Ordinary People?

I've seen a couple romcoms this holiday season: Morning Glory and How Do You Know. I found neither to be satisfactory. One of the reasons is that I found neither films' bumbling-yet-appealing character to be the latter. Rather than being awkwardly adorable, both Rachel McAdams and Paul Rudd were so obnoxiously grating that I was not able to feel for either of them. As a result, I had little to no interest in their stories.

I could not understand why their respective love interests were interested in them at all. Don't get me wrong, I don't think attractiveness necessitates elegance. I have been attracted by the quirks of others (and I hope that there are those who don't find my awkwardness to be completely repellent). Is it possible that the characters simply weren't my types? Were any of you loyal readers won over by the characters?

Neither film garnered many favorable reviews so I don't think the dissatisfaction was completely due to my taste in people. However, I'm left with the question: do the characters of a romantic comedy need to be attractive (in appearance, behavior, spirit, etc.) in order for the film to be a success? If so, that spells doom for any hope for diversity in the genre.

The goal of virtually all films is profit. This is accomplished by attracting the greatest possible audience. So it would follow that studios (unless supremely altruistic) would only pick up romcoms that featured characters congruent with modern notions of beauty and acceptability. It's not breaking news that most films feature beautiful, white, thin/muscular, heterosexual characters but I personally never factored personalities into that equation.

Perhaps there is a general "type" to win over movie goers or Oscar voters. If so, what incentive would producers have to feature any other type of character? Are we subjected to a parade of characters that not only look the same but embody similar essences? Which types of people and personalities are ignored by mainstream entertainment? Which people are ignored in reality as a result? These questions stem from a thought that I am far from articulating, let alone concluding, but I am fascinated by it. Any thoughts? Am I making sense?