Review: Karin Kallmaker and KG MacGregor have ruined me. (Or, I feel sullied and unusual)

I like Anne Hathaway.   I think she’s talented.  She’s very good at romantic films – comedy and drama.  So, when she has a new movie release, I try to see it.

Okay, so I wait for the DVD – I can’t afford to actually go to a movie.  

The latest release for me is One Day.  (And I realize that the Chicago Manual of Style or the MLA Handbook would tell me that I’m using italics, bold, and underline in completely incorrect ways.  But whatever.)  I just finished watching this movie and, I have to say, I came away disappointed.

No, I came away bothered.

No, it’s more than that.  I came away mad.

So, what does this have to do with Karin Kallmaker and KG MacGregor?  Good question.

Well, like the title of this post says, they have ruined me.  RUINED. ME.

I have learned over the years that Karin and KG are consistent.  If one or both have a new book being released, you can bet the farm that book is going to be a great read.  Hands down, the money you spend on that book – and make SURE you are paying for the book – will be very well spent.

And if you have a farm, how cool is that?  Can I come see it?  I’ve never been on a farm.

Pick up a book by KK or KGM and you’re sure to get the following:

• Interesting, 3-dimensional, well-developed characters
• Believable dialogue
• Nicely developed plot lines that, while often fitting that “romance formula,” never – EVER – seem overdone or banal
• A lovely romance, usually developing throughout the book with just the right amount of sexual tension to keep things interesting until The Time
• Most importantly – A HAPPY ENDING!!

I can always count on Karin and KG for that happy ending, dagnumbit!  They don’t let me down.

So now, let me circle back to One Day.

I didn’t think this movie had a sufficiently happy ending.  I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it, I didn’t like it!

(As I typed that, I had a brief flashback to History of the World: Part 1 – Bearnaise says to Count de Monet “I don’t like your cuffs.  I don’t like your cuffs, I don’t like your cuffs!”  If you haven’t seen that movie, why not?)

Anne Hathaway was, as per usual, rather delightful.  She’s been in other roles that I’ve preferred, but I thought she was quite lovely.   Jim Sturgess was very good.  I believed his development over the 20 years in the film.  Patricia Clarkson…well, she’s Patricia Clarkson.  What else is there to say?

The movie itself could have used a bit of a kick in the ass.  It was rather slow going.  I think I would have rather spent more time learning about these characters and their relationship over fewer leaps in time rather than a minute in 1993 and then another minute in 1994 and then, whoosh, leap to 15 minutes in 1997.  Whoa!  Mental whiplash.

Now, for those who haven’t seen the movie, I don’t want to spoil it for you.  So I won’t give it away.  But I’ll just say this – the happy ending was a real disappointment.   I’d spent about an hour and 25 minutes trudging along with these two characters, just waiting for that “happily ever after” pay off , just to spend the final 15 of it on an emotional friggin’ roller coaster that came out of absolutely nowhere!

Titanic – we knew the ship was going to sink and lots and lots of people where going to die.  The movie was building us up to that.  When the iceberg showed up, none of us said, “OMG!  Where did THAT come from?”  The tragedy was set up at the beginning.

Beaches – effective use of present day and flashback to lead us to the finale.  We knew it was coming.  We knew we would need tissue.  We knew “The Wind Beneath My Wings” would make us cry every time we heard it on the radio.  Well, the first 458 times anyway.  After that, we’d just roll our eyes.

So, yeah, on a 5-star scale, I give One Day only 2 stars.  Those two stars are for the acting…and Patricia Clarkson.  Because, well, she’s Patricia Clarkson.  What else is there to say?

Now, if you’ll pardon me, I must go shower away this sullied feeling I was left with after the credits for One Day began to roll.