Serendipity (2001)
Directed by Peter Chelsom
Although already in relationships, two strangers realize they have genuine chemistry after a chance encounter – but part company soon after. Years later, they each yearn to reunite, despite being destined for the altar. But to give true love a chance, they have to find one another again.
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What critics say influenced Serendipity
Mildly reminiscent of "Sleepless in Seattle" as it involves various bi-coastal "near misses" - where the two would-be lovers just miss running into each other (one could call this something like "Mobile in Manhattan") - the film is a charming and fluffy little exercise in romance and comedy that thankfully at least partially breaks the mold of the stereotypical romantic comedy.
Yes, Serendipity is one of those "soul mate" movies like Sleepless in Seattle and An Affair to Remember.
The will-they-ever-meet concept behind "Serendipity" may not be all that original, but this picture isn't a "Sleepless In Seattle"-style sickeningly saccharine confection.
Basically, it’s Sleepless In Seattle all over again, with the film striving desperately to keep its two leads apart until the end, so you get lots of those ‘she arrives in a taxi just as he leaves’-type scenes.
Like an East Coast variation of Sleepless in Seattle, Serendipity is a movie romance in which the lovers spend most of their screen time apart.
This is the characteristic that most annoyed me about Next Stop, Wonderland and, to a lesser degree, bothered me about both Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail.
Then again, you could go out and rent Woody Allen's "Manhattan," and do much, much better.
One wouldn't necessarily put Peter Chelson's saccharine-coated flick "Serendipity" in the same company as the classic romantic romps of yesteryear (such as "Pillow Talk") or even in the category of contemporary ditties like "Manhattan", "Sleepless In Seattle", or "You Got Mail" for that matter.
One wouldn't necessarily put Peter Chelson's saccharine-coated flick "Serendipity" in the same company as the classic romantic romps of yesteryear (such as "Pillow Talk") or even in the category of contemporary ditties like "Manhattan", "Sleepless In Seattle", or "You Got Mail" for that matter.
Playing the lovers' respective best friends, Molly Shannon ("Wet Hot American Summer," "Superstar") thankfully tones down her usual frenetic histrionics, while Jeremy Piven ("The Family Man," "Very Bad Things") is good despite not straying too far from the sort of characters he's played in various previous films.
If I were searching for a lost soul mate, Id want loyal friends like Jeremy Piven ( The Family Man ) and Molly Shannon (Superstar) helping me too.
Now in San Francisco, Sara's fiance is New Age Nordic flutist Lars (John Corbett, HBO's "Sex and the City"), yet she also has misgivings met with disgust by her best friend Eve (Molly Shannon, "Superstar").
In this case, Jonathan's journalist sidekick Dean (Cusack's "Grosse Pointe Blank" co-star and real life fellow Chicagoan buddy Jeremy Piven) and Sara's spacey shopkeeper Eve (Molly Shannon, "Superstar") both accompany their adventurous pals in an effort to partake in the romantic reunion.
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Yes, Serendipity is one of those "soul mate" movies like Sleepless in Seattle and An Affair to Remember.
Like the gruesome You've Got Mail, Serendipity trots out tourist-friendly backdrops—Wollman Rink somehow ceilinged by stars, Chelsea Piers simply a fancy driving range—but it's oddly pleasurable to see the city in this prelapsarian light.
This is the characteristic that most annoyed me about Next Stop, Wonderland and, to a lesser degree, bothered me about both Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail.
That's why Annie Hall qualifies as a classic, while You've Got Mail and Serendipity are just cheap entertainment.
Through a series of cheerful, implausible near-misses, an obnoxious cameo by Eugene Levy, and starry-eyed banter with quirky best friends (Jeremy Piven, the funniest sidekick in Hollywood, and Molly Shannon), director Peter Chelsom tears a page out of countryman Peter Howitt's Sliding Doors playbook in presenting a romantic fable that is far more interested in chemistry than narrative.
The best comedic material comes courtesy of Eugene Levy ("Best in Show," the "American Pie" films) as a pushy Bloomingdale's salesman who finds retail opportunity in Jonathan's quest to track down Sara.
The cast includes John Cusack ("High Fidelity"), Kate Beckinsale ("Cold Comfort Farm"), Jeremy Piven ("Very Bad Things") and Eugene Levy ("Best in Show").
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Peter Chelsom was once a director who could inject vivid characters and unexpected turns on familiar roads, as in his quirky Irish comedies "Hear My Song" and "Funny Bones."
Director Chelsom, who created the whimsical "Hear My Song," vastly underrated "Funny Bones" and sweetly fantastical "The Mighty," can't obscure the rigging which holds up a plot that should be lighter than air.
Coupled with deft directing by Michael Chelsom (director of the very unfunny Town & Country and the very funny Funny Bones) and the use of time-lapse camera work to illustrate the passage of years -- the film comes off with genuine believability and sincerity.
The film offers considerable improvement over his troubled recent release Town & Country, but without the quirky edges of the British films that made his reputation -- Funny Bones and Hear My Song.
Here's why it doesn't: Director Peter Chelsom (the good director of Funny Bones who's also the poor shnook attached to the fiasco Town and Country) establishes a happy feeling of romantic magic specifically, New York City romantic magic, a proud and now poignant genre.
Director Peter Chelsom of "The Mighty" paces the movie well and has a good sense of comic and romantic timing.
But at least Chelsom is getting better at script evaluation; his two most recent films, The Mighty and Town & Country , were deeply flawed before they left the page.
As written by screenwriter Marc Klein (marking his writing debut) and helmed by director Peter Chelsom ("Town & Country," "The Mighty"), the film revolves around two characters who may have met for only a few brief hours in the past, but were so smitten/starstruck/taken with each other that they haven't been able to shake the feeling that the other was their chosen Mr./Ms.
And it likely seemed that director Peter Chelsom (who made Funnybones and The Mighty before he faltered -- appallingly -- with Town and Country) was going to be able to pull something clever out of the corniness, much like Stephen Frears did with Cusack's other recent romantic comedy, High Fidelity (which was mostly saved, it must be said, by the fabulous Jack Black).
Director Chelsom, who created the whimsical "Hear My Song," vastly underrated "Funny Bones" and sweetly fantastical "The Mighty," can't obscure the rigging which holds up a plot that should be lighter than air.
Director Peter Chisholm ( "The Mighty," "Town & Country") has the perfect touch for the frustratingly funny near-misses that drive the rest of this ambrosial romance.