Musings of a Medical Misfit

If you’re about to be married to someone who looks exactly like Bridget Moynahan, would you still search for the flighty British babe you met seven years ago?

You would, if you’re Jonathan Trager.

Serendipity
is an utterly predictable movie about Hollywood’s most over-used
four-letter concept - no, not that other f-word - I’m talking about FATE.

John Cusack is Jonathan Trager, a segment producer for ESPN with a dorky haircut, who meets big-haired Sara Thomas, played by the charming Kate Beckinsale,
when they reach for the same pair of black cashmere gloves in
Bloomingdales one December evening, which they both plan to give to
their significant others as a Christmas gift.

 

No wonder sparks fly - they have the worst taste in gifts, and they both have bad hair.

They go out on an impromptu date, starting off with frozen chocolate drinks at Serendipity
restaurant, they ice skate. They flirt the whole time, yet when they’re
about to call it a night, she refuses to give him her name and number,
citing destiny. She asks him instead to write his contact info on a $5
bill, then goes off to spend it on some gum. She tells him she would
write her name and number on her copy of Love in the Time of Cholera which she’d sell to a bookstore the next morning.

Jonathan
doesn’t give up, so she drags him inside the Waldorf Astoria and they go up
separate elevators - she believes if they pick the same floor then it’s
meant to be. They both hit the button for the 23rd floor, but something
happened along the way, and Jonathan loses her.

 

Fast forward seven years. Jonathan sports a better haircut, and is about to be married to a woman who looks like she just jumped out of Vogue. Sara
thankfully loses the big hair, and is seen interviewing patients. This
was a eureka moment for me because finally, I found an explanation why
she acts like a loon: she’s a shrink in training. Believe it or not,
one of the most unstable people I know finished a four-year residency
in Psychiatry.

Jonathan’s engaged to Halley, a nice girl who looks like a supermodel, Sara’s the girlfriend of Lars, an internationally-famous New Age musician who has sold-out European concerts, and they still decide to find each other?

In the words of Jonathan’s bestfriend Dean, played by Jeremy Piven, "that’s lucid."

Of
course, we know they’d eventually find each other, and they’d live
happily ever after - or at least, last long enough to celebrate their
anniversary by drinking wine on paper cups in the middle of
Bloomingdales.

Serendipity is a harmless movie. Everyone is so darn likable. Beckinsale is lovely, and it surprisingly doesn’t bother me that she apparently tries to be another Meg Ryan, what with all the nose wrinkling she does in this film. Molly Shannon is effective as Sara’s bestfriend Eve - no surprise there since it’s a character she can play in her sleep. Eugene Levy
as the Bloomingdales salesman is on screen for, like, ten minutes, but
the brief time he’s there, he manages to steal the show from everyone.

But the real saving grace of the movie is - and I’m not being biased here - John Cusack.
He’s adorable as always and delivers lines like they were his own. He
also seems to have mastered the art of captivating the audience with
everything he does - he smirks, he frowns, he sighs, we fall.

Cusack and Beckinsale do alright as star-crossed lovers but the real chemistry here is between Cusack and real-life bestfriend Jeremy Piven. Piven may not be as great-looking as Cusack  but  it’s obvious these two have been exchanging acting tips for years. Hey, if he’s good enough for La Lohan, he’s good enough for us.

And just like any other formulaic cotton-candy love stories, you don’t feel bad for the dumpees -  Halley is perfect anyway, and Lars, let’s just say that someone who has, like, a rockstar status in New Age Music will be just fine.

 

Obvious plot holes aside, I’d still recommend Serendipity. It’s a nice, feel-good, lazy-Saturday afternoon movie.

 

Oh,
and if you love JC, you’d have to watch it if only to catch one of the
last scenes - he stands in the middle of the skating rink,
handsome-yet-unassuming in a brown collared button-down over a blue
shirt and skinny black pants, a tear cascading down his right eye, as
he finally sees Sara again.

Everything that man does is pure magic.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 27th, 2006 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.