User reviews

This film is a lightweight comedy/drama with a unique story. Although Gwyneth Paltrow plays the same character in both aspects of the story, both Helens seem completely different. The flow of the story seems quite natural and the cast does a wonderful job going through the twists and turns of their characters lives. It's a chick flick with none of the sap.

I am so enamored with this kind of film. How many people have asked the question after having an accident or chanced upon something, "If I had only left a minute later, none of this would have happened." Now we get into the who time continuum thing and parallel universes. I know this isn't a science fiction film, although a Twilight Zone episode may have fun with this plot. When we are dealing with the characters colliding through the fourth dimension, a whole different set of circumstances are put in motion. The reason we can never travel back in time (while forward is possible) is that time would then become mutable and what we are may no longer be and then we wouldn't travel back in time. Two roads diverge in a woods paraphrasing Robert Frost, but what if we could take each of those roads and see what happens. This movie is quite magical and does the best it can to get Gwyneth Paltrow through her parallel universes and see the things that one would see. I think the problem is that unless we get into quantum physics, it's hard for the average person to really reconcile these sorts of events. I thought the acting was very good and believe things as they unfurled. I would recommend this film if you like to think about the possibilities it envisions. Try it on yourself sometime and extrapolate your own existence from some fork in the road and imagine what may have been.

S!icing Doors is a very sweet, moving, almost charming comedy, it's a smashing what if story, what if you just made a small change, never caught a train, how would your life go, this film tells that story.

It's hard not to empathise with Helen, she's a sweet character, well meaning, and on the receiving end of a selfish, scheming partner. Paltrow does a cracking job here, made at a time when her popularity was pretty huge, John Hannah perhaps steals it for me.

It has more humour than I remember, there are several laughs throughout, it's good to see how good Paltrow's timing is.

I really did enjoy the soundtrack, some cracking songs, including Aqua's Turn back time, what a difference to Barbie Girl.

7/10.

The romantic comedy, 'Sliding Doors', is a great look at how quickly a person's life can change in a matter of moments. By taking one path instead of another, forming a tantalizing 'what if?' In fact this movie gives the impression that some things are meant to be known, while some things are not.

London publicists Helen, is effortlessly sliding between parallel storylines that show what happens if she does or does not catch a morning train back to her apartment. Love. Romantic entanglements. Deception. Trust. Friendship. Comedy. All come into focus back and forth, overlap, then surprisingly converge in one of the great romantic comedy films in years.

Sliding doors is one of the best films that Gwyneth Paltrow has done. It has it all, humour, anger, sadness, love, compassion and a lot of lying. This movie is most special for the way the two storylines overlap, making this a very original movie. Paltrow's performance is grand as the 'hurt Helen' or the very 'naïve Helen', depending on which parts of the film you are watching. Some of her lines are priceless. Paltrow has had a very celebrated career in acting and of late singing and deserves all the accolades she gets. It was also refreshing to watch her in the murder thriller 'The perfect murder', along with screen legend Michael Douglas.

Yet there are some other great performances in this film. John Hannah was exceptional as the sensitive and understanding 'James', who is helping the 'hurt Helen' back to being her 'old self'. Then you have the cheating boy 'Jerry' played by John Lynch, who was using the 'naïve Helen' to live out a very adulterous and selfish lifestyle. It was very funny to see the way he handled the situation with Helen actually. Then to top it all off, we get a great performance from Jeanne Tripplehorn, who was Jerry's girlfriend on the side, who gives Jerry a very difficult time in both parts of the story.

This film also has an impressive soundtrack. With acts like Blair, the Brand New Heavies, Dodgy, Jamiroquai and the Space Monkeys. Yet there are two very famous parts to this soundtrack. One is Elton John, who is given a bad mention in the movie, when Jerry is caught in a most precarious of positions while playing the Elton John song, 'Honky Cat'. However the best song on the whole soundtrack comes from the band Aqua, with the tune 'Turn Back Time', which suited the film perfectly. The film clip to this song is also very good.

Sliding doors is one of those feel good movies, which can also make you feel sad as well. It shows how difficult life can be in a relationship and how important relationships can be as well. It also proves that relationships are extremely hard work and you need to find someone who you trust and love and that you get the same feelings back in return. If you want to see the good and bad sides of love take a look at this romantic classic.

CMRS gives 'Sliding Doors': 4.5 (Very Good- Brilliant Film)

Very well made with a nice witty script and a decent pace so it doesn't get bogged down too much. It does look slightly dated though, but that's mostly to do with things like fashion and technology.

