Serendipity (2001)

Verdict:  9/10

How many of us doesn't like a good love story with some humour & some melancholy. I think the romcoms of the 30s, 40s & 50s are amongst the best in Hollywood history. We have such precious gems such as Adam's Rib, Roman Holiday, It Happened One Night, My Man Friday & the list goes on. The next 3 decades saw a decline in this genre save some rare exceptions such as Annie Hall. But the last 2 decades saw a revival of sorts. I think the success of When Harry Met Sally & Pretty Woman has a lot to do with this.

I like many romcoms from the last 2 decades but if you ask me to name 3 movies that I absolutely adore from the last 21 years, I would say 10 Things I Hate About You, My Sassy Girl (not the English version but the Korean version Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo) & Serendipity.

I actually saw Serendipity for the 1st time only a year after its release. At that time I haven't seen many rom-coms & also I wasn't thinking about movies in a critical way analysing their good, bad & ugly. It was just some rom-com which I was seeing to waste some time. But by the first 15 minutes, I started to love the movie. One reason was due to the interesting start & another reason was due to Kate Beckinsale about whom I never heard of before & who will always remain my 1st Hollywood crush.

Serendipity is directed by Peter Chelsom & written by Marc Klein.

While shopping for Christmas, strangers Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) & Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) try to buy the same pair of gloves at a store. After Jonathan leaves them to her, they feel some kind of attraction towards each other although they already have their lovers. So they spend some time with each other by eating & skating. When the shamelessly flirting Jonathan proposes to exchange their numbers, Sara has a better idea. She makes him write his name & number on a $5 note & changes that note in a shop. She says that she will write her name & number on a book that she will sell the next day. So if they are destined to be with each other, they will find other's contact someday. They leave each other after this AMAZING BRILLIANT idea.

After a few years, Jonathan is engaged to Halley Buchanan (Bridget Moynahan) & Sara is about to get engaged to Lars Hammond (John Corbett). All these years they do think about each other but they don't even know their full names to find each other. After seeing some 'signs', both of them decide to try one last time to find each other. Jonathan has his friend Dean Kansky (Jeremy Piven) to help him & Sara has her friend Eve (Molly Shannon). Do they find each other? If so will they leave their respective partners who are such good people? See the movie for answers although I know anybody could guess what happens at the end of a rom-com.

John Cusack & Kate Beckinsale have little screentime together but whenever they do share a scene, they share good chemistry. Their roles are not meant to win an Oscar & they deliver what's required. The best part in acting comes from the supporting cast. I loved the role of Dean Kansky. Molly Shannon as Eve was also very good. Eugene Levy has a very funny cameo as sales man in the movie.

Another thing for which I like the movie so much is its score. It is composed by 2 time Academy award nominated Alan Silvestri who is one of the busiest in the business. This is not his best by any means. He has given background to such movies as Forrest Gump, Back to the Future series, The Polar Express amongst others. But the music in Serendipity is different & it caught my attention.

If at all there is one thing to improve, it is the dialogue of the movie. It is kind of mishmash wherein some scenes I like it & in some other scenes I hate. Some of the dialogue at the start is so sugary that you wouldn't eat anything sweet for a few hours.

Coming to the story, the only problem with the story is the probability of its occurrences. It's all fate-destiny-fate-destiny in the movie. In fact IMDB has this movie under fantasy genre & rightly so. You would never see so many coincidences in a story to move it forward. They could have mentioned in the movie that the main purpose & existence of the universe is to somehow unite Jonathan & Sara. If you don't give much thought to the improbability of the story, you will definitely enjoy this.

I always felt this is one of those movies which was quite underrated. Many of you may disagree with my rating, but it's like a first love to me where the good things always appear magnified & the faults diminished.

Special Message to Miramax: This movie is remade into a Tamil film called Jay Jay. So Miramax, if they haven't bought the rights from you (which I'm very doubtful of), it would be great if you sue them. There is too much plagiarism going on here.

Love to hear what you have to say about Serendipity,