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by Raul Burriel Published: September 29, 2001
We have an agreement. John Cusack makes a "Hollywood" movie. And then he makes a "John Cusack" movie. That's the way it works. That's the way it worked with "Con Air". Because of "Con Air", we got "High Fidelity". Now John Cusack's given us "America's Sweethearts". And for that, he owes us one "John Cusack" movie (and it better be a hum dinger!). Instead, we get "Serendipity". John Cusack now owes me TWO movies! I don't think I've ever been to a movie that's made me want to get up from my seat and dive into the comfortably stadium seated crowd in front of me. Just for kicks. But this one made me want to do that. It also did one more thing. It made me anger. It made me very angry. "Serendipity", as the story suggests, is about fate. About happy little mistakes that are meant to happen. And I found this to be perhaps the most aggravating premise I have ever had to experience on film in my life. We are meant to accept and believe that everything that happens in this film is due to fate. And this is a concept that is entirely impossible for me to accept. Indeed, if I were to believe in such an absurd premise, I may as well go see "Left Behind" or "Megiddo: The Omega Code 2" and smile goofily in acceptance. The movie, cinematically speaking, is an attractive film. The acting is first rate and the cinematography is impeccable. There are sufficient comic moments to make you smile throughout the film. But I could not get past the premise of John (John Cusack), a fairly well centered New Yorker who falls for Sara (Kate Beckinsale), a flakey Brit ex-patriot who believes that if they're meant to be together, fate would show you the way. After a chance meeting at Bloomingdale's, John and Sara have a once-in-a-lifetime date. But both John and Sara are promised to others. Sara isn't sure if they're meant to be, so she sets the wheels of fate in motion, John putting his phone number on a 5 dollar bill which Sara promptly spends, and Sara putting her phone number in a book, which she promises to sell to a nameless used book store the following day. If they're meant to be together, either John or Sara will find the phone number in question and seal the deal. Years pass, John's wedding to another woman approaches, he can't help but think about Sara. Reciprocally, as Sara becomes engaged to another man, she still has John on her mind. They're both happy enough... but could they be happier with each other? You know, quite honestly, I couldn't care. John and his finance are really happy together. Why break that up? And Sara's fiance is great. Why mess with a good thing? The story left me feel very flat. But I was pleased by several of the supporting performances. Jeremy Piven, who's always great, puts in another wonderful performance as Cusack's best friend. Northern Exposure's John Corbett (remember Chris in the Morning?) is entertaining as Sara's Indian-inspired musician boyfriend. Eugene Levy (who's new agent needs a raise) is funny for the few short minutes he's on screen as a sales person at Bloomingdale's. Molly Shannon, as Beckinsale's best friend, once again proves she should never be in a movie again. But I'll even stomach Shannon's awkward performance so long as I don't have to think about where this movie is going. We know how the movie's going to end almost even before it begins. All we have is the "getting there" part, and it just isn't all that fun. We get one entertaining comic moment about halfway through the film when we're first introduced to Levy's salesperson, leading to a somewhat entertaining wild goose chase through the burroughs of New York. But the rest is all filler getting us to an excruciatingly long and utterly predictable ending. For people on a date, I'm afraid there's little else for them to go see out there right now, so they'll probably flock to this one, which is unfortunate, because this movie suggests, more than the morale that some people are "meant to be together", that no matter how romantic you are and how much you love a person, the person you love could, at any moment, leave you for someone else they've known for all of 5 hours some years back. Overall Rating: C- |
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