A Serendipity Of a Movie

While I did not go to the movie theater to see Serendipity, the movie theater was playing a sneek peak so I decided to give it a shot. I like to watch romantic comedies and I haven't seen a good one in a while. Lately romance movies has been leaning toward those with sad endings, such as Sweet November. Therefore I am delighted to say that Serendipity has that happy ending that leaves you felling good when you walk out of the theater.

The plot of the movie is fairly simple. In a attempt to grab the last pair of black gloves at Bloomingdale's, two strangers meet. One is Johnathan (John Cusack), who wanted the gloves for his girlfriend. The other is Sara (Kate Bekinsale), who wanted them for her boyfriend. John lets Sara buy the gloves and she treats him to a frozen hot chocolate at a restaurant appropriately named Serendipity. It is here that Sara reveals her belief that everything is fated. They walk away without even exchanging names.

A few minutes later, they both return to Serendipity to retrieve items they left behind. They decide to go out and they end up with Sara writing her phone number on a piece of paper. When it blows out of her hand, John begs for another try. She then has him write his info on a five dollar bill and spends it. She says that when she finds it again, she will look him up. She then writes her info in a book which she promises to sell to a used book store the following day. Then they both just walk away...

A few years later, John is three days away from getting married and has the usual cold feet. He starts to search for Sara with the help of his friend (Jeremy Piven). At the same time, Sara is a week away from getting married and returns to New York in an effort to find John. This makes for some interesting situations. For John, it is a detective story starting with the receipt she left in one of the gloves. Sara goes on intuition, depending on fate to guide her to John.

The acting was great, and most characters showed many sides. They interacted well with each other and the dialog was intelligent and relevant. There was also a few hilarious scenes, including the scenes with the Bloomingdale's clerk (Eugene Levy).

the music was not particularly memorable, but it fit the mood of the movie remarkably well. And Although the entire movie was shot in winter or early spring, the visual effects are great, using weather to help set the mood in certain scenes.

Serendipity is what we need right now, a fortunate accident to help us forget our problems. It is nice to lose yourself in a charming story for an hour and a half and come out feeling a little bit better about the world. I recommend that anyone who needs a tiny break from reality see this movie.