Rating: 
Summary: Time travel and romance - a great date movie and more!
Review: It is hard to find truly watchable and engaging movies that both men and women will love. But this one is just that... science fiction and romance blended into a charming movie that deserves far more attention than it has been getting, since it is superior to most of the "blockbusters" that fill the movie screens these days. SOmehow this one came out and never really seemed to hit big. Now it is available on video and I urge you to grab a copy before it fades away again.
Marisa Tomei may have found the role of her life playing Ruby, a woman who's had more than her share of failed romances. Vincent D'Onofrio is perfect as the lowkey Sam, a guy who is quirky and a bit different from the average man... but for good reason, as he may (or may not) be traveling back in time, coming from 400 years in the future.
If all this seems a bit farfetched, let me add that my husband and I are NOT huge fans of "science fiction" type movies - and yet we couldn't take our eyes off the screen. Not only that, but we were charmed and touched by this movie. It is funny, romantic and quite believable. I give credit to Tomei and D'Onofrio for pulling it off.
Rating: 
Summary: Keeping the future safe for love and codependency
Review: It turns out that lovestruck kooks from the future are much less entertaining than killer cyborgs from the future. That's one of the ways that HAPPY ACCIDENTS, a boy-travels-through-time-to-get-girl romance, suffers by comparison with such genre greats as James Cameron's 1984 masterpiece THE TERMINATOR, Terry Gilliam's macabre TWELVE MONKEYS, and Robert Zemeckis' BACK TO THE FUTURE franchise. If you haven't seen these or the more recent MEMENTO (which uses time in other, equally fresh ways), HAPPY ACCIDENTS is a harmless enough knock-off.Child-like Sam Deed (Vincent D'Onofrio) "back travels" from the year 2460 to prevent an unhappy accident from befalling serial romantic Ruby Weaver (Marisa Tomei). Ms. Tomei brings a novel appeal - call it whiny eroticism - to Ruby's too-caring bachelorette. But Mr. D'Onofrio's Sam, afflicted with time-travel jet lag and repeatedly caught in the lies his secret mission demands, comes off as more pathological than quirky, unappealing even by Ruby's low standards. Their chemistry peaks early, and Sam is reduced to spouting the hackneyed pseudo-science of time travel fiction while Ruby frets about her taste in men. Fortunately, a great supporting cast adds texture, led by Nadia Dajani as Ruby's SJF best friend, and Ruby's therapist (Holland Taylor), a wise comic voice with a few surprises of her own. These small delights, rather than its central characters or plot, make HAPPY ACCIDENTS worthy of the name.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun and holds your attention
Review: It was a happy accident that I saw this movie. It is like all the time travel clichés wrapped up in one. However they picked just the right actors for the parts. You of course recognize Marisa Tomei from the movie "Oscar" (1991); however it may take you a second to recognize Vincent D'Onofrio as the bug in the Edgar suit in the movie "Men in Black" (1997). There is never a dull moment following all the twists and turns. Sam and Ruby run cross paths and immediately know they have met before. She says déjà vu; he says time travel. And as they get to know each other he comes clean about being from the year 2472 and she figures out where he is really from. Checking out the pictures in his wallet really help tie the movie together and is a nice added touch to most "K-Pax" type "are you or aren't you" movies.
However do not let this fact or physics get in the way of a story that is in truth about people.
So sit back kibitz a little and enjoy
Rating:
Summary: Fun and holds your attention
Review: It was a happy accident that I saw this movie. It is like all the time travel clichés wrapped up in one. However they picked just the right actors for the parts. You of course recognize Marisa Tomei from the movie "Oscar" (1991); however it may take you a second to recognize Vincent D'Onofrio as the bug in the Edgar suit in the movie "Men in Black" (1997). There is never a dull moment following all the twists and turns. Sam and Ruby run cross paths and immediately know they have met before. She says déjà vu; he says time travel. And as they get to know each other he comes clean about being from the year 2472 and she figures out where he is really from. Checking out the pictures in his wallet really help tie the movie together and is a nice added touch to most "K-Pax" type "are you or aren't you" movies.
However do not let this fact or physics get in the way of a story that is in truth about people.
So sit back kibitz a little and enjoy
Rating:
Summary: d'onofrio never disappoints!
Review: it was a tuesday night, and iheard "happy accidents , was only going to show for three more nights, then Harry Potter would wipe it out, I ran to the theatre to see my favorite actor Vincent Donofrio, in a movie about time travel, my favorite subject, how could i miss... One other gentleman was in the theatre, we laughed out loud. talked to the screen and enjoyed ever silly moment of this feel good movie,, after wards the stranger in the thearte said how did u like that I just grinned from ear to ear and said I'll be back tomorrow, Icame just for vincent D, the stranger said, I just laughed thinking only the two of us got to see this brilliant funny sweet movie,,,, 4 thumbs up from two strangers in a theatre,,,, hope the world finds out about the movie soon , hope this helps..
Rating: 
Summary: Irritating & predictable though Tomei is beautiful as ever.
