@sententiousandbellicose this is a mess, but I hope you can decipher my meaning (spoilers in case anyone else reads):
Always got the feeling that a lot of the American rom-coms I watch always were just a formula rather than “real” characters, so I don't often believe in the love aspect of it. The guy is always there with this somehow romantic entrance OR jerk-turned-lovable-rascal-kinda-type and idk, it's satisfying in the small sense, if you're not looking to actually be invested beyond an hour-and-a-half flick. But a real romance movie I in a sense fall in love with the characters falling in love with each other, because they're written like real people. And it sticks after the movie's ended, basically like Bridget and Mark (okay, I need to write this out properly in proper thoughts someday, but this is the gist).
Now Jack does come swooping in as this ideal American template, except the movie subverts it a lot because a. his entrance was super awkward for Bridget and not actually romantic, even though he tries with the “it fits” shoe-line, b. beneath his veneer he's not so perfect for her after all and they don't end up together and c. his “we're skipping from first date through the second date, through the argument, and reconcilliation” relationship scene felt exactly like what those formulaic rom-coms are. Like he's seen what love is, but actually it's less a feeling that he has and more sometihng he's fascinated by, so he's in essence become the perfect man. But he's actually not and that's confusing because the algorithm SHOULD work and that's how romance movies SHOULD work.
I'm saying this as someone who is aromantic and does find romance fascinating as all heck. I actually related to aspects of his character that I'm sure wasn't intentional from the writing (in the sense that, like you say, wtf is even sexuality, but it stuck a lot with me. Seeing love from the outside as it were, except in his case he now got this woman he rather likes pregnant so he's got to stay, but if the baby's not his, well… and then he does take Darcy and Bridget getting back together rather well.
