|
Happy AccidentsRating:
Release Date: 02 September, 2003 Retail Price: $14.95 OUR Price: $12.99 You SAVE: $1.96! Cast: Complete Cast (9 total) |
Happy Accidents Reviews
I accidentally and quite happily stumbled onto this movie...
And I absolutely loved it! Call it a happy coincidence if you will, but while I was making the morning coffee and waiting for my boyfriend to come home from his martial arts class, I saw that Happy Accidents was coming on cable, IFC I think but can't recall. I'd been intrigued by it thanks to some wonderful reviews right here on Amazon that I looked into after Amazon recommended this movie to me based on others I'd been looking into. This is a wonderfully charming movie and if you like romantic comedies, you'll be sucked into this one right away. Marissa Tomei is terrific and very heartfelt. At the beginning before she's met Sam, there's a particular scene that cracked me up that touched on her former boyfriends, perhaps because I could really relate. I don't know if the guys will totally love it, but my boyfriend, who tends to stay far away from movies like this, came home when the movie had about 30-45 minutes left in it, and he seemed to enjoy the portions of it he caught. But for all of us women, I'm one of the least mushy, sentimental people you'll ever meet, and I just loved Happy Accidents. Please make it an intentional viewing on your part...you will not be disappointed!
Far-Fetched Premise Combines With Charming Idiosyncrasies in Original Love Story
I actually think this 2001 low-budget, indie film has a quirky charm that's hard to resist, and credit goes to director/writer/editor Brad Andersen's singular filmmaking style. It's ostensibly a contemporary love story between two misfits, but he laces the plot with science fiction elements that seem contrived at first until they start to affect the characters tangibly. The irony is that these far-fetched plot developments are what make the movie resonate emotionally. The two people at the center are Ruby Weaver, a single woman with an unfortunate track record of enabling men to meet her lowest expectations, and Sam Deed, a stranger from Dubuque who may be either mentally ill or a time traveler from the year 2470. Ruby is immediately drawn to Sam's sincerity but when he confesses to coming from the future, she inevitably feels like she is recycling old behavior by trying to save him from his delusions.
It reminds me a bit of John Carpenter's 1984 "Starman" (where an alien takes the form of a woman's dead husband) and a touch of Hal Ashby's 1979 "Being There" (where an insulated gardener tries to make sense of the world around him). However, Anderson puts his own idiosyncratic stamp on the movie by making Sam's seemingly insane assertions credible and Ruby's attraction alternately frustrating and empathetic. The acting by the two leads helps considerably here. Suffering from premature Oscar ejaculation, Marisa Tomei has slowly recovered her acting credentials, and this performance is among her best as she dexterously brings out all the hesitation and vulnerability in Ruby. As Sam, Vincent D'Onofrio tempers his trademark intensity with a genuine sweetness that makes his child-like wonder believable. Holland Taylor effectively tones down her sassy persona to play Ruby's impervious therapist, while Tovah Feldshuh grounds the film with warmth and sensibility as Ruby's mother. The ending is clever with a nice use of stop-motion photography, even if it felt slightly derivative of the legendary "Star Trek" episode where Bones is stopped from saving a peace-loving missionary (played by Joan Collins, of all people) about to be killed. This one is more infectious than you may be assuming from the set-up.
More Customer Reviews (24 total)
You like Happy Accidents?
|