Review: Let me say first off that Donofrio & Tomei are two of my favorite actors which is why I watched this messy little film in the first place. They aren't bad in certain scenes, but mostly come off as though they are doing class exercises. And that's one of the big problems with this movie - it feels stitched together, improvised (but uninspiredly) by all including the writer/director. The director doesn't seem to know whether he wants to direct a romance, a comedy, a psychodrama or a suspense film, so you get a scene in one flavor followed by a scene in another. The plot comes off as stitched together parts of La Jetée (or 12 Monkeys), Terminator & some more forgettable scifi flicks of the past. The leads, as talented as they are, are poorly served, especially Tomei who plays the queen of insecurity at an intensely shrill pitch. You wonder why Donofrio hangs around this harpy, she's so paranoid & hysterical all the time. The subsidiary characters, especially the women, are portrayed as mean-spirited & manipulative but not in a satirical way, just in a nasty way. Too bad. In the hands of Todd Solondz or Todd Haynes material like this could be brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: Grab it, before it goes back from where it came
Review: Like Vincent D'Onofrio's John Malkovich-meets-Rain Man time traveler, this sort of popped up in my local video store one day, seemingly out of the blue, and charmed the heck out of me. I had never even heard of it, which is too bad--it's a haunting little movie that deserves a much wider audience. Before I get started, a question: Why is Marisa Tomei so marginalized? Between this and "In the Bedroom" she has given us 2 excellent recent performances; why no major gigs? Is it her incredibly low hairline? Her non-starlet proportions? Honestly, that's all I could think about after watching her--it can't be her plentiful talent. Anyway, this is a very well-done time-travel piece a la "La Jette" or its modern counterpart, "12 Monkeys." If, like me, you're a sucker for the genre, by all means, buy this.
Rating:
Summary: Even for those who don't like that sci-fi thing
Review: Not a big fan of time travel, science fiction, so on...I'm just not. But here is a movie that has time travel-y stuff that I actually (a)watched the whole thing and (b) would recommend. Why? Because the time travel is really incidental. I mean, sure, that's the reason why things happen and everything, but you're not beaten over the head with it.
I'd like to say that this is a wonderful, so romantic love story, but then I'm afraid that some people (those sap-avoiders, often the menfolks)will avoid it. Don't. It's a movie that even they will like. The secret is that, while the story would sound silly to anyone, the actors are so committed to the reality of who they are and what they're doing that it works. What a difficult thing to pull off.
I'm not a big Marisa Tomei fan, but here she's so delightful, full of non-annoying energy and so real. I mean, she is sort of the stand in for the rest of the audience, and she plays that disbelief well. How often do you see a movie where the normal, rational person just buys the lunacy of another--something that a real person wouldn't do? She has the right reactions and emotions.
It's just one of those satisfying movies, where all of the little bits and clues work and pull everything together, without making the viewer feel like they've been tricked or taken advantage of. Humor and grace, but enough whatever it is to keep it from being a stereotypical chick flick. The ending is actually, suprisingly moving. I really did not think I'd see the movie at all, then thought that I wouldn't enjoy it, and then I was so glad I did.
One little note, though--if you listen to the commentary, which I usually do, it claims to be between the director and actor Vincent D'Onofrio (whom I adore in this, but I always do and am not too objective, so I'll leave that out). Instead, it's almost a monologue by the director. Don't know if Vincent wasn't feeling participatory that day or if the director is just particularly chatty, but I wanted more--more about playing Mr. Future and all of the stories that the character of Sam had to keep together. Anyway. Minor thing.
One other thing--the scene where Sam has Ruby lick his finger and then shows what the future is like is worth the whole price of the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Better than I expected
Review: Oh, come on! A guy from the future gets a crush because of a picture? But wait. It gets better. Happy Accidents was by turns funny, endearing and suspenseful. I won't spoil the ending, but suffice it to say it all fit together well.
Rating:
Summary: Cheeseman's Theory of Emotional Energy
Review: Rarely do I find a movie that I can watch twice, let alone in a week's time. But having seen it on the Independent Film Channel I subsequently bought a copy online and watched it again with the same delight as the first go around. Vincent D'onofrio plays Sam, a man from the future (Dubuque, Iowa on the Atlantic Coast to be specific) who after some tragic events in the future has broken the time-space continuum and traveled back some 400 years to find his one true love Ruby, whose picture he found in a curio shop. After a "chance encounter" in a park in NYC where they strike up a conversation and Sam entertains her, he seeks to find where she lives to return a book that she has forgotten on the park bench. The love-shy Ruby, who has had her share of "losers" in the past, is aloof when he approaches her but all the same curious of who this strange man is. To skip giving away any of the plot-line and formation, they begin a romantic relationship. But as the eccentric time-traveller starts to display odd and suspicious physical and personality traits, the neurotic Ruby begins to think that he is playing her for a fool. She confides finally in a therapist and after many see-saw episodes between the couple she believes that she must leave him. To keep her love he slowly uncovers the truth about who he really is. From this the main thrust of the movie becomes encapsuled in a simple futuristic ideal: Cheeseman's Emotional Energy Theory, which holds that if you can concentrate enough emotional energy on a particular moment in time you can alter the past and create a new future. Thus Sam has come back to save Ruby and himself from their tragic lots in life. The strange sci-fi aspect of this romantic comedy is what fuels it to excellence and keeps it from becoming the prototypical toothy-actor "loser" meets the Hollywood starlett "princess" which normally plagues the genre. D'onofrio, though sometimes an over-actor, is always believable and sincere in his performances unlike a Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford, who no matter what they do, we are cognizant of the fact that they are mega-stars playing a part. Sam is real and likeable and thus the storyline becomes engrossing and brilliantly devised. Marisa Tomei, who I have never really thought twice about, is equally supportive and performs well and to the extreme which obliterates anything hackneyed or cliched about the film. A must have movie.
|
