Wishful Thinking

Okay, here's the deal. I recently saw this movie for the first time at 1 AM on NBC after Saturday Night Live. I was already tired and playing video games when I started listening to the start of this movie. I realized it was strange and crazy. I had to watch the whole thing, it just drew me in.

Given these conditions, I thought it was the best movie I have ever seen. Seriously, it was funny and heartfelt at the same time. It was artistic and clicked perfectly into the things I had recently been thinking about. It deals with perspective in a way that lays bare the absurd self-righteousness we all carry about; showing that we are all just confused adventurers in this awkward landscape of life controlled by chance. If you like strange films and ideas and also have a soft spot for romantic comedies, I think you'll love this film. But I'm really not sure because I was really tired.

Max (James Le Gros) and Elizabeth (Jennifer Beals) have been living together for some time. One day, Max offers Elizabeth a small jewelry box and she ecstatically believes he is proposing to her. However, inside the box is a glorified toothpick that Max contends will be a lucrative business idea. Elizabeth is deeply hurt and the couple begin pulling apart. Waiting to pounce on Max is a co-worker named Lena (Drew Barrymore), who lost her heart to him many moons ago at the introspective movie theater where they both toil. Elizabeth, too, finds solace with an attractive man, Henry (Jon Stewart) after meeting him late one night at a coffee shop. Yet, Max still obsesses about Elizabeth, seeing her face in all of the pot-boiling films he shows at the cinema. Is there a major breakup coming or a reconciliation? This is a wonderfully different romantic drama, with attractive players and an offbeat charm. Beals and Barrymore are both talented and very lovely in their roles, with Jennifer dressing simply but elegantly and Barrymore sporting one outrageous but arresting outfit after another. Le Gros is also fine as the mixed-up boyfriend while Stewart is a funny and handsome suitor for Beals. The scenery in and around Manhattan is nice and the production values very fine. Also interesting are the movie's technical attributes, which includes shooting scenes from different angles and substituting the faces of Beals and company in the old black and white films of long ago. Moreover, the script is quite inventive and original. In short, if your wish is for a nice romantic drama, with comedy and feeling, try this sweet but obscure film. After a viewing, you will definitely be thinking your made the right choice.

This movie turned out to be better than I expected. The plot is interesting and original (if such thing is possible at all in such romantic genre), the dialogue has some great moments, the directing and camera-work are good enough as well. Although the actors are such stars, I think that this movie deserved even better performances than they gave. Nonetheless, Wishful Thinking is quite pleasant movie. I rank it close below Living In Oblivion and Sliding Doors.

I saw this movie without anyone telling me about it or reading anything about it. It was much better than I expected. I thought it might be just another "chick flick" with a predictable story and ending. But it turned out to be a movie with a plot that is different and definitely entertaining. Lots of nice twists and surprises...especially how it ends. I don't remember seeing a movie before quite like this one. I would highly recommend it.

This entertaining comedy replays its episodes from different characters' points of view, and also as scenes from 1940s black and white films. (One of the characters is a projectionist in an art house.) Through all the fun, there runs a Shakespearean comedy plot in which characters who are paired up with the wrong partners go through a series of misadventures to end up, at last, with the right one. John Stewart is very funny, in a John Stewartish way, and Drew Barrymore is luminous and funny, as always. It's a bit talky in places, but stay with it -- it'll reward your attention.