From Betty:
I saw DISCLOSURE DAY this week and had mixed feelings. It was good. Great premise, very exciting ending, Emily Blunt was hilarious…but why was I nodding off in the middle? After the movie, my son turned to me and said, “I totally didn’t care about the middle of the movie, but the beginning and the ending were great.” I asked, “Yeah…why do you think that is?” He answered, “It was totally unfair. Emily Blunt had the best part. She gets to understand all humans and speak different languages and feel what they’re feeling and it’s so funny…and the other guy gets ‘math’.”
No spoilers here, but he has a point. When the whole movie centers around two main characters, you have to treat them equally. They both need to have good parts and great lines. When you do watch the movie, you’ll see what my son was referring to. Emily Blunt was literally laugh out loud funny, and frankly, I don’t even remember who the other guy was, I just remember I didn’t care.
One thing writers often do is love their main characters so much that they forget to make them interesting. The hero is just walking through a movie where things happen to them. It is important to go back during a rewrite and question their part. Are they making bad choices? Are they making mistakes? Are they trusting the wrong people? The answers to these questions should be, “Yes.” They need flaws! People aren’t perfect. Audiences don’t go to the movies to watch a good character easily walk through life and fix everyone’s problems with their knowledge and family values. We don’t want to watch someone who already has everything get even more. We are there to watch a struggle!
Make sure you give your character more than “math.”