Serendipity
by Peter Chelsom
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DVD details
Actor: Abdul Alshawish, John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, Lilli Lavine, Michael Guarino Jr.Director: Peter Chelsom
Brand: CUSACK,JOHN
Producer: Amy J. Kaufman
Producer: Amy Slotnick
Producer: Andrew Panay
Producer: Bob Osher
Producer: Julie Goldstein
Producer: Peter Abrams
Writer: Marc Klein
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-04-09
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Miramax Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Serendipity
DVD Review: Suprisingly Good
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not the biggest chick flick fan, but this was rather good. If your girl wants you to make a night with this movie, trust me it is worth it and you will have fun. Plus score a few brownie points.DVD Review: Delightful surprise
Summary: 4 Stars
I have just recently become a John Cusack fan and that is what made me select this DVD. Having seen Kate Beckinsale before, I was struck this time by how abslutely beautiful she was. I did have a little problem with her game playing at the beginning, ie: not giving her name and making fate be the decider as to their future. Other than th at, I thoroughly enjoy John's obcessive search and the supporting cast was wonderful. I recommend watching this on a cold winter night, with a glass of wine and someone significant with you.DVD Review: It Was Fate!
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a backdoor Christmas movie where everyone lives happily ever after, I guess. My wife saw this on TV and wanted it. I watched it with her. John Cusack & Kate Beckinsale are both attractive and develop good chemistry with their sidekicks but there are too few scenes of their one night romance to validate the premise of the movie, a compulsive belief that they had met THE PERSON but let them slip away.
Hey, my wife liked it - I am her hero for buying it; I hope! She held my hand. I felt pretty good about that! GUYS!!! Do yourself a favor if your need a chick flick for your library of movies, this ain't bad.
DVD Review: Great Love Story
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are looking for a great love story where two souls are destined to meet, then this is a movie for you. I have seen it many times and still love it. It's very serendipitous, you may have to watch the show to under what that really means.DVD Review: "You don't just have the most incredible night of your life with a perfect stranger and then leave it all to chance, do you?!"
Summary: 4 Stars
Call me a wide-eyed ninny, but I bought into the film's premise. SERENDIPITY isn't a romantic comedy as much as it is a fantasy romantic comedy, and how much you like this film will depend in part on how much of a cynic or a dreamer you are. Me, I'm the wide-eyed ninny.
The story is about two people, Jonathan and Sara, who meet - and fall for each other - during one perfect New York evening five days before Christmas, but then decide to leave love to fate. If they meet again, then it was meant to be. But it doesn't pan out, and Jonathan and Sara are gone, just like that, from each other's lives. Cut to several years later, and the two are engaged, but not to each other. Still, echoes of that one enchanted night linger. And Jonathan and Sara, now separated by opposite coasts, decide to make one last-ditch effort to find fate...
SERENDIPITY is a fluffy, feel-good, head-in-the-clouds romance. It doesn't seek to impart lessons, although you do learn the one thing the Greeks ask when someone has passed on. It's a comedy, and with the likes of John Cusack, Jeremy Piven, and scene-stealer Eugene Levy gracing the screen, it's a good comedy, with several standout, laugh-out-loud gems. Plot wise, it's not that multi-layered. Basically, for most of the film, Cusack desperately chases down clues to Beckinsale's identity and Beckinsale, after stressing out about her engagement, finally opens herself up to chance and to serendipity. There are many moments where they barely miss each other or unknowingly find a connection to each other.
The deal breaker, of course, is that the film does ask that you soak in coincidence after coincidence (or near coincidence, more like), with that five dollar bill being perhaps the most far fetched gimmick used. The film requires two intelligent, believable leads to make the implausible premise work, to be these two characters who realize that what they're doing is totally ridiculous, but, hey, they're caught out in love, and there's nothing to do but go ahead and chase the moon. John Cusack, pretty much today's consensus go-to guy whenever an everyman lead role needs to be cast, is a no-brainer. He's a natural actor, and a fantastic re-actor. Kate Beckinsale, heartachingly beautiful and classy and British, lights up the screen with Cusack. And did I mention that she's heartachingly beautiful? (I think we should forgive her for PEARL HARBOR.) For those who haven't seen this movie yet, there's a bit of Sleepless in Seattle (10th Anniversary Edition) going on here, as Jonathan and Sara, after the first 18 minutes of the movie, don't appear together until the end of the movie. Cusack and Beckinsale are so good together that we can't help but root for them.
