Dylan McDermott, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Sarah Jessica Parker
Before I say anything. Jennifer Aniston was in this movie too. Why? I don't know. But she only has a small part, so don't worry too much.
I figure this movie is about three things: 1) The uncontrollable force of fate and 2)The uncontrollable force of nicotine addiction and 3)Two hours of watching Dylan McDermott for only $3.99. Personally, I think it was worth it. Thank god he got rid of that Cameron Diaz person. My God.
After meeting once for about ten seconds in grade two, Nick and Gwen grow up completely seperately but because they are the two title characters, we know they are meant to be together by the time final credits roll. So we giggle at all the near-misses they have, and all the coincidences and the force of fate thing I was talking about before. But this is, oddly enough, an enjoyable movie. I don't know why, I can't explain it. It is a movie that could have ruined itself by being too soppy or going the other way and being too trite, but as it happens, the right balance is found and the movie is more than tolerable. It's a good movie. I'm in shock.
Of course, I could just say I'm a closet romantic, and I go to blockbuster and rent soppy movies to feed my shadowed addiction, but let's not get into that. I have a reputation to uphold.
I can't remember if I've ever seen a movie with Jeanne Tripplehorn before, but I like her now. She put in a good performance, well acted and quite realistically sad and then funny. She played Gwen, a girl who, ever since hearing her mother's story about how she and Gwen's father got together, has lived everyday of her life to find a man and have the same romantic story happen to her. Of course, this makes me sick. But for some unexplicable reason, I feel for her. She is obviously a strong character, quite able to hold her own, however this one small thing, her one weakness for romanticism shapes her entire life.
Gwen's future love connection is Nick, played by the always nice to watch Dylan McDermott. Nick is a self-obsessed liar with a sensitive side (this never happens in real life, don't go looking for it). He goes through women like a frieght train (which actually happens, don't ask) and is pretty much searching for something like Gwen, only he has no idea what it is. He just wants a piano. Again, don't ask.
Everything starts rolling when Gwen moves into a really beautiful place called La Fortuna, a group of houses where all the neighbours come over and they know each other (This never happens in L.A.). It's made to look so romantic there's constantly this weird flutter of white petals or leaves or something. It even has a fountain. But I would love to live there.
Anyway, she finds out her father never ever loved her mother, and the whole story is a fluke. Gwen feels like this means she'll never find anyone and is worried she'll become like her neighbour Harriet, an old spinster who left the love of her life becuase her mother didn't approve. And this one action changed her so much, that she never married anyone else, and still loves the guy.
Anyway, things happen, you know ultimately Gwen and Nick get together. Gwen is happy, she has Nick, and a romantic story to tell her children, and Nick is happy because he has Gwen, who has a piano. It's the circle of life.
My Advice: Rent this movie by yourself or with a friend or a loved one. Just don't tell me if you rent it with a loved one. Because then I would be forced to make remarks that we'd all regret in the morning. Thank you.