By MEGHAN O’CONNOR
Contributing Writer
Published September 20, 2011
Anne Hathaway, whose most recent role in Love and Other Drugs caused quite the controversy, and Jim Sturgess, most famous for the movie Across the Universe, star in One Day. It is a movie about two people, Emma and Dexter (Dex), just out of college who start an interesting friendship. Every year on the same day, no matter what they are doing, their lives intertwine somehow. At least that is how the commercial makes the movie appear. Sometimes they talk on the phone; sometimes they do not meet up at all.
The actors would have had great chemistry, if only they had a better writer. The story, though based off of a novel by the same name, did not have much going for it and at times was kind of boring. The one-liners in the movie got old very fast. During the movie, all I kept thinking was “It has to get better.” Sadly, it did not improve.
The movie has a life-altering ending and shocked me completely. The ending tried to make the movie exciting and surprising, but all it did for me was make me jump and ruin the rest of the movie, making it impossible to focus. I was expecting to see something different.
Taking place all over Europe, you see these characters grow from graduates to adults and see how adulthood changes them. They go through things that change their attitudes, and alter their personalities, as well as their friendship.
As the years progressed throughout the film, I found that the music and costumes were very accurate. They used the music and fashion from each decade very well. I was surprised at how well it blended into the story. Using the song “Roll to Me” by Del Amitri during a scene that takes place in the 90’s was a sigh of relief for me; knowing that the people working on this movie did their homework, picking songs from the decade to go with the scene.
Fashion-wise, I was very happy to see Hathaway wearing dresses and black boots popular in the era. I also quickly fell in love with both Hathaway’s and Sturgess’ British accents. Sturgess’ accent was real, seeing that he is from England originally, but Hathaway’s was not. I am proud to say that I could not tell she was faking it. She sounded very authentic.
Sturgess’ character has parents who might as well have not been in the movie; another friend could have easily replaced them. His parents never really tell him that he has a problem. Sure, they notice their son going down a slippery slope with drugs and alcohol, but they never really intervene. I believe they were put into the movie to give Dexter moral support. Giving advice to Dexter when he needed it and showing disappointment in him was something his parents did very well. Too bad that Hathaway did it better and more convincingly than they did. She did not even have parents in the movie and ends up standing out more because of it. You are focused mainly on her, which is how it should be.
As the movie progresses, you do learn to care for Emma and Dexter, praying and hoping that they get together in the end. The ups and downs of their friendship over the years, however, does become a bit of an unwanted roller coaster that was fairly predictable to anyone who has ever seen a romance movie before.
Overall, this movie was just not cutting it. I can say I was surprised, but not pleasantly. The movie had great actors and had great potential; it just did not get there. This movie is the type you wait to see after it comes out on DVD. It will make you laugh and cry, and feel something. I laughed at the witty banter, cried over the turn of events, but felt that in the end, I was better off not hearing Emma and Dexter’s story.