Cusack and Piven demonstrate a different kind of chemistry, as well as impeccable timing, in their scenes together. Apparently, according to the director's audio commentary, Piven's supporting role wasn't going to be that large, but then Piven's skills came into play. His character is that of a glib-talking obituary writer for the New York Times, and I kind of feel that more funny could've been squeezed out from the obit writer angle. For whatever it's worth, Piven delivers one of the funniest Best Man's speeches ever put to cinema.
There's an old-fashioned feel to SERENDIPITY, partly because of the classic New York backdrop and partly because Cusack and Beckinsale simply exude a timeless charisma; I believe that they would've done well in any era in motion pictures. Throw in that part of the movie takes place over the holiday season, lending an even more sentimental vibe to the story. And then there's the pitch-perfect movie score and soundtrack to underscore the story and acting. Meanwhile, time lapse photography is well used to denote not only the passage of time but to also infuse energy into the scenes. As well, the director points out, this device allows us a deeper glimpse into what the characters are feeling (as exemplified in Sara's flight to New York).
One nice thing the movie does is to not depict Jonathan and Sara's respective intendeds as unlikable characters. Not only would that have been too easy an out, but it would've cheapened Jonathan and Sara's romance. As it is, we end up with a very good but bittersweet moment between Jonathan and his fiancee, played by Bridget Moynahan. I liked that Bridget's character is lovely and loving, and that the only thing wrong with her is that she isn't Sara.
And then there's Lars, Sara's fiance. Another sample of the film's sometimes whimsical leanings is that Lars is a New Age Yanni-type musician. John Corbett plays him quite seriously, which somehow makes Lars an even funnier character. Lars seems to be a nice guy.
The pragmatist in me argues that there's no such thing as a fortunate accident, no such thing as serendipity. That you can't count on it, anyway. But, in watching movies, of course you're allowed to dwell in fantasies, momentarily. Now and then, you can simply cave in to the story, especially when the actors are this good. Even when, yes, the coincidences seem too labored. SERENDIPITY is a fluffy, feel-good, head-in-the-clouds romance. I happen to find it irresistible.
Lastly, the movie made me want to look up Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera (okay, so mostly I can flip to the first page).
Description of Serendipity
Irresistible stars John Cusack (AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS, HIGH FIDELITY) and Kate Beckinsale (PEARL HARBOR, BROKEDOWN PALACE) are drawn together and take a chance on love in this critically acclaimed romantic comedy! In the course of one magical evening, Jonathan (Cusack) and Sara (Beckinsale) meet unexpectedly ... then part without expectation when she decides they must let fate determine if they are meant to be together. Years later, they are both engaged to others but cannot give up the dream that -- despite time, distance, and the obstacles that conspire to keep them apart -- they will one day meet again. Also starring Jeremy Piven (THE FAMILY MAN, VERY BAD THINGS) and Molly Shannon (SUPERSTAR, NEVER BEEN KISSED) in a stellar supporting cast -- you're destined to agree with audiences everywhere who fell for the surprising charms of this delightful big-screen romance!The irresistible casting of John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale highlights this predictable romantic comedy, which combines the romantic yearning of An Affair to Remember and the New York charm of You've Got Mail. It all begins "a few years ago," when New Yorker Jonathan (Cusack) meets Brit beauty Sara (Beckinsale). They share a few perfect hours together before parting ways, leaving future encounters to her quirky obsession with fate. "A few years later," they're about to marry their respective fianc?s (reluctantly, of course), and urgently hoping for destiny to bring them back together. Under the casual direction of Peter Chelsom (barely recovering from Town & Country), this starry-eyed romance offers no surprises, but it has a comforting familiarity, made warmer by the easy chemistry of the leads, with obligatory best-friend support by Molly Shannon and long-time Cusack pal Jeremy Piven. It's hokey, but die-hard romantics are sure to be forgiving. --Jeff Shannon
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