By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Brad Anderson
Starring: Holland Taylor | MarisaTomei | Nadia Dajani | Sean Gullette | Vincent D'Onofrio
Country: united_states
Year: 2001
Running time: 110
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208196/reference
Bob says: “I’ve been thinking about something utterly irrelevant since seeing HAPPY ACCIDENTS yesterday, so I thought I’d just throw it out there: Vincent D’Onofrio’s character is named Sam Deed, and he explains that back travelers usually have names made up of three followed by four letters, as a sort of joke regarding their ‘binary’ names in their lives back home. But I’m thinking there may be something more to his name than just that. If there are any numerologists out there, maybe you can help me with this. 3 plus 4 is 7. The seventh day on most calendars is Saturday. Saturday in French is Samedi (pronounced SAM-dee). Samedi –> Sam Deed. So what’s it mean if the character’s name means Saturday? Probably nothing at all. The big day in question in the film is a Friday. Then again, if the whole idea is to get past that Friday and break the causal loop, the goal is Saturday. There you have it. On top of that, the name is kind of close to the expression, ‘Yes I am indeed’. Sure thing. I don’t know. It’s been said that absolutely nothing in a film happens by accident (happy or otherwise). I don’t think that’s true, but it’s sort of fun to play around with these things and see what you end up with.”
Diane says: “Good to see Brad Anderson back on more solid ground with HAPPY ACCIDENTS, a romantic comedy with some science fiction thrown in. Anderson has a knack for showing realistic male-female relationships and the couple here is just adorable (Marisa Tomei and Vincent D’Onofrio). I wasn’t that keen on how the time travel premise unfolded and provided the climax of the story, but it provided some amusing and creative elements. Sam (D’Onofrio), who says he’s visiting from the year 2470, casually tosses off that he’s a ‘biological’ — in his time, most people are ‘corporate-sponsored gene dups.'”
Emily says: “I saw HAPPY ACCIDENTS last night – great script! Great performances, really charming.” 3 1/2 cats
Michael says: “HAPPY ACCIDENTS, the second of Brad Anderson’s films to be released this month, is a romantic comedy (harkening back to NEXT STOP, WONDERLAND) with a sci fi twist. It is with great pleasure that I discovered that it works as both. Ruby (Marisa Tomei) meets Sam (Vincent D’onofrio) after a long string of failed relationships. Things are going extremely well, when Ruby discovers that Sam thinks he is a time traveller from the year 2470. Although her first instinct is to give them the old heave ho, there’s something abou this sincere and loving manner that keeps Ruby going and she plays along as much as she is able.
“Tomei and D’onofrio are marvelous, playing their roles with a naturalness and charm that totally work in the romantic comedy milieu. The issues they are dealing with are serious and real, despite the time travel twist thrown in. Wonderful supporting roles by Holland Taylor as Ruby’s therapist, and Nadia Dajani as Gretchen, Ruby’s best friend, add to the humor and charm. And you know how we Chlotrudis-members like to keep an eye out for our guest speaker buddies… what a joy to see Sean Gullette (PI) in a wonderfully fun role as Gretchen’s artist/boyfriend. That man is terrific…his character in this film is light years away both of his appearances in Aronofsky’s films.
“I highly recommend HAPPY ACCIDENTS as a fresh, honest romantic comedy with a nice, if bizarre layer of science fiction to keep things different. Ido agree with Bob, who mentioned that it would have been nicer if the Anderson had kept things a little ambiguous right to the end, rather than prove/disproveSam’s claims… but it still worked wonderfully.” 4 cats