I must admit I did find the premise of this film quite interesting; how just a couple of seconds at a crucial moment can make drastic changes to a life did intrigue me. I did enjoy the way it was done but ultimately it is about feelings and relationships which is fine as far as it goes. It did leave me with a few questions by the end and I see that as a good thing; there were certain things open to interpretation and any film that does that is always going to be worth a look, in my view. I will admit I did enjoy it up to a point; I found the characters quite engaging, there is some great dialogue and I even recognised one or two of the tunes! Over all, worth a look but I feel its one of those I'll only watch once (although I've been wrong about that before).

SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.2/10

You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

This had always been one of my ideas for a film- a slight change in something creates two parallell lives led by the same character, and as the film progresses you see how those lives split further apart and differ just because of that small change. It's a fantastic idea and it was nicely taken on my the producers, although in general a film like this is always limited. It was fun to watch, but not funny, despite it being marked as a comedy. I found it more of an interest than a laugh, which is fine, but not what it aimed to be primarily.

Nevertheless, it was flaweless in the sense that there was nothing boring throughougt, although there was nothing that particulalry stood out apart perhaps from the interesting ending, but other than that it is reasonably easy to forget. Good for a rental, hats off for attempting to tackle a difficult storyline, but the doors are sliding for this to be forgotten in 5 years time. (omg my cheesy endings get worse every time :P)

I have probably watched this movie about 10 times since its release and still enjoy its twists and turns. John Hannah is simply adorable as James and his Glaswegian sense of humour still makes me laugh out loud even though I know the jokes in advance. Every performance is great but Gwynyth Paltrow deserves a special mention for her faultless role as two different versions of the same woman at once. Without giving anything away, I did not see the ending coming at all the first time through but it was entirely satisfying without being cloyingly Hollywood. Don't expect a cultural masterpiece. Just 'the Spanish inquisition' and some fine entertainment. Highly recommended

After seeing this movie, I had to go and look up how tall Gwyneth Paltrow is, because it's the first time I've watched a film and thought "my God, this girl is bigger than *both* her boyfriends". Not that there's anything particularly terrible about that; the trouble is, the problems don't end there.

Which is a pity, since it had a good idea and a hell of a cast; just not the right one, unfortunately.

Take Gwyneth Paltrow's accent: For an American, she does a damn good job of "English"; the thing is, an English actress would have done so much better. We're also better at dowdy, and this film needed someone who could scrub up well. Ms. P is just too glamorous. Honeysuckle Weeks would have been my choice, but I'm biased.

Next, there is the "device": Used waay too soon (about 3 minutes in, as I recall), so we get no chance to see what GP's life was like before the fateful split and introduce some of the other characters. It also seemed to me they could have used more techniques (split-screen, double exposure or simply quick cuts) to keep the two narratives in sync. There is really only one point where the two halves are brought together before the conclusion.

Third: The blokes. The script is definitely to blame here, because both Johns are very good actors. Unfortunately, Lynch seemed awfully wimpy for a chap juggling two gorgeous gals; and Hannah comes across as a bit forced. The exception is Douglas McFerran, who was spot on as Russell, and gave me my few genuine laughs of the movie.

Fourth: Oh dear, Hollywood does like its packages done up with nice pink ribbon doesn't it? Guess I should've been a scriptwriter, because I can think of at least 3 endings that would have been better than the one they chose.

All that said, it's not a terrible movie; just not as good as I'd hoped. Look up the definition of a curate's egg and you'll probably find it mentioned -- and if you want to see a better film on a similar theme, check out "The Man with Rain in his Shoes" (on this side of the pond, it's called "If only").

6/10.

Gwyneth Paltrow plays Helen Quilley, she works in Public Relations and is dating an idiot who is cheating on her (come on guys, would you?) After losing her job she heads home early, and the film then follows two Parallel realities, that cross over and intertwine in a very clever manner, that adds a great deal to the movies quality.

One way, she gets home and finds him cheating, and the other way she is mugged and her boyfriend gets away with it, at least for now.

In this wonderfully charming romantic comedy, great performances from, Paltrow, Lynch, Hannah and Tripplehorn plus a good script and some good laughs all add up to a movie i simply don't tire of. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, i just love it.

9/10 and a must for Paltrow Fans

Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets fired from her PR job for taking home all the booze. As she tries to go home, she misses the subway train... then in another storyline, she catches the subway train. The difference leads to two different stories. In one, she goes to the hospital after a purse snatching. She doesn't catch her boyfriend cheating, and her miserable life continues. In the other, she meets talkative James (John Hannah) on the train and finds her boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch) cheating with Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn).

