ONLY YOU
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
(mark.leeper@att.com)
Copyright 1994 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This amiable, light-weight
romantic comedy has Marisa Tomei chasing over Italy in a
quest for the man predicted to be her perfect match.
The viewer won't need a crystal ball to divine the plot
twists coming. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4)
Faith Corvatch (played by Marisa Tomei) has known since she was a girl who the right man for her was. Both a Ouija board and a fortune teller has told her that the man fated to be her great love was someone named Damon Bradley. She has looked for Bradley all her life. She has become infatuated with the idea that fate has chosen a mate for her, if only she can find the elusive Mr. Bradley.
Eventually she has to give in to the inevitable and find someone else. Her fiance, a podiatrist, is not the most romantic choice for a husband, but Damon Bradleys do not show up every day. But a few days before her marriage her husband gets a phone call from a friend on his way to an international flight to Venice. The friend's name is Damon Bradley. Faith rushes to the airport, but not in time to intercept the man whom fate has intended for her. Her only chance to meet the man promised to her by fate is to go with her best friend Kate, and fly to Venice to chase down Damon. After a journey from Pittsburgh to Venice the fates finally arrange for her to run into Damon on the streets of Rome. Damon (played very winningly by Robert Downey Jr.) fall into each other's arms, love at first sight. Then Damon makes an admission about himself that will change their relationship entirely that will change Faith's mind about him. Damon will have to prove he really is the man that the fates have intended for Faith. For more--far too much more--information about the plot twists, see the trailer running in theaters.
Norman Jewison directs as well as co-produces hoping, possibly, that the colorful Italian characters and soundtrack music will capture some of success of his MOONSTRUCK. That film was about older and, frankly, better drawn and more interesting characters. Here the attempt is not to so much to define characters but to but to create a very light piece of froth somewhere between SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE and ROMAN HOLIDAY--elements borrowed from both are present--and take advantage of warmly romantic Italian settings and seductive music, particularly "Some Enchanted Evening" from SOUTH PACIFIC. Sven Nykvist's camera captures romantic scenes so that they feel romantic without being overly Hallmark-ish.
Marisa Tomei plays her role brash but with more of a fragile quality than her Oscar-winning role in MY COUSIN VINNY. Robert Downey Jr. as her possible perfect romantic mate is a trifle bland but winning enough to have the audience rooting for him to win her a second time. More personality is vested in Bonnie Hunt's witty Kate. Hunt's Kate seems more than a little like the sort of character Stockard Channing plays. Rounding out are the cast Fisher Stevens and Joaquim De Almeida as Kate's husband and would-be lover.
This is one Norman Jewison film that will not make much of a splash, but it is competent and pleasant. Give it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
.
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