Serendipity: Like Karma without the 'kay?

My frequent trips to the movie theater have become sporadic over the last several months, partly because of my working so much, partly because most of what I have seen so far this year has been total crap.

Freddy Got Fingered, no explanation needed.

Dr. Doolittle 2, close but no cigar. Although it did elicit an interest in the music of Lionel Richie.

The Musketeer had some cool fight scenes, but other than that, it's nothing I hadn't seen ten times already.

Not since back in February this year, when I saw The Family Man, have I left the movie theater feeling like I was in a whole different world. I thought it was over; I thought it was a phase. I started to think maybe it was me. That the last remnants of my youth were disappearing in a cloud of smoke, and I was losing my ability to be affected by movies.

Welcome back, old feeling. It's been a long time.

Tonight was my first night off since July 11. (Not to rub it in your face or anything!) There was no way I was going to let this one go to waste. After reading a few reviews on Serendipity, (you know, the "chick flick") I figured okay. It's a movie about Fate, the same thing I've been analyzing myself to the point of sounding downright idiotic. If nothing else, I just wanted to see what Serendipity had to say about Fate. What I wasn't expecting was to be swallowed whole by this incredibly romantic story on the side.

First, you got Jonathan (John Cusack). Picture Dave Matthews five years younger, maybe 20 pounds heavier with his hair grown out. I wouldn't mind looking like this guy. Considering how often I've heard the name, I'm surprised I didn't already know who he was and what he looked like.

Then, you have Sara (Kate Beckinsale). Talk about gorgeous! The movie poster alone had me interested already. On the poster, she looks sort of like Ally McBeal, but in the movie I found that actually she looks more like Neve Campbell in about five years.

Jonathan and Sara, aside from both having Biblical names, bring to this movie the very thing that I've been waiting for. A sense of reality. I know I'm always saying that movies are supposed to be an escape from reality and all, but it never hurts to be able to relate to the characters, you know what I mean? These two don't even know that there's a camera anywhere near them. Take the very first conversation they have, in a cozy little restaurant called "Serendipity", for