Sliding Doors (Wide Screen) > Reviews > Decisions, decisions

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	A great soundtrack, some very realistic characters and well pulled off
Disadvantages:	Not that original

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

‘Sliding Doors’ is a British romantic comedy about how your life can be changed in the split second that you make the smallest, seemingly unimportant decisions.

The main character is Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow), living with Jerry, her low life, adulterous boyfriend of two years (John Lynch). He is apparently writing a novel while she works her fingers to bone supporting him.

The film begins with Helen getting fired from her firm. Distraught, she runs to catch the tube home, but arrives a second too late as the doors slide shut. Then it rewinds and shows an alternate reality in which she manages to reach the train in time. The rest of the film swaps between the two realities.

In the first reality, when she catches the tube, Helen arrives home early to find Jerry in bed with an American called Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehome), who he’s been in love with for years. Heartbroken, Helen moves into her best friend Anna (Zara Turner) ‘s house and starts seeing James (John Hannah), a guy she met on the tube. James is everything that Jerry isn’t, sweet, funny and attentive; but it soon becomes apparent to the viewer that he is married (or is he?) and would appear that Helen is only making the same mistake twice. Meanwhile, Jerry realises he doesn't realy love Lydia after all and wants Helen back.

In the alternate reality things go on pretty much as before, Helen working all the hours God sends and Jerry sneaking around with Lydia, who later becomes pregnant. Nothing much happens, but it explores further the relationships between Helen and Jerry and Jerry and Lydia. From what I can make out Jerry does love Helen but is unable to let Lydia go.

The way the parallel worlds interconnect is quite creepy. Sometimes the exact same things happen in both realities, but of course the situations are completely different.

I like it because the characters are so down to earth and “normal”. My most favourite, and certainly the most believable character, has got to be Russell (Douglas McFerran), Jerry’s brutally honest and far-more-intelligent-than-he-looks best mate. He appears in both realities, always in the pub with a beer and a cigarette, to advice Jerry on his women problems.

All of the actors, most of whom are British, do convincing performances, particularly Gwyneth and John Hannah. She not only looks smashing, but manages to be funny and sympathetic as well. And he is as charming, witty and fantastically ordinary as he has been in past British comedies.

Te film is also very well edited, not at all confusing, with an fantastic soundtrack which includes tracks by Dido, Aqua, Dodgy and the Brand New Heavies. But it’s nothing special. The ‘What if…?’ theory the film is based around is a nice idea and certainly makes it stand out, but apart from a few clever twists at the end, it isn’t that unique and although I thoroughly enjoyed it, I don’t think I’d bother seeing it again.