Amanda, you are right, of course, and very fair. Beyond my own unavoidable preference I'm not crazy about the pitting either, though mainly because Ennis usually fares worse. I always feel bad for him and want to leap to his defense, or at least offer some balance to the Jackophilia.
For a while on imdb, I considered starting a thread called "in defense of Ennis," because I feel he frequently gets judged too harshly. But the "ILE Ennis" thread goes a long way in that direction.