Only You

[2.5
stars] [IMDb Link]

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)

Another inexplicable gift DVD that wound up in my collection, which I finally got around to watching.

Only You pairs a fine actress (Marisa Tomei) and a great actor (Robert Downey, Jr.) and (even) a pretty good supporting actress (Bonnie Hunt) and wastes their time in prefabricated romantic piffle.

Ms. Tomei plays Faith, who, when she was a child, was told by a Ouija board that her life-soulmate was named "Damon Bradley". A bit later in life, a gypsy fortune-teller at a carnival tells her—the exact same thing. But now, present-day, she's about to get married to a podiatrist, whose name is not Damon Bradley.

But then she receives a mysterious phone call to her fiancee; the caller can't make the wedding, because he's off to Venice. And the caller's name is … you'll never guess … Enzo Cerusico!

No, just kidding: it's Damon Bradley. Ms. Tomei and Ms. Hunt drop all the wedding plans and hasten off to Venice in pursuit. And Robert Downey, Jr. awaits there.

Now it's not awful, but someone needed to tell the moviemakers: (a) just having people shout and rush around frenetically is not inherently funny; (b) Marisa Tomei is beautiful, but seeing her parade in one fashionable outfit after another is not inherently interesting; (c) having Ms. Tomei and Mr. Downey Jr. re-enact an Audrey Hepburn/Gregory Peck scene from Roman Holiday is most likely to make people wish they were watching Roman Holiday instead.

Oh, yeah: Joaquim de Almeida is also in this movie, and I think it's the only movie I've seen him in where he doesn't play a murderous villain. I kept expecting him to kill Bonnie Hunt, but—spoiler, sorry—he doesn't.


Last Modified 2024-01-30 3:56 PM EDT