This is not the sort of film that I would usually touch with a bargepole, particularly because the last film I watched with George Clooney in it was Intolerable Cruelty, which was generally pretty intolerable. I've never quite got the whole George Clooney thing. Sure, he's good-looking, but so are a lot of other actors and I've never thought he was a particularly skilled actor. However, I was visiting my parents for the weekend and had nothing to do except watch one of my mother's videos and this looked like the most promising of a bad lot. Also, it had Michelle Pfeiffer in it, an actress I usually have a lot of time for. Well, it whiled away a couple of hours while I generally lazed around the house. It also ticked off another film that I thankfully won't have to watch again - I hope it will also help a few of you to avoid it.
Melanie Parker
is a single mother with a good career as an architect. One (fine) day, she is made late for work because she is supposed to take Jack Taylor's daughter to school along with her own son. Jack is late, neither children make it to school in time to go on a school trip and so Melanie and Jack end up having to take their children with them to their respective jobs. Things go from bad to worse when Jack and Melanie's phones become switched and Melanie's son ruins the model for a building project that she needs for a vital meeting that afternoon.
Re-enter Jack Taylor, who agrees to babysit for the course of her vital meeting, if Melanie babysits for the rest of the day when he has an important task to complete if he wants to keep his job. Nothing quite goes to plan, but Melanie and Jack slowly become attracted to one another. Will they end up together? Or will they both end up lonely and career-less?
This is one of those films where everything goes terribly terribly wrong before turning out to be quite all right after all. I don't suppose realism was the first concern of the directors or producers, but having everything go wrong in such a small space of time just got on my nerves. Plus, what was going to happen was obvious from the start and I almost felt like fast-forwarding it to the end and not bothering with the bit in the middle.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Melanie did an OK job, but her tendency to go into histrionics every time something went wrong (ie all the time) did not endear me to her. She is capable of so much more; I have seen her in much better roles - for example, her role in Frankie and Johnnie. Pfeiffer wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't have bothered watching any more of her films if I didn't already know she was much better than this. George Clooney is even worse as Jack Taylor. I find him to smooth at the best of times, but this role really did not do much for him.
However, what irritated me most about this film was the behaviour of the children and Jack and Melanie's response to them (oh dear, never mind). Most of the 'mishaps' that happen throughout the day are down to the children being naughty. I am not a mother, but I spend a lot of time with nieces and nephews and the children of my friends and certainly none of them behave in such a way. I'm sure it was all done for comic effect, but it just got on my nerves to the extent that I found the film hard to watch at times.
To be fair, the main reason I didn't like this film was that it was unrealistic and too romantic. However, I can't imagine that even anyone liking rom-coms will think that this is a particularly good film. It is not the worst film I have ever seen, but it really is pretty dire. The best thing about it is probably the music score, which includes the song 'One Fine Day'.
In conclusion then, I really can't recommend this film. If you're really bored and this is the only thing that you have to watch, then give it a go by all means, otherwise, I'd stay well clear. Two stars.
I watched the VHS version and so can't comment on extras (not that I would have watched them anyway). However, if you really want to watch it, it is available from play.com for £5.99. I would recommend buying a cheaper version from eBay or Amazon used and new section.
Production Year: 1998 - Drama - Director: Martin Brest - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Marcia Gay Harden, Jake Weber, Claire Forlani, Jeffrey Tambor
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
So it will be first on your Christmas list then? I found this okay for a spot of escapism, but it really was incredibly annoying a lot of the time.
tigswade 30.11.2006 01:49
I caught it on filmfour a few months ago. It was, indeed, incredibly predictable but I was only watching it for George, as I'm a little partial in that department, despite the fact that he has a wobbly head!
This gentle comedy almost seems like something out of Hollywood's Golden Age, a movie that ... more
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This gentle comedy almost seems like something out of Hollywood's Golden Age, a movie that ... more
might have been made by a talented contract director, perhaps featuring Don Ameche and Claudette Colbert. But in factOne Fine Daystars George Clooney as an inves...
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![One Fine Day [1997] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78519928.jpg "One Fine Day [1997] [DVD]")
Nov 29th, 2006
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