I watched two movies in two nights this week, made 56 years apart, with the same classic love triangle plot:
His Girl Friday and
Twister. the two leads are a recently separated couple who used to work together. They have a shared passion for their work. One of them returns to their workplace and brings along their new partner, who is very nice but boring. They need to cut ties with their ex, because they intend to get remarried immediately. The new partner does not appreciate the shared passion of the two leads. The ex is surprised to learn they're getting remarried so soon, and secretly wishes to reconcile. Circumstances push the ex back into their shared passion. Over the course of pursuing an important moment in their work, the new partner is driven away and the two leads are reconciled.
The biggest difference - besides the tornadoes - is that Helen Hunt does not actively conspire to make circumstances difficult for her ex - she doesn't have Gertz arrested multiple times, etc. She only lets Gertz see for herself what Paxton's old life was like, and it becomes obvious to Gertz that Paxton belongs with Hunt and the tornado hunters. It's less sad for the third wheel if they figure it out for themselves.
