Happy Accidents

views updated

Happy Accidents ★★½ 2000 (R)

Quirky scifi/romance offers a breath of fresh air by going against the grain of both genres. Ruby (Tomei) is a neurotic loser in romance who always tries to “fix” the men she dates. She meets Sam (D'Onofrio), who appears to be the well-adjusted guy she doesn't have to change. They fall for each other, and then Sam drops the other shoe. He claims to be a time-traveler from the year 2470, and he's come back to save her life by breaking the “causal chain of events” that will result in a fatal accident. Ruby then has to decide whether to believe him or write him off as another lunatic. D'Onofrio amusingly goes from seemingly normal to spouting surreal “history” without blinking. Light on the special effects (especially for scifi), but they're effective when they are used. Pic went through a time warp of its own, as it was shot in 1999, debuted at Sundance in 2000 and released in theatres in 2001. 110m/C VHS, DVD . US Marisa Tomei, Vincent D'Onofrio, Tovah Feldshuh, Nadia Dajani, Holland Taylor, Richard Portnow, Sean Gullette, Cara Buono, Liana Pai, Tamara Jenkins, Jose Zuniga; Cameos: Anthony Michael Hall; D: Brad Anderson; W: Brad Anderson; C: Terry Stacey; M: Evan Lurie.