Trite fare

With 107 minutes of a never-ending story and unimaginative screenplay in One Day, director Lone Sherfie drags on and on

Brooklyn-born Anne Hathaway is a beautiful woman and also an excellent actress, and when One Day opens with her cycling in downtown London, circular glasses et al, one looks forward to a breezy entertainer. Having starred in The Princess Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada, it isn’t surprising at all. But sadly it is a red herring.

How David Nicholls’ novel of the same name became a bestseller is hard to imagine. And the same Nicholls has written the script. It is about an on-and-off love affair between Emma (Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess), who spend the night together on the Graduation Day (St Swinton’s Day, July 15.

Contrary to expectations, they break up and get together with amazing monotony. One can almost scream when July 15 comes year after year. Emma is driven towards comedian Ian (Rafe Spall), who can’t make a clown laugh and Dexter ties the knot with blonde Sylvie (Ramola Garni), even the initial meeting is far from romantic. Both new-loves are such caricatures, it just isn’t funny.

With a variety of looks, Anne Hathaway tries her best to keep the film together
With a variety of looks, Anne Hathaway tries her best to keep the film together

Then follows the ding-dong tug-of-war between these ex-lovers but by now the viewer has already switched off as the scene changes to Paris where Emma is an established author while Dexter tries all kinds of jobs. If it is meant to project male camaraderie (now competing with the female variety), the fleeting scene between Dexter and Ian is hardly reason to justify it.

Actually, the film is only 107 minutes but the total of imagination shown by director Lone Sherfie makes it seem endless as he drags on and on, shades of a never-ending story. Jim Sturgess has the potential but is not given enough scope but Anne Hathaway tries her best to keep the film together, with a variety of looks, even borrowing an Audrey Hepburn haircut. All having a charming effect on her but Ramola Garni and Rafe Spall are purely academic. The only reason to suffer through this 107-minute ordeal that passes for entertainment is Anne Hathaway.

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