Hey folks, Harry here with a look at Peter Chelsom's SERENDIPITY... a John Cusack romantic comedy, which by definition should be great... right? He's got a helluva record and working with FUNNY BONES' Peter Chelsom... well I've got my hopes, but apparently according to this reviewer the film played pretty much by the numbers throughout... I'll still see it, if only because Lloyd Dobler compels me... Read on and beware of SPOILERS....
Hi Harry,
I saw a preview screening for "Serendipity" with a surprisingly small audience two weeks back in Beverly Hills. There was no Q&A afterward, and we were all shooed out as soon as the lights came up. I wasn't asked to sign any waivers, so here I am. If you have any questions, you can email me back here.
The film was directed by Peter Chelsom, late of "Town & Country" and the cult favorite "Funny Bones", which everyone tells me is great but I still haven't seen. It stars John Cusack in his quintessential lovelorn guy mode and Kate Beckinsale as a pretty, pretty girl who is British.
If this review is spoiler free it's because there isn't much to spoil. If you hear the concept - British girl separates from NY boy to see if fate will bring them back together, then ten years go by - that's pretty much what plays out onscreen. Perhaps that's why "Serendipity" currently wings in at a brisk 88 minutes.
Cusack's ESPN producer (director?) and Beckinsale's therapist meet cute at Bloomingdale's one snowy Christmas Eve and vie over a pair of cashmere gloves. They feel an immediate connection even though both are involved elsewhere. But Beckinsale believes in the power of Fate to bring lovers together, so she leaves her phone number in a book ("Love In the Age of Cholera") at a used book store … so it can make its way back to him if they are supposed to be together. (Hey, why doesn't he just go back and buy the book that ni - … ah, forget it)
I thought the next scene would be Beckinsale flinging herself out a thirty story window so that Superman would have to reveal himself and save her. No such luck. Cut to ten years later, he's still in NY, she's in SF, they both look exactly the same. (No moustache? No piercings?) and he's about to get married and naturally, wonders if he can forever leave behind the one who got away.
The story is slight, and it's frankly a little hard to feel much empathy for beautiful characters who bring their dilemmas (dilemnas?) upon themselves. Interestingly, the writers here try to make a virtue out of what is generally the clunkiest, most ham-fisted aspect of any screenplay, esp. romantic comedies or dramas - coincidence ("Veronica? Why, what are you doing here in Sao Paolo?")
The laundry list of coincidental occurrences in the film would certainly lead one to believe that God or Fate or Harvey Weinstein really wants these two kids to get together. I don't share this worldview and I thought perhaps the disparity between romantic notions on how to live one's life ("I should chase after the first girl I ever kissed … No, I'll just have a Paxil and watch Mr. Show reruns.") might provide some meat for the 2nd half of the film. 'Twas not to be.
So what we end up with here is a very spare version of what you go to this film for in the first place. Although, if you believe John Cusack would fly (with Jeremy Piven!!!) from NY to SF on his wedding night to Kate Beckinsale's address, then just leave because they see her having sex with someone else through the window (Hey, what are the odds that someone resembling Kate Beckinsale would be having sex in front of the window at the exact monent that … ah, forget it) well, I hope those were frequent flyer miles they were using.
As for the direction, Chelsom should teach the memorial Woody Allen class in how to shoot romantic, timeless, classy New York for the Learning Annex:
1) Choose gorgeous, iconic New York locations - the Waldorf Astoria, Bloomingdale's, Central Park's Wollman rink, Serendipity ice cream parlor
2) Light a beautiful young actress and have her look offscreen winsomely 3) drop fake snow.
They didn't add in Michael Feinstein singing "Our Love Is Here To Stay" for the end credits but I'm guessing it'll be something like that rather than the Nuge's "Wango Tango".
The performances - Cusack does here what he's done before and better. He has no real character besides a shadow of that Lloyd Dobler persona from the excellent "Say Anything".
But even without a fresh character to play, he's a fine romantic lead. You can feel for him wondering if he can settle for one incredibly gorgeous babe with no defining character attributes when there was that other incredible babe ten years ago with no definable character attributes but more dramatic music playing behind her - and she's British!
But Kate Beckinsale might want to have a talk with her agent or her screenwriter or her somebody. I think she's more beautiful in this film than in anything else I've seen her in inc. PH but there's nothing more than that to her. She's supposed to be a therapist but about ten seconds of screen time are dedicated to her job or interests. I hope she didn't spend ten weeks going out into the field with real therapists, poor thing!
Actresses and actors in general should look at some GREAT characters from past films like Holly Hunter's Jane Craig in "Broadcast News" or Albert Brooks' Aaron in "Broadcast News". Or the main characters in "When Harry Met Sally". Or "Annie Hall". (Of course, it helps us remember the characters when it's also the name of the movie.) These characters were specific, memorable and interesting. We feel like we know them because there is ultimately something particular about them to know.
Lloyd Dobler is known by name to most movie lovers. So is Fredo Corleone, Keyser Soze, Crash Davis and John McClane. Travis Bickle, Lester Burnham, Randall P. McMurphy and Margo Channing. Leonard Shelby, Boba Fett, Jame Gumb and Lt. Ellen Ripley. Maybe every single character can't be as great, specific or memorable as these, but there should be some attempt to make them so.
The support - Jeremy Piven and Molly Shannon as the funny friends deliver their one-liners successfully but they don't have any storylines or problems of their own to wrap up. Shannon's character in fact is dragged to New York by Beckinsale to hunt for Cusack, does next to nothing (except meet his intended bride) then wings back to San Francisco to disappear for the rest of the movie. (Again, frequent flyer miles, I beg you) She has a funny character definition - a New Age supplies seller who's cynical and disdainful of her customers - but the filmmakers never do anything with that or her.
If you think of the great second banana characters in romantic comedies, for instance John Candy in "Splash" knowing how to say filthy things in twenty languages AND getting to use that skill to help advance the plot - that's what we needed more of here. Piven's a funny guy, but one has the feeling he just showed up to hang out with Cusack, made up his funny rants himself and split. There's one sentence his character delivers that is related to the goings-on of the plot.
The real show stealer, here as in "American Pie II" I'll bet, is Eugene Levy as a weird, unctuous Bloomingdale's clerk, delivering the Funny - old school. He's pretty much the only interesting character in the movie, the only one with any color.
Speaking of which, where were any people of color in this film? Chelsom has out-Woodied Woody Allen in his whitewash of one of the great multi-national cities on the planet. C'mon, Pete, it's New York City - throw us Bobby Short, Al Sharpton, something.
The other roles were played by damn good looking people. I mean, John Corbett is just a good looking man. And for some strange reason, I learned much more about his Middle Eastern music playing character (he's like a hot Zamfir, master of the pan flute) than Beckinsale's and Cusack's combined - a funny choice.
In the end, "Serendipity" is another run of the mill romantic comedy with some funny moments and winning if one-dimensional performances. It won't make anyone forget "When Harry Met Sally" or "Annie Hall", but it might make you stop by and rent them on your way home. I'm Havok2000.
