Many a romantic comedy is based on an idiotic premise, which is why films of the genre are so often irritating in the extreme.
Serendipity has a story sillier than most: (1) Boy meets girl, (2) boy and girl obviously like each other, (3) girl suggests they go their separate ways and fate will bring them together again if that's their destiny, (4) boy searches for girl obsessively over the years.
The boy in question is played by John Cusack, always a good sign, and the girl by Kate Beckinsale, not ditto.
The two meet by chance at a department store during the Christmas rush. Their mutual attraction is immediate. Each already has a significant other, so they circle around each other in a most cautious fashion.
Cusack's character suggests they meet again. Beckinsale's character goes all fey and elusive and boneheaded about even offering a phone number, suggesting instead that fate will re-unite them if that is what should be.
The sound of female viewers hissing pretty well ruins the first part of the movie.
But Serendipity has, against all the odds, a script loaded with good dialogue and some truly amusing scenes. Time passes. Our star-crossed lovers have gone on to other things.
It's those other things that yield all the gold in Serendipity, like the "guy" stuff between Cusack's character and his best friend (Jeremy Piven), for example, or the performance from John Corbett as a fatuous New Age musician. It doesn't hurt, either, that Eugene Levy has a handful of stand-out scenes in the film as a neurotic salesman, or that Molly Shannon turns up in the final act. Highly satisfying.
Visually, Serendipity is often charming, with scene after scene showing how people's paths almost cross, scenes that simultaneously hint at the power of intuition where love is concerned. Deny such things at your peril, lovebirds, etc. Under those circumstances, every detail, every incident, seems extra-rich with meaning.
Serendipity is a highly romantic undertaking, but so smart and funny that it should not be written off as a 'chick flick.' In particular, Cusack and Piven work together so skillfully, like an experienced comedy team, that you have to wonder why the plot didn't call for them to end up together.
Oh, just a thought.
(More on: Serendipity).
(This film is rated PG)
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