Top 10 Movie Yearners
Listen, I’m a wife guy. I love my wife. I think she’s the absolute best. And all of us wife guys know that we started as nothing more than yearners. So I feel for those individuals that yearned, do yearn, or will yearn. On this list, we will countdown the 10 biggest male yearners in movie history. That’s right just movies, so some all-time great yearner like Conrad Fisher (The Summer I Turned Pretty), Jess & Luke (Gilmore Girls), Simon & Anthony (Bridgerton), and even Mike & Lucas (Stranger Things) won’t make the cut since they’re TV exclusives. Though the Stranger Things finale was a movie in my books so maybe I could throw those guys on here? And The Summer I Turned Pretty is allegedly getting a movie? But no no, I’ll exclude them all for the following:
Theodore ‘Laurie’ Laurence (Little Women) - I have mixed feelings about Laurie. I totally respect his love for Jo and his expression of that love in the face of rejection. But then when he switches gears to Amy, it’s hard for me to not feel as though he’s settling for her, which wouldn’t be fair to her. But either way, he yearned pretty hard for them both and his declaration of love to Jo is one of the best scenes in a really great film. And you know I had to get Timothée Chalamet on here if I could.
Noah Calhoun (The Notebook) - I mean come on. He wrote her 365 letters. He wrote her every day for a year! And yes, it can and should be frowned upon that Allie was engaged and Noah persisted. But this is fiction friends. So shoutout to Ryan Gosling for bringing Noah to life.
Peeta Mellark (The Hunger Games) - You’ll notice several of these yearners come from love triangles. I guess maybe you’re more likely to yearn if there’s something standing between you and your love, particularly another suitor. That’s cause and effect kiddos! Played by Josh Hutcherson, Peeta wants so badly to be able to express his love to Katniss. He finally gets the ability to do this when they’re put in the life or death situation of the Hunger Games. Fine timing. Over the course of the Games, Katniss begins to pretend to fall for Peeta, and actually fall a little for Peeta, something they must explore as time progresses.
Mr. Darcy (Pride & Prejudice)/Mark Darcy (Bridget Jones’s Diary) - I really wanted to put Colin Firth’s Mark Darcy as his own entry, mainly because my wife & I just watched that film. But since he is just a modern reimagining of Mr. Darcy, I felt it best to put it here. As you’ll see with others on this list. Just because you’re yearning doesn’t mean you’re making the right choices. Darcy is a jerk. Straight up. But behind his jerkiness is a man that cares for Elizabeth/Bridget and just doesn’t know how to express that. But the way the character continues popping up and pursuing her should be clear enough on how he feels.
Luke (Eternity) - I mean come on. Callum Turner’s Luke waited 67 years in limbo for Joan to die before he moved onto his afterlife. That’s a proper yearner that is. I won’t spoil anything, but if you haven’t watched 2025’s ‘Eternity’ you should!
Aragorn (Lord of the Rings) - Maybe an odd pick. Aragorn had a lot on his plate. Rightful king of Gondor and all. Got all mixed up with the fellowship, etc. And he went on lots of adventures. But always on his mind during all those adventures was his love. I think we all know how legendary Viggo Mortensen is as Aragorn, but one thing we don’t talk about enough is how well he displayed the undying love he had for Arwen.
Tenoch & Julio (Y tu mamá también) - Double dose of yearning. These two young friends both yearned for the same woman, Luisa. And the not so secret plot twist of the movie is they were actually yearning for each other. The classic case of closeted homosexual feelings disguised as yearning for a woman.
Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) - Ever yearned so hard that you killed your wife? No? Then you’re just not on Anakin Skywalker’s level. Which is actually quite a good thing.
Jack Dawson (Titanic) - From the moment he saw Rose, Jack makes it no secret he’s interested in her. Although they come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, they grow close fast and in a surprising twist of fate, Rose really ends up yearning for Jack after he, well, you know, dies.
Harry Burns (When Harry Met Sally…) - Harry realized that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Sally, and so, he wanted the rest of his life to to start as soon as possible. Duh.
