Serendipity

A guy and girl meet in a New York City department store when reaching for the same pair of gloves. They talk, have coffee and it isn’t long before the guy is asking for the girl’s number. Unfortunately, for the dude, a gust of wind blows the piece of paper out of his hand. The girl determines that it was fate which led to that predicament, and sets up two other possible chance meetings with the guy, in the hopes of fate intervening once again and this time, proving that they should be together. Phew. Anyway, it’s about love and destiny…

An okay romance with a decent premise and some respectable acting, that gets a little redundant during its middle stretch, but ultimately comes through as a cute date movie for adults. Not really humorous, although the great Jeremy Piven is very funny as the best friend yet again and Eugene Levy shines is his small role. Not totally dramatic, since we’re all pretty sure how things are gonna end up here. And not all that energetic, as things start falling into a definite routine, with one twist of fate leading to another coincidence leading to even more clues to the inevitable. But on the whole, it’s easy to watch (barely runs for an hour and a half), has some nice shots of the gorgeous New York City during the fall and winter seasons, and gives us John Cusack, who is always pretty entertaining as a rule. I don’t think that this movie is going to become a romantic classic by any means, but it certainly does take the premise of “fate determining our futures” and pushes it to the max. For me, it was a little personal because I actually went through something very similar with a girl back in 1996. I was Holland, she was in the States, but everywhere I traveled around Europe, signs pointed her way and we just couldn’t wait to meet one another when I got back home. The resolution of our adventure wasn’t as perfect as the one in this flick, but the idea of signs and fate always being present in our lives, and our ability to “pick up” on them determining some of the direction of our existence, is one to which I personally adhere.

Granted, this movie really exaggerates the “coincidences” and definitely overplays this card, especially during the final scene, in which you just can’t help but say “Oh, c’mon…that just can’t be!” but it’s not the end of the world. They’re not trying to solve all of the world’s problems here and if you can appreciate the basic sentiment behind this movie, I think you’ll be smiling in the end, and I believe that’s pretty much all that they were shooting for. The soundtrack is also joyful, the sights picturesque and even though Beckinsale isn’t the shiniest star in the sky, she and Cusack do connect in their scenes together, and you can’t help but sigh lovingly when the end of the film rolls around. Unless of course, you’re not in a “sappy” mood and you consider the whole film to be utter drivel, which I could understand, since I’m generally not a fan of the “typical” Hollywood romantic comedy scene either (see list below). In the end, this fluffy piece is entirely predictable, with small touches of humor and romance, but might also be exactly what certain couples are looking for nowadays.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian