delightful-life

(2012-05-01 09:05:14)

A little depressing

The reason why this movie has that low 6.7 rating is because of that,its depressing. And almost 50% of the time it was irritating too. Why?Anne and Jim are friends from college and have been in love all along.Its not some secret love or anything of that sort. They both haveexpressed it 'vividly', yet they go on and on and on, its so very veryobvious that its an artificial script dragging along the story. And youare constantly thinking, guys, just do it and be over with it.Finally when it starts becoming normal they had to make it depressing.If they were trying to be poignant like in Japanese films so that thismovie will be remembered always, oh boy, were theymistaken....................Not at all recommended. I felt cheated out of 90mins. I should haveseen some other movie, any movie. I saw this after reading a reviewwhich said that this movie was really good. I should have believed inthe rating.Cheers!

Karafotis Kostas

(2012-04-30 23:54:58)

Moments in life

For these type of movies i believe that the chemistry between the leadcharacters is everything.Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess had thischemistry and their performance was as it should be. Its a movie thatshows us that when something happens in a moment of our life makes uswonder about love,true friendship,choices and fate itshelf. Directingwas pretty good but the soundtrack was average.The rest of the cast didtheir job well with Patricia Clarkson giving another goodperformance.Also the age process was decent for Emma and Dexter but notenough for the rest of the characters.Anne Hethaway is proving in herlatest movies that she can play every type of role.I am eager to seeher at The Dark Knight Rises.

NumberOnePhantomFan

(2012-04-29 22:57:23)

Frivolous

I walked into this movie with low expectations, due to what reviews Ihad heard, and I walked out neither impressed or disappointed. Theacting was alright, the design was interesting, but the storyline wasflat and the characterization was two dimensional. I found myselflooking at the clock about halfway through, which is never a good signwhen I go to see a film.Anne Hathaway plays a British girl, which confused me as to why thisrole hadn't been given to an actual British actress. Her accent wasalright; it slid between satisfactory and disappointing throughout thefilm. She wasn't given much to work with, however she didn't put muchinto it anyway. The role of Emma was two-dimensional, weak and franklya little masochistic.Jim Sturgess in his role as Dexter was also weak. His character, aplayboy who just wants to be loved, seemed too familiar and too paintby numbers. He just keeps spiralling out of control, and it seems like(beyond losing his job due to him getting older) he doesn't suffer anyconsequences. He gets married, he has a kid, and even after that fallsthrough he still gets Emma in the end. Did anyone else want to see thisguy be the one to get hit by the bus? The episodic day-by-daystructure, while not all that original, was still pleasantlystructured, with the dates displayed in different ways. However, thepassing of time seemed erratic, with little or no real transition.Sometimes, years would be shown with a two second clip of someoneswimming, or something equally confusing in regards to its relevancy tothe storyline.The ending was particularly upsetting for me. Emma is killed, all for apure shock reaction from the audience. Truly, her death was just meantto invoke a emotional reaction, and the death serves no purpose,leaving the final minutes of the film with a strange feeling ofmisguided sadness (not to mention a whole bunch of false endings).This movie needs a major overhaul. What with inane dialogue, confusingplot points, and unnecessary characters (Ian the boyfriend comes tomind), I found it difficult to like this movie. There are some goodpoints (the design, the score, and some of the comic relief), but theyare all foreshadowed by the bad.

clarkelevi77

(2012-04-29 21:00:35)

I Felt This Movie Was Very Good

I went to see One Day, just tonight, and I can say honestly that I didnot expect to fall in love with Dex and Emma's love story as much as Idid. This movie portrays all of the ups and downs of mostrelationships, and I love it for it. This was a great movie, andwithout giving away any major details about the movie, it really showedme the strength of all love,and how it defines a very specific part inall of us. I have seen some of the reviews which claim that the moviedid not shed as much light to the characters as the book did so, I planto read the book so that I can understand and love this story more andmore, as should you.

puertokatalan

(2012-04-28 19:35:40)

The best of a bad movie, is the end

As you may have the courage to make this film, ode to stupidly facilecinematographic absolutely absurd plot, full of bizarre moments, whichare intended to convey to the viewer the feeling of love, grief, mustbe one of the worst movies I've seen this year, there is a movie oflove, is a long and clumsy movie, without a clear idea of ​​princiopioto end without anything new to show, when you're facing a romanticmovie, you know what you face, in this film we see all the argumentscliché, films containing romance, but this version "One Day" is tocollect all the facile arguments, but what is the strength laces,resulting in a movie quite boring .. ....

(2012-04-28 13:50:58)

HK Neo Reviews: One Day

"Whatever happens tomorrow, we had today." This is a great example ofhow to make a good movie. Along the lines of Before Sunset or AfterSunrise, One Day is essentially about one's journey through life's upsand downs and the love we encountered along the way. Anne Hathaway isonce again pitch perfect and her chemistry with would-be lover JimSturgess is just dazzling to watch. It is one of those films where eventhough the two aren't together, you feel that somehow they are justmeant to be. Life is a like a big piece of puzzle and sometimes, ittakes a long time before you finally realise how to finish off thepuzzle. It can be that simple and also that weird at the same time. OneDay gives you the sweet, the bitter, the mysterious, the delightful,the downs of one's life journey. Directed by Lone Scherfig, the personbehind the outstanding An Education, One Day uses one simple plotdevice of showing the same day for 15 years and in the process drivesthe audience to the conclusion. This is a simple gimmick that works toits maximum potential. Perhaps the only real problem is that the filmlacks ambition and the originality that made An Education a much moreunique and finer picture. One Day seems to rely more on theattractiveness and the greatness of the acting duo to push the filmabove being yet another love story. What makes the film work simply thedirector ability to make the audience keep wanting to know more,understand more and see more about the couple's fate.All in all, One Day is never a film that reaches for the stars, or thewow factor, but rather is happy enough to stay within the definedboundaries within its own plot devices and heavily reliance on theactors' performances. That's not to say it is entirely a bad thing, butafter a great film such as An Education, one just expect that littlemore. Still, One Day is more than enjoyable enough experience torecommend sitting through one screening and in terms of the genre, youcan certainly do a lot worst. A delightful film that capture yourattention… Neo rates it 7.5/10

dtrionfi36

(2012-04-28 10:07:03)

One Day review

One Day is a film about two college graduates who met on July 15th1988. The rest of the film follows the two throughout the years on July15th up until 2011. Starting the film I did not know what it was goingto be about. I did however enjoy it. There was a twist that I was notexpecting, and made me cry. I did not however like Anne Hathaway's fakeBritish accent. If you are a nut about chick flicks I would recommendthis film, or even if you are in the mood to shed a tear or two. I didlike Jim Sturgess role. I like how he was portrayed as a jerk, but inthe end ends up warm hearted. I also liked the concept that the scenesin the movie were based on the one day every year.

Kristiina

(2012-04-27 12:26:52)

Just a bad clichГѓВ©

I saw the trailer for this movie a while ago and I was really lookingforward to it. There just aren't enough intelligent romantic movies andthis seemed to be the perfect thing. Unfortunately, this movie wasutterly disappointing. The story evolves around two completely different people who would beperfect for each other. Yet, somehow the characters are sostereotypical that it soon becomes a sport to watch how manystereotypical scenes and characters can still be added to one movie.Everything in this movie is a clichГѓВ© - from a TV-show host doing drugsand blond chicks to a writer with short hair living in Paris to a badstand-up comedian who keeps making bad jokes and wearing "funny"clothing. The writers wanted to keep the story diverse and the peopleconstantly changing and they succeeded. The movie is entertaining towatch, and it's nice to see the characters evolve from one stereotypeto another stereotype. And then they go too far with the stereotypicalHollywood movie'ish situations and then the movie just leaves a badtaste in your mouth and regret for watching the movie. If too manypeople watch it, movie-makes might be fooled to think that this is whatwomen expect to see in a movie. I hated the ending because it only madethe movie worse. The movie is engineered entertainment for women who want to watch aromantic movie. It's a compilation of movie clichГѓВ©s and could seemnovel and interesting only to people who have never seen any othermovies of this genre. 10 stars to the actors, -6 stars for the badstory writing.

life-in-elsewhere

(2012-04-27 01:00:18)

"She made you decent, and in return you made her so happy"

Adapted from a David Nichllos's best seller, One Day is another storyabout soul mate. The romance begins at the graduation day of Emma andDex. They were to have sex but happened to be friends. During thefollowing 20 years, they either called or met with each other on July15th to share their life. They attracted each other, encouraged eachother when experiencing lows of life, and made them grow mature.Esecailly Emma, loved and inspired Dex all the time even when he has,as he has said, screwed up his life and career. Finally, they made areal relationship. But Emma died in a car accident in her way to seeDex, which is an imperfect but impressive ending."She made you decent, and in return you made her so happy." This is howsoul mates work. Dex attracts Emma with his romance and imagination,which to some extent inspire Emma's desire for life beauty deep in hermind. This, I think, is an important resource of her later works. Butat that time, Dex was also a laissez-fairer play boy, indulgent indrugs, alcohols and unstable sexual relationship with blonds. Inner inhis mind, Dex doesn't like this kind of life. But these are what heused to be all the years. Change one's settled patterns can be reallydifficult sometimes. But later, his mother died of cancer, he failed inhis career and marriage. When he"screwed up his career, screwed up hisown life", as he said himself, Emma is the one that encourages him,loved him, and give him the light and peace of life. Even though in theend of the story, they still cannot be together, so what? Love makesthem happy, makes them live better.Besides the story, the music and scenes are really great. Music byRachel Portman is always one of my favorite. Melodies with violin andpiano make me feel that I'm so close the nature beauty, which is ingreat harmony with the natural scenes in the movie. Still remember theytwo driving in the country road, with white rose petals flying in thewind; Still remember they two lying in the bed together in the night,doing nothing, just sleeping, with moonlight and shadow of leavesflowing in them; Still remember they two running all the way from thegolden hills to the London street in the morning, and kissing….As for the stars, I think Anne Hathaway is just OK. But Jim Sturgess isreally good, I think. He has displayed Dex's early laissez-fairer andlater maturity through his eyes very well. Altogether, I think it's agood movie, with extraordinary stories, music, scenes, and stars.

Ed Uyeshima

(2012-04-26 07:22:51)

Contrived Flipbook of a Film Focuses on Disconnected Soul Mates

As someone who counts Stanley Donen's "Two for the Road" as one of hisall-time favorite films, I was hoping this 2011 romantic drama mighttranscend its time-spanning gimmick of using one day every year – July15 – as the touchstone for a couple who appear destined for happinesstogether but not without a lot of emotional curveballs and unforeseendetours. It doesn't. In fact, the film's structural conceit heightensthe contrivances that keep the viewer from fully investing in the fateof what the filmmakers would like us to believe are soul mates. It'sreally impossible to calibrate why this mismatched pair continues toconnect over the years other than to fulfill the cardboard dimensionsof David Nicholls' verbose screenplay, which is in turn based on his2009 book. The lugubrious result makes for particularly disappointingcinema given that the film was directed by Danish filmmaker LoneScherfig, who helmed Carey Mulligan's star-making turn in the far moresatisfying "An Education" (2009).The story begins on the night of July 15, 1988 when recent EdinburghUniversity graduates Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew end up spending thenight together. She comes from a working-class background and isconsequently smart and caustic but insecure as evidenced by the pair ofgranny glasses she constantly wears. He comes from money and has thecocky manner befitting someone whose shallow aim in life is to becomefamous since he's already rich. They connect for no apparent reasonfrom the outset and start a friendship that borders on codependency. Wesee them every year thereafter on the same day as they grow from youngadulthood to early middle age. Emma stumbles out of the gate becomingincreasingly depressed working at a Mexican restaurant in London.Dexter finds fame as the sleazy host of a VH1-type entertainment-liteprogram. She eventually finds her footing as a writer, while he goesthrough a drug-induced tailspin. Their up-and-down lives intertwine atdefining moments when something decisive happens to one, and the otherhas to cope with whatever the new situation is. The film repeats thispattern so often that it becomes redundant and tiresome even when aninevitable plot device occurs late in the story.I can see why an actress as engaging as Anne Hathaway would be drawn toa part like Emma because she gets to play a wide range of shades andemotions in her character's arc, but there are two things that areoff-kilter about her performance. First, her pinched English accentsounds entirely too close to her take-off of Mary Poppins from herguest appearance on "Saturday Night Live" to be believable. Second, hernaturally vibrant presence doesn't lend credibility to the early sceneswhen she appears to be doing a cheeky throwback to the first "PrincessDiaries" movie. She also makes co-star Jim Sturgess (Jude in "Acrossthe Universe") look all the more pallid as the pitiable Dexter. Heseems to be channeling Hugh Grant in order to evoke the charm necessaryto attract Emma, but he suffers even more from the story'sthumbnail-sketch approach. As Emma's failed love interest Ian, RafeSpall is convincingly annoying as an aspiring stand-up comic withoutany talent, while Romola Garai has the thankless role of Dexter'shumorless lover-turned-wife. Both appear to be playing stock charactersfor the sake of the central love story. At least Patricia Clarksonlends her requisite élan as Dexter's worldly mother, but her scenes areall too brief. Despite a clever time-shifting scene at Arthur's Seat inEdinburgh, the film left me dry-eyed wanting to see "Two for the Road"again.

stensson

(2012-04-20 11:31:36)

A day in the life

Boy and girl meet. Not one day, but every day for the next 20 years.Naturally things happen during two decades. Love for instance and notonly for each other. But there is a special kind of warmth.It's not the deepest movie you've seen, but it tries to touch one ortwo depths. And Anne Hathaway really makes the script more honor thanit perhaps deserves. She's developing into a rather splendid comedyactress.She's also the progressing character here and the only one of the twoparts in this couple relation which is different in the end. Not amasterpiece this film, but OK viewing, but you can of course ask whythere are so many women in the audience and so few men.

napierslogs

(2012-04-19 18:46:42)

By sticking to the novel, the movie loses the connection to the characters

"One Day", based on the novel of the same name, is the relationship oftwo people, Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess), as we seeit on July 15th of each year. As can be expected from the nature of thestory, it's a little dry, lacking in comedy. But then again, it's aromantic drama, not a romantic comedy.As is the nature of the two media, movies can never be exactly the sameas the novel. But the problem with this one is that they tried to; nostory lines were removed. Almost everything was there, just shortenedinto mostly meaningless segments. I personally could have done with oneless event in their lives, and perhaps a different ending, but theytried to be as faithful as possible.What we have here is a movie about a relationship, but the novel wasabout the people. They traded in character depth and development so wecan see them in their more attractive years falling in and out of love.I wasn't very familiar with Jim Sturgess, having seen him play skinny,slightly nerdy, not as confident kids. Dexter is a different breed ofguy. Just has high on self-confidence as he is on drugs and alcohol, hegets by on his looks – literally – he's a TV host. Although thedifferent characteristics of Dexter weren't explicitly shown in themovie, Sturgess brought them out in him perfectly. Emma is a morecomplex character, with significant evolution to who she is throughoutthe years, except none of that is in the movie, so it just wasn'treally possible for Hathaway to portray her as a more interestingperson.I would assume that watching "One Day" without the benefit of havingread the novel would be a fairly confusing, empty experience. With thebackground that the novel gave me, I could fill in all the missingyears and the unexplored layers to the characters, so there was stillsomething to their relationship for me.

oceansroar

(2012-04-15 23:46:01)

lacking emotional depth

First off i have not read the book, but will check it out eventually.The film stars to very capable actors Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess,but unfortunately they cannot seem to save the film for me. We start ofthe film in the present day, with Emma riding a bike down the street,then we go back in time to 1988, when she meets Dexter. They almosthave a one night stand, but when it does not happen, they then decideto be friends. We are then shown glimpses of their lives through theyears.Throughout the film i waited and waited to feel a connection, but itnever came, perhaps a little near the end, but it was too late. Itmight have been the writer or directors fault because i felt the actorswere there, except at times Hathaway's accent was not quite on spot.Maybe it jumped through the years a bit too much to allow the viewer achance to completely give themselves over to the story.It's a chick-flick, but lacking in emotional depth to move the heart tofall in love, so i say it is not worth the time, unless you havenothing else to watch.

petailss

(2012-04-15 14:31:22)

Romantic and moving drama.

One Day is a mixture of romance/drama in the right measure, which showsa couple of friends who had their lives marked by day July 15. All the drama takes place in just one day of the year, and every yeartheir life and their personality changes, leaving them increasinglydistant. And each year that these differences make the inevitabledistance, their love becomes more evident. Beautiful, charming,touching and romantic, with an end a little obvious, but stillbeautiful. Excellent performances, photography, script and soundtrack.Anne and Jim made a great couple. I recommend for anyone who loves a well told drama.

Emily Shirley

(2012-04-15 12:21:03)

Simply lovely

What a lovely film! A story about two people and how their relationshipdevelops over the years, as friends, as less than that sometimes and asmore than that, too. The characters are believable and much morecomplex than a lot of films of its ilk.I loved the performances of both Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess andconnected easily with both their characters. They brought them aliveand keep the viewer wrapped up in the complexities of what happensbetween them.Some have criticised Anne Hathaway for her accent, which I feel is alittle unfair. It may not be a definable accent from one particularpart of the North of England, but it's never unbelievable and I feel itcould be consistent with someone who's grown up in one region and livedelsewhere during other parts of their life. Don't let those that havecommented negatively on this put you off! This is a truly lovely film,with characters and acting which are strong enough to captivate and abelievable, engaging story which keeps you interested. This is a filmI'll be watching again and again.

terry1094

(2012-04-15 01:19:13)

Wait for the NetFlix DVD

Spoiler. (This review and the movie.)It's Harry met Sally crashing into the City of Angels. Slow, boring,poor acting. Sure, it has it's moments; but, so do the Muppet movies.The beginning is unbelievable: plastered on graduation night butsnuggle with no sex?The middle is boring and painful. Just what was Dexter's job? And whothe heck names their kid 'Dexter'?Emma was cute but no one can possibly be that frumpy.And what's with that ending? Compensation for killing Emma? A wish foran alternative ending. Harumph!Fail.Maybe I should read the book.

morteza atry

(2012-04-08 23:24:07)

never loose your chances

I believe that rate of "One Day" is very lower than truth , because itcaptivate all people if they watch it precisely . the movie start withthe scene of Now , and come back to 1988, where the story begin. Dexterwas a cute boy & he is a womanizer & like to have sex with girls, heused to have girl friend for few days and then brake up. but Emmanearly was a lonely girl and after graduation worked in restaurant.Dexter & Emma loved Each other but never say that & never Had Sex ,till after many years Emma say :I LOVE YOU Dexter , But I do not likeyou any more, This sentence was the point of the movie & Dexter realizethat his life stile is not right, after years he decided to get marriedand after marriage , his wife slept with his friend in university, soDexter decide to come back to Emma, she has boy friend but because ofDexter Left him. Emma said to Dexter Never leave me , but Afteraccident leaved him herself. so if Dexter do not loose his chance , maybe they were happy now with their Children, (the wish of Emma).

xixi-shishi

(2012-04-08 15:12:32)

Totally cathartic and beautifully written

I was very connected to the movie. I think the only reason why peopledidn't give it great review was because they read the book. Every timea movie is made out of the book, it is never "good enough." Of course!What do you expect? I didn't read the book, and as a result, I enjoyedthe movie for what it was. I cried and laughed. It was heart wrenching.If you like that kind of movie, you'll like this one. If you like TheNotebook, I think you'll be able to connect to this one as well.Although, it's not quite as good as the Notebook. I would've preferredto see a different Actress than Anne Hathaway, though I like her a lot.The chemistry between them is not quite as strong as the two charactersin the Notebook. So, that's way it's 9 instead of a 10. Overall, I amso glad I went to see it.

oreoburger

(2012-04-01 06:01:59)

Am I the only one that thinks the whole movie is a dream?

OK, so I watched this movie on demand, and to my amazement the endingwas probably one of the best I had ever seen. 10 minutes into themovie, Emma and Dexter fell asleep together on their graduationday...Then fast forward 1hour 20min (or 20 years later), when Dexterwas in his Cafe talking to Ian, Emma's voice over can be heard "wakeup, wake up". Dexter woke up still on graduation day, in Emma's bed,and together he hiked up the hill with Emma. On their way down, theypass the future Dexter and his daughter a la Sliding Door style...My take is that the whole movie was a dream by Dexter, who woke upstill in 1988 and realized that Emma was the true love of his life. Andthis explains the passionate kiss the two engaged in at the end of themovie, more lovers than friends. I surfed the net a bit for this interpretation of the ending, and cameaway disappointed. Am I the only one who thinks that this movie endingis more than meets the eye?

John DeSando

(2012-03-31 09:36:08)

The formula demands . . .

One Day is promoted as drama romance and not a rom com. On all threecounts I would call it out anyway, for it is a melodramatic, episodictale of two best friends in London, Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter(Jim Sturgess), who flirt with love over a long period but play on thestandard clichГѓВ© that requires they eventually end up together,regardless how many marriages and children intervene.One Day has too many short episodes from college in the '80's untilprofessional life in 2011, and each seems just a variation on anotherbefore it: boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again,well, you know the routine. During all these little skirmishes Emmaremains wholesome (no stretch for the perpetually cute Hathaway,reminding me of Sally Hawkins' Poppy in Mike Leigh's Happy Go Lucky.But without Hawkins' charisma).Dexter is a cad and Lothario almost all the way, making him unlikeableand difficult to gain our sympathy. His cavalier treatment of hismother (the ever-interesting Patricia Clarkson) and father (Ken Stott)adds to his surly persona. In addition, Sturgess needs a littlecoaching or better script if he wishes to catch up with the Ryans(Gosling and Reynolds) in the emerging leading-man lineup.Nowhere do I feel a real sexual heat, especially since in most of thefilm they are avowing to be just friends. Moreover in the numerousyears/episodes I do not feel the intellectual and emotional connectionthat comes so naturally in Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise/Sunsetseries. Even director Lone Scherfig's Parisian scenes are vacant, poorcousins to Woody Allen's romantic City of Lights in Midnight in Paris.As an Anglophile, I usually can forgive many sins if a film gives me anadequate dose of the great city, but as with the Paris background,romance takes a holiday even from the cities.