the relationship she already had. In lots of those romantic movies, the “other guy” will move in and get close to the engaged girl, or girl in a relationship, and thus change her affections, but Preston kept his distance, which is the right thing to do (or so I think). He also kept a purely platonic, goofy relationship with his best lady-friend, and lots of people seemed to know who he was and like him too. More than anything, he didn’t change his future plans for a girl he had just confessed his love to, and didn’t expect her to follow him wherever he went either, but gave their relationship a shot and did the long-distance thing successfully. And that, my friends, is more realistic than most other rom-com relationships. Though Preston does get a character point deducted for making the Angel-Stripper feel bad. Other than that, Prestoooon, was a great fictional boyfriend.

Character Grade: 9/10

Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe): Cruel Intentions (1999)

No. No no no no no, more No than you can irrigate a canola field with. I just do not and will not ever accent Sebastian Valmont as a heartthrob. Wiki calls him a “Villain turned Anti-Hero” or something along those lines, which I guess I can see since later he actually falls in love and wants to stop the silly games and even reveals his journal and past doings to Annette, but still. Maybe if he didn’t constantly look like he was sizing you up for a coat made out of human skin. Maybe if he didn’t bang anything in sight, was totally manipulative, and made a bet so he could win sex with his stepsister, even though she obviously wanted him in the first place. It went on too long, and even with those slight character changes near the end, I can’t help but think that this guy was a huge, huge douche. (Plus, just like Jared Leto there is something just inherently greasy about Ryan Phillippe, or so I personally think anyways.)

Character Grade: 1/10

Zach Siler (Freddie Prinze Jr.): She's All That (1999)

Hello Zach, football star, thinks he can have whatever and whoever he wants with that big big ego of his. Oh yes, that is why you started dating cute Laney in the first place, because of a bet wasn’t it? Well now that just won’t do, especially since she wasn’t even that unattractive in the first place! You really fell for her once she got all prettied up, didn’t you, my shallow boy? Well okay, it was a little before that that you started warming up to her, during that weird performance art thing. And even if the relationship started under some less-than noble circumstances, once it really came down to it, he put in the effort to keep her and help her out, and even defended her weird little brother. I guess when it came down to it, Zach was kind of a sweet guy (I mean he did take his cute little sister to prom with him), he just needed to be pushed in that direction out of his egotistic beginnings, which left him with a little scarring in the character assessment department.

Character Grade: 7/10

Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger): 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

It almost feels wrong, considering the character of a person played by Heath Ledger, but alas, he was quite the hunk in my time. This is kind of similar to the Zach Siler thing, as initially his intentions of just dating the girl for money was kind of on the douchey side, but then later he realized real feelings for her. That hunky brooding thing at the beginning was a bit odd, seeing as nobody wanted to talk to him, but he really was suited to Kat, and when he made her mad, he went to some pretty adorable lengths to win her back (remember the singing? Lovely). I really don’t know why she flipped when he wouldn’t kiss her after she vomited all over the place. Would you? I didn’t think so. But he did have some moments of flipping too, which were kind of out of place. We’re just going to forget that in the original Taming of the Shrew story by William Shakespeare that this character starved the Kat character until she broke… No, Heath would never do that. I think he was a pretty good guy in the end, it was just the being paid to date her situation that kind of made him seem like a bit of a skeeze at the beginning.

Character Grade: 7/10

Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt): 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

If the burly Patrick Verona’s aren’t your type (what kind of sick person says Heath Ledger isn’t their type?) or if you are like me and have a soft spot for the beta-males, you may have found yourself fancying Cameron in this film. And why not? He was cute, and really like a girl enough to try and make her sister happy, even when he may not in fact end up with the girl. He maybe overreacted a little when Bianca went out with Joey, I mean he got Joey to pay Patrick in the first place since he knew that he wanted her and she kind of wanted him and all that nonsense. My my, Cameron, weaving a very complicated web, aren’t we? That’s always trouble, but you definitely came through throughout the entire thing. Plus, I liked the honesty with Bianca, telling her things that she really needed to hear, even if nobody else was going to say it to her. But maybe that’s just the fact that it’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt winning me over.

Character Grade: 8.5/10

Unlike the 1980s, I probably wouldn't hit all of the hunks of the 90s... There were some ups and some definite downs, in my own personal opinion. But of course a few of them I still love, despite some character flaws, as I know everybody has them in some form or another. (As for you, Sebastian and Jordan, Ew ew ew, get away, get away, Get Away!)

But what about what you think? Was I too hard on some and too lenient on some others? Were there any other people you would have considered a heartthrob in the 1990s that didn't quite make my assessment? Do you feel differently any of them now, compared to how you did back then?