[MEOW] Happy Accidents

[Kyle]

This is the discussion thread for the All New Nerd Pride Radio Movie of the Every Other Week!

This thread is only for those who have seen the movie recently. Commentary from people who haven't seen it will be deleted.

This Every Other Weeks Movie: Happy Accidents, selected by Mike

WARNING- ALL SPOILERS FOR THIS MOVIE ARE ALLOWED! For real, if you haven't seen it, don't read any further!

Discuss!

[Mike]

Loved it. Loved it the first time and loved it again now. I don't know that I can be very objective about this film. I just like it.

First time I watched this, I'd been away for a few days, and on my return Lisa insisted we watch it together with no clue what it was about. I spent that whole watch deciding whether he was really a time traveler or not, and I was SO excited to find out he was.

This time, I knew about the time travel, but I had forgotten whether or not it had a happy ending. In fact I was almost sure it didn't. So this watch was more about the relationship and his desperate belief that pure love can change fate, despite all evidence to the contrary. And I was happily surprised when it did.

Anyway, this was a special movie for me, and for me, it held up well. I'm interested to see how more objective minds took it in.

[Tahlvin]

It was good, not great. A bit slow for my taste. It was only around 1.5 hours, but I found myself at a few points checking how much longer it would last to find only a few minutes had passed from the last time I checked. It picked up a little towards the end and I got a bit more invested in it. It was a bit odd seeing Vincent D’Onofrio as a romantic lead.

[Mike]

[Zombie]

I was pleasantly surprised by Happy Accidents. It's definitely a movie I wouldn't have found without this group. I don't tend to watch a lot of rom-coms. There are certain spots where the script really shines, like the first time Ruby and Sam meet and Sam goes off about the connection between time and emotions, and others where the writing falls a bit to the cheesy side. But one constant throughout this movie is how great Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio are. I feel like this is a movie that could have really suffered with the wrong leads. I realize that can be said about a lot of good movies, but both leads bring more to the scenes than just the words on the page. Marisa is a master at conveying meaning through expressions alone. Vincent's quizzical expressions add that extra layer to scenes. Both are good at flirting with neuroticism while still being likeable, and their chemistry with each other shines.

I watched it similar to your first viewing, Mike. I was trying to guess if he was really from the future, or just crazy. I like that the movie gave us reasons to believe either side up until the final act. I'm also glad that it didn't get too technical/sci-fi in trying to explain time travel, mostly leaving that stuff for Sam's ramblings. Going too far might have ruined the romance side of the movie.

Random thoughts:

There's no doubt that Colin Trevorrow borrowed heavily from this movie when he made Safety Not Guaranteed, right?

Did Adam discussing the connection between time and emotions influence Anne Hathaway's monologue about love transcending the dimension of time and space in Interstellar?

[Zombie]

Forgot to mention, the Anthony Michael Hall scene was hilarious.

[Kyle]

[Kyle]

Okay, I watched this with two of my daughters and none of us enjoyed it because we all thought it was boring. Like Tahlvin, we were constantly checking to see how long it had left, and we all groaned when we did so. Understand, however, that we are not a rom-com or romance audience. And that's what this movie was- a romance with a sci-fi twist.

Let's start with what I liked: I liked the conceit of the film- the questioning of whether or not he was from the future. But unlike others, I was completely convinced he was from the future from the very beginning. So I think I lost a lot of what other people found so enjoyable. And maybe that's why I thought it was boring, because I was waiting for everyone else to figure out what I thought was a foregone conclusion.

Also- this was Marissa Tomei performing at peak Marissa Tomei- right? So great and fun to watch. I'm not sure she had much range back then (not like what she's done in later indie movies) but it doesn't matter. Like Harrison Ford, she played that one role to perfection.

But here's why I didn't like the movie, and I think this is going to be heresy on this site. I don't like Vincent D'onofrio and I don't think he's a good actor. I think he does that one thing also, and it's the "somewhere on the spectrum" plus crazy. It's such a turn off to me. I've enjoyed his performances as the "villain" (think full metal jacket- you get what I'm saying- but also fantastic as Kingpin in Daredevil), but as a leading man or someone I'm supposed to relate to- no way. I find him smug, off-putting and over the top. I found his performance in this movie in particular to be hammy and overwrought. I literally physically cringed at parts of his performance. And I don't think I'm too mad at him for it- he had to make a risky choice in playing this role. And he made it. I just really didn't like that choice.

So that's it- I think Vincent D'onofrio ruined the movie for me. A different lead in the role and I think I would have liked the movie, but not loved it.

An interesting last note- this movie was from 2000, before the term "manic pixie dream girl" was even coined. But what I thought was really interesting about this movie, and the reason I liked the premise even if I didn't like the movie, is that this is basically a gender-swapped version of the manic-pixie-dream-girl trope, and I thought that was pretty cool.

[Zombie]

[Kyle]

Nah. I’m still right.

[Zombie]

Considering she already had an Oscar win before this, and filmed one of her more demanding roles with In the Bedroom the same year as Happy Accidents, she's always had range.

[Phoebe]

Some of us have been Marisa Tomei fans since As the World Turns days, and in that one show alone she had range to spare!

Anyway, I can understand why Kyle and his daughters found this movie boring or slow, as it was rather boring and slow. The first time I watched it, I was watching with a person who was having various romantic problems with the guys in her life, so there was a lot of talky during the show about all this, and that made me think I was finding the movie boring or slow because of all the talk in progress and not because of the movie. But now I know that in fact the movie is kind of slow. No matter; a decently imaginative light romance is a gem among many nuggets of bird poop in this genre. It is enjoyable, as Mike said. If you just allow yourself to delight in it without much expectation or critique, then it's delightful! I also think Vincent d'Onofrio is pretty cute so that probably doesn't hurt the delightfulness factor, and of course Marisa Tomei is adorable and fun to watch.

[Mike]