One Day

Much as I love films that play with structural, One Day--a film that begins on July 15th 1988 with two friends and potential lovers meeting for the first time and then checks back in on them every July 15th for many years later--never rises above its gimmicky conceit to become a substantial story.  Part of the issue is that the characters and cast are difficult to connect with.  Lovely and talented as Anne Hathaway is, it’s not easy to accept her as an dumpy,18 year-old, working-class Brit at the top of the film, as she is soooo not any of those things.  And Jim Sturgess’ smarmy, upper-class stud-muffin is too much of a douche for us to care much about or accept Hathaway’s love for.

This is Danish director Lone Scherfig’s follow up to her terrific 2009 film An Education and it fails to live up to the promise of that movie.  The screenplay by David Nicholis, is based on his novel, where the thoughts and emotions of the characters could be explored in a deeper way.  The film’s central gimmick prevents this kind of depth from being translated into cinematic language and the result is a film that tries to be a light meditation on love and fate but all too frequently lapses into heavy-handed melodrama.