Serendipity is, to my eternal regret, not a movie about a big pink sea serpent, but a rom-com starring John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, Eugene Levy, Jeremy Piven, Molly Shannon, John Corbett, and Bridget Moynahan.
Jonathan (Cusack) and Sara (Beckinsale) are shopping at Bloomingdale's when they fall victim to a meet-cute. They're both involved with other people, but they have chemistry and spend the evening together (hanging out and skating, nothing tawdry). Jonathan is prepared to pursue things further, but Sara, a believer in "destiny," decides they should leave it in fate's hands. She has Jonathan write his info on a five dollar bill and promptly spends it, while she writes her info in a book and sells it to a bookstore.
Several years later, Jonathan and Sara are both in the process of getting married, but both of them are still distracted, to one degree or another, by their meeting. The rest of the movie is each of them, with the help of a best friend (Piven and Shannon), searching for the other, while dealing with the fact that they're both getting married soon. At the end of it, they don't manage to find each other, but they realize that holding out hope for this connection means they probably shouldn't marry their respective fiancees (Corbett and Moynahan), so they both call off their relationships. And then they find each other.
So, I'm not a fan of this movie, but I didn't hate it. It's not Cusack's best work, but as usual, his chemistry with his co-star is spot on. Piven, that is, not Beckinsale (their chemistry is just OK). The movie avoids some of the most awful rom-com tropes. To wit, neither Jonathan nor Sara is given an easy out of their relationships (neither partner is cheating, f'rex), although they cheap out by not showing us the breakup in either case. There's no "stop the wedding!" moment, which is also nice. Eugene Levy has some fun comic relief as an opportunistic sales clerk at Bloomingdale's, so that's fun to watch. I also like that Piven and Cusack actually talk about their feelings and share some vulnerability.
But at the end of the day, it's a rom-com and the best you can say about it is: It's cute, there are a couple of funny bits (though nothing especially clever), and it doesn't make me want to throw things at the screen the way a lot of rom-coms do. Not really a glowing endorsement.
My Grade: C-
Rewatch Value: IINSIAIFWT
Next up: Serenity
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