John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale
Miramax
2001
Rated: PG-13
Now in theaters
Serendipity means making a fortunate discovery by accident. You know, finding a quarter in the parking lot, learning you actually look better with black hair (though you wanted Charming Chestnut #118), realizing the post office has mistakenly delivered your cute neighbor’s package to you. In this case, Jonathan Trager (Cusack) discovers Sara Thomas (Beckinsale), a “strange and interesting” woman who grabs the same pair of black gloves he does. (Guess you could say love-at-first-sight bloomed in Bloomingdales.) They flirt, and besotted gentlemen that he is, Jonathan lets her purchase the last pair. She in turn offers to take him to her favorite restaurant, Serendipity. They spend the evening together, their attraction growing, but because of their involvement with other people she doesn’t think their timing is right. She believes fate will bring them back together when it is. To help destiny along, she has him scribble his name and number on a five-dollar bill which she gives to a vendor. She then writes her info inside a novel which she intends to donate to a used bookstore the following day. They go their separate ways hoping divine intervention will reunite them.
Five years later.... Jonathan has checked every used bookstore in New York, but kismet’s never been kind. Now, he’s days away from marrying Halley Buchanan (Moynahan), a lovely lady whose only real fault is that she isn’t as cute and kooky as his longed for Brit beauty. In one last, desperate effort, Jonathan enlists his best friend Dean’s (Piven) help in tracking Sara down.
Sara’s flaky, flutist boyfriend, Lars Hammond (Sex & the City’s John Corbett turning in an amusing Bohemian performance), has just proposed to her. She should be happy, instead she’s propelled to find Jonathan. She cons her friend Eve (SNL’s remarkably restrained Molly Shannon) into a trip to New York where she hopes the Gods will guide her.
The clock is ticking...the altars are waiting...the bill and the book are no where to be found. Will love find a way?
Serendipity is as fun to watch as the word is to say. The number of near misses between Jonathan and Sara will exasperate you, but like anything long denied, the pay off is super sweet when it finally happens. This first-time script from Marc Klein is smart and celestial. Not only does the dialogue have both punch and poignancy, he weaves the cosmic curtails throughout the story with finesse. What some may call contrived, I call clever.
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