HAPPY ACCIDENTS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
HAPPY ACCIDENTS, written and directed by Brad Anderson (NEXT STOP WONDERLAND), is a cute and quirky tale that would best be classified as a science fiction, romantic comedy. Starring Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio as lovers Ruby Weaver and Sam Deed, the movie's serious flaw is that the chemistry between them is never quite credible. Individually, they both deliver interesting performances, Tomei as a hopeless codependent and D'Onofrio as an awkward guy who is either a "back traveler" from the year 2470 or a nut case, but together they never make a believable couple. Other than the light comedy, what makes the story work is the intrigue as to whether the movie will ever reveal the truth, if any, behind Sam's time-traveling claims.
Sam explains to Ruby that he is from Dubuque, Iowa -- just not her Dubuque, Iowa. He is from the Atlantic seaboard Dubuque in the future. The son of an anachronistic freedom fighting father, who still believed in procreation the old fashion way, Sam has come to the past to find Ruby. Ruby, the daughter of a codependent mother, has spent her whole life dating men who need fixing. On the surface, Sam appears to be just another one of her losers.
Sometimes the movie plays like a variation on the old Peter Sellers's movie, BEING THERE, but it is the best when it's the freshest. The most original scene in the movie comes when, in a diner, Sam turns the explanation of time travel into a tactilely erotic experience for Ruby. Even if the film is a near miss, at least it's just the easy-going type of material that is appropriate for a world recently turned horribly upside-down.
HAPPY ACCIDENTS runs 1:40. It is rated R for "language" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 21, 2001. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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