Love's Interests

We Do Landers have written several times about the importance of the things the people in a couple are interested in. I, for one, often point to one of my favorite movies, High Fidelity, which states that "What you like is more important than what you're like."

What I'm interested in doing now is discussing the variance in that importance. I think it'd be tough to make a totally objective call on this one, by saying that what you like and what you're like are equally important, or that one is 60% more important than the other, so that's not what I aim to do.

I'm interested in people's specific experiences with this spectrum. Have you ever dated someone with very similar interests, and then found out they were crazy? Alternatively, have you ever dated someone who you had nothing in common with, and then found out that the two of you were a match made in Heaven? Does the type of "thing" matter (excluding things like religion)? That is, are books more important than movies? Is music more important than a love of sports? How much or how little of another person's interests is necessary to share before a reasonable person can say from the beginning that it'll never work?

I really want to hear what people have to say about this. I'll start:

For about three years, from age 19 to 21 or so, I dated a girl with some success who I've called Samantha on this site before. Samantha and I got along famously, but ultimately had very little in common, which was a large part of our breakup. After the split, I figured that I should start dating girls who I shared interests with. I met girls at shows and in classes, but ultimately our interests weren't nearly enough to keep us together. (Obviously, the fact that I haven't met a girl with similar interests who can keep my attention may or may not mean anything to the bigger picture.) When I reflect on this, I think about my friends who are married or are otherwise in successful relationships, and I realize that their interests don't seem to be of a material nature at all. My one married friend has most of his interests in working and being with his wife, for example. He likes movies and books and stuff, but not to the point that Rob Gordon--or I--does/do.

Is it a middling interest in things cultural that allows this spectrum not to be an issue? What if I were to abandon my obsession with Woody Allen, Jonathan Lethem, and Sound Team? Would I be better suited to finding a well-adjusted broad? For now it seems like only time and the continuation of my passions will tell.