Written and directed by Peter Howitt, this movie is one gimmick but I'm not sure there is much more than that. His style is competent if somewhat uninspired. Gwyneth is talking with a British accent. John Lynch has no screen presence and his character has the personality of a slug. The stories lack any excitement. John Hannah is quite charming, but the happy storyline doesn't really have enough drama. In the end, I don't care about either road traveled. It's a missed opportunity to write something amazing. It needs somebody with that sensibility like a Charlie Kaufman.

Wasn't expecting a lot, since I've watched a few mediocre romantic movies recently, but this was actually a very nice storyline with a good cast, and good script. The directing and editing was actually quite good as it continued to have a flow even with the different story lines intertwining. I recommend it.

I remember enjoying this bizarre plot when I first saw the movie, but even then I found a main issue that seems even more glaring after all these years.

Paltrow is Helen, a great looking girl with a job in PR who gets fired and must rearrange her life. Helen lives with Gerry, a charisma-free slob who's allegedly writing a novel, while "shagging" an American ex-lover behind Helen's back.

On her way home Helen contemporaneously misses and catches the underground, therefore following two separate paths: in the first she gets home late, doesn't discover Gerry cheating, works two jobs in catering and is more or less miserable until she discovers she's pregnant.

In the second, she finds Gerry cheating, moves in with a girlfriend, dates James, gets one of the most awful haircuts ever, opens her PR firm and discovers she's pregnant.

The two paths merge again at the hospital, where only one Helen gets a chance to go on with her life.

The main issue is that both Gerry and James are not attractive and Helen is way out of their league. It's impossible to understand why Helen is keeping Gerry as a live-in, do-nothing, unreliable lover and even more impossible to figure out why another woman is chasing after him.

James is an insecure chatterbox, the type who needs to make a joke out of every sentence. His continuous blabbering is annoying and not very endearing.

Still an enjoyable little movie with a clever open ending.

In Kieslowski's 'Short Film About Love', two characters see their bus on the other side of the square. The woman turns to the boy. "If we catch it, you come back to mine. If not, not". Kieslowski shows how chance determines the pattern of our lives through the simple expedient of having his characters embrace it.

Sliding Doors, a moderately diverting rom-com, start from a similar premise. Gwynneth Paltrow either catches or misses a train; and, in parallel tracks we switch between thereafter, her life forks down two separate paths. In one, she is stuck with her terminally useless boyfriend; in the other, she meets Mr. Wonderful, and starts to look forward to "happy ever after". The idea is fresh, but slightly self-defeating: we never know "what if", in life, there are no second chances, and so Paltrow's character is hard to truly care for; like Lara Croft, she is rendered invulnerable (and hence slightly inhuman) through the curse of having too many lives. The resemblance, however, does not extend to matters anatomical: stick-thin Platrow does the least impressive impersonation of a pregnant woman ever seen.

Her English accent is also bizarre; passable in Emma, here she tries for lower-class, sounding like a well-spoken Australian with a weird affectation for glottal stops and a slightly over-liberal use of very English swear words. One would ask why they cast her, if it wasn't depressingly obvious (the presence of a second American in the cast points clearly at an English film cynically engineered to be an international hit).

But it's always lively viewing, and worth an extra point for a nicely arranged ending, which makes the most of the slightly thin material that has preceded it.

I must confess that romantic comedies are not my type of film, but I make an exception for Sliding Doors. I have watched this film many times now and it still brings tears to my eyes. I don't know why because I know the story inside out by now.

The story is about Helen, a young PR girl, who is having no luck with her job or with her boyfriend. She shares a home with her wayward boyfriend Gerry, a man who is trying to write his first novel and having a secret affair. At the start of the film she gets sacked from her job and then the film gets very interesting because two story lines develop as she makes her way home. As she gets on the tube, the train's sliding doors close and one story begins, but then the sliding doors open and the alternate story begins. The two stories revolve around Helen and her boyfriend Gerry, and two other people James, and Lydia. One story shows one twist of fate as she misses the train, the other story shows another set of circumstances as she gets on the train. Both stories play out scene by scene in a delightful romantic comedy. It is the great performances by all the cast, a brilliant idea, and a witty script that make this film a classic in its genre in my opinion.

As with the best comedy, there is also tragedy that befalls the players in this drama, and you end up realising how complicated life is and how fate plays a big part in our lives.

