Movie: Serendipity (R)

I remember seeing the trailer for Serendipity several years ago and wanted to see it. I finally saw it this week on vacation and HATED it.

There's actually a lot to like about this movie. Two strangers meet, have a magical first date, and write their phone numbers on a five-dollar bill (him) and in a used book (her). The idea is, if they ever get the items back, it will be because fate wants them to be together. That's sweet and romantic, and I was willing to go along with that.

Several years later, each of them frantically begins to try to find the other at the same time. After much scurrying and many signs, she ends up with the $5 bill, he ends up with the used book, they meet at the site of their first date, and romance resumes.

This could have been a sweet movie, especially if the interlude was filled with a montage of bad dates or even nice dates with Mr. or Ms. Not Quite Right. Instead, each of the lovebirds is in a committed relationship (she has just gotten engaged, he is only days from his wedding to another woman) when the hunt for each other begins.

Lots of times in romantic comedies, the main characters are in fading relationships with undesirable characters. I don't condone cheating, but at least you can understand why those people are dissatisfied. In this film, however, the two lucky ones destroy the lives of two other perfectly nice people to be together (I even thought the film would bring the two dumped ones together in some mild attempt at justice, but that didn't happen). I know romance movies are unrealistic, and romance itself can be fickle and immature, but these two people face no consequences for their selfish pursuit of What Might Have Been, and it really bothered me. Grade: D