Netflix Instant Queue Movie Review: "Happy Accidents" (2000)

Image Source

Movie: "Happy Accidents"
Director: Brad Anderson
Year: 2000
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Ruby (Marisa Tomei) has a habit of getting into relationships with guys she feels the need to fix. They have been reject, except for her new beau Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio). Sam is a caring, quirky, sweet guy, and Ruby thinks he could be the one. There's just one problem: Sam believes he is from the year 2470 and has traveled back in time in order to save her life.

This is a really interesting take on your everyday romantic comedy. It's nothing more than a movie about romantic destiny, just with a sci-fi twist. It starts out pretty weird and seems like Sam is just having a ruse at Ruby's expense, but as he sticks to his story adamantly, we have to question whether or not he's completely insane or maybe, just perhaps, telling the truth. Ruby is not without her flaws, either. She has constantly been in therapy for her addiction to relationships that require fixing, sacrificing her own needs in order to help her significant other. For as weird of a couple as Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio seem, their chemistry on screen was really quite convincing, at least to me. The emotions involved in finding "the one" are known to most people, and this movie seems to go through them all. A lot of this, indeed, has to do with Tomei and D'Onofrio, who both did great jobs in the roles. There are a lot of socially awkward moments throughout the film because Sam sticks to his guns about his future story, and this makes for very interesting and embarrassingly humorous moments; we as viewers could totally see how Marisa Tomei would feel in the exact same situations (especially in front of Anthony Michael Hall). The only knock on the movie is that it can seem a little bit long.

Overall, this movie boasts an intriguing story line and is extremely well acted. Everyone knows heartache in some form or another and this film explores what it's like to fall in love and learning to accept someone for who they are, even if you don't think you're worthy of it yourself. Plus, and I know this sounds weird, but Vincent D'Onofrio is a looker. ;)

My Rating: 7/10
BigJ's Rating: 6.5/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 72%
Do we recommend this movie: Yes!