As someone who hates rom coms, I have to say that Sliding Doors is still one of my favourite films, and I watch it whenever it comes on the TV. There is so much to watch in this film: the growing love between Helen and James, or the comical attempts by Gerry to hide his affair with Lydia, or there is the twists and turns as the rocky relationships reach a climax by the end of the film.

British films don't get much better than this. A great movie.

See Gwyneth looks pert. See Gwyneth look winsome. See Gwyneth pout. Now, see her do it all again.

"Sliding Doors" is two romantic comedy/light dramas about the Gwyneth character running simultaneously in parallel universes. Sort of a creative brain fart which someone, for whatever reason, though would be a good idea. And if that doesn't make it difficult enough for you to suspend disbelief, then try sticking Gwyneth in England playing an Englishwoman who...well, who occasionally forgets her accent. For those who can still "buy into" this thin "chick flick", you'll get Gwyneth filling up the screen with a half dozen or so expressions on her face about 90% of the run time.

Dismal and inane, "Sliding Doors" did receive decent reviews and I am a sucker for romantic comedies. Go figure.

If you don't like Gwynneth Paltrow, you shouldn't watch this movie anyway. If you like Gwynneth Paltrow, you probably will like the film. You will forgive her the annoying 110 per cent wannbe real British accent. You will forgive the film that it doesn't know what to do with the set-up, which - to be fair - is rather clever. It's another "what if" premise, only this time you see two different realities unfold at the same time and the audience watches two possible chain of events parallel. But the trouble is, the filmmakers don't know how to tie both stories together again, and eventually come up with a feeble solution. Another flaw of the film is, that it is inhabited by unlikable characters. Only John Hannah stands out as Paltrows new love interest - in one of the storylines. So do yourself a favour and watch him in FOUR WEDDINGS, and her in MR RIPLEY. You'll have a better time.

In London, the public relation Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) is fired from her position in a PR company. While returning home, she does not catch the train in the subway. But in another possibility of her life, she catches the train in the subway. The story shows two parallel lives of Helen: in one life, she stays with her boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch), and in the other life, she finds that Gerry cheats her with Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and falls in love with James Hammerton (John Hannah).

"Sliding Doors" is a delightful romance, with a wonderful screenplay. There are excellent lines, and the chemistry between Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah is marvelous. John Lynch is a good actor, but is completely miscast in the role of a man disputed by two gorgeous women. I have just watched this movie for the third time, and I still love it. It is very interesting that in 1998, two movies presented similar concepts of different situations depending on a minor event: "Sliding Doors" and "Lola Rennt". This theme is fascinating, but there are many unfair reviews of this film in IMDb, which is one of my favorite movie. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "De Caso com o Acaso" ("Having an Affair With Fortune")

Note: On 07 January 2017, I saw this film again.

This movie is pleasant and charming to watch but, in my opinion, overrated. The concept of the missed subway train and the parallel lives of Helen is fairly original and well executed, but beyond that there was nothing much clever about the plot. Once you've begun the two different lives of Helen, it's too easy to make any kind of plot twists where the two lives intercept. That is, I think it must have been easy for the writer to take Helen's life and fork it into two different paths and seem thought-provoking. Only an incredibly unique ending would have done justice to the film, and I don't think they achieved that. I would rather have seen more of a comparison of Helen's thoughts in her two different lives rather than have big cliched events happen to her, etc.

Here we have a movie about the alternative lives caused by a chance change in circumstance, a missed train. You would think that given the emotionally devastating results caused by that fluke would lead to something quite, well, different. But, no, our heroine is brain dead in both incarnations. What a ghastly take on the possibilities fate hands us. Sigh. Moan. Groan. I must admit, I found it impossible to keep my attention on this movie after it became clear that this movie was actually, really going to Disneyfy our main characters. No one suffers anything really. No one thinks much about anything, ever. Everyone sort of bubbles along bouncing from hard surfaced reality to gut wrenching twist. Where's the real people in these alternative lives ? Everyone seems as light as a flea and as deep as a snowflake. Serious situations produce only halting, dim witted faces. No hard questions. No insights. In a phrase it's Clueless London, 90210. These people have the personal and interpersonal insights/skills of a room full of 13 yr old former crack babies. No one seems the slightest bit aware of their actions or the consequences of their choices. Blah, barf, phooey. These people deserve each other and the paper thin, cardboard flavored lives they unwittingly create. Pass me the remote and a No Dose. Yawwn.