You know how a few years ago, you'd be hard pressed to find a girl who hadn't seen The Notebook? Well, One Day could possibly take up that mantle, if the amount of females and young couples spotted at the cinema is any indication.
Emma (Hathaway) and Dexter (Sturgess) get to know each other on July 15th, 1988; the day of their college graduation. From that point onwards, they begin a complicated friendship spanning 20 years. One Day visits them on the same day every year as the characters grow up, grow apart, reunite and struggle with their feelings for each other.
Anne Hathaway's British accent is really distracting, which is such a shame because she does such a good job otherwise. Her charm makes you root for her character so badly. Emma needs a best friend to tell her that she deserves someone so much better than Dexter. She's talented, adorably awkward and nice. She deserves someone that will make her feel good about herself; not someone that only remembers her when he needs a person to whine to.
Emma is a classic example of a woman who has everything going for her yet is completely lacking in confidence and self-esteem, which, in effect, nullifies everything else. It's painful to see how earnest and unsure she is of herself. There comes a point when she's penned a successful children's book and is living in France with her musician boyfriend while looking like Audrey Hepburn, when you find yourself wishing the film would end right there, without any interference from Dexter, so she'd get to live the dream.
Now this isn't to say that Dexter is completely loathsome; because he isn't and this is why casting an actor as disarming as Sturgess was absolutely necessary. On paper, Dexter is not the nicest guy and he could have easily come off as completely self-absorbed and thoroughly reprehensible, yet as portrayed by Sturgess, the audience begrudgingly begins to see why Emma's unable to get over him. He's confident, charming and, unlike Emma, success comes easily to him.
The transitions between the years are handled deftly and for the most part, the actors look reasonably convincing playing a twenty-year age range. That being said, Sturgess's makeup made him completely unconvincing as a 40-year-old; instead, he looked like a twenty-something-year-old with really fake grey hair.
This is a gorgeously shot film filled with cute dresses, adorable haircuts and Parisian cafés. It ultimately works, despite some dodgy dialogue and characters, due to its thoroughly charming cast. For fans of melodramatic romances, One Day is a perfect fit.
About the AuthorStaff Writer for Cairo 360
Original article on:Cairo360
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