movie review
One Day
Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess find love and friendship
If only I’d followed the advice of my friend who read the book by David Nicholls upon which this movie is based. “There’s no way I’m going to see that movie,” she said. “My eyes can’t handle it.” But, no. I just HAD to see it, and ended up coming away totally depressed and wanting to throw my hands up in the air and yell, “Why, Lord, why?!”
Ok, that’s a little melodramatic, but you get the drift. What I thought would be a sweet, romantic movie turned out to be a horrible tragedy. That’s as much of a spoiler as you’ll get out of me, but you can see where I’m going with this. One Day is nothing like I thought it would be, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. It’s just not what I was expecting.
The story begins with Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) and Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) becoming friends on the night of their college graduation, July 15, 1988. After that, we catch up with them on that same date every year for the next two decades. Sometimes they’re best friends, sometimes they’re on the outs, sometimes they’re in other relationships, and sometimes they’re together.
Dexter becomes a hipster TV personality who spirals into drug and alcohol abuse. Emma becomes a reluctant waitress, and later, a teacher and writer. They get involved in relationships with other people, but through it all, their friendship endures.
As mentioned, One Day isn’t a bad movie. I’m still giving it three out of five reels, even though I hated the ending (having never read the book, I was ill-prepared for the ending). But other than that, it’s a charming movie with some good writing. The dialogue seems authentic, and both Hathaway and Sturgess bring worthy performances, with as much chemistry as possible in a movie where we only see them together once a year.
But look, I like to go to a movie with some kind of pay-off at the end. Some reason for sticking through a 20-year relationship and, ok, some type of happy ending. This one just left me feeling distressed and bummed out. Oh, and Anne Hathaway’s British accent is a little off.
Also, One Day is the type of movie that could probably have scored an R rating if the language or sexy scenes had been a teensy bit more intense. It’s right on the edge of an R rating, especially given the ending (which, again, I won’t spoil for you, but suffice to say I literally jumped out of my theater seat). I’d say it’s ok for older teens who don’t mind a romantic drama with a less-than-satisfying ending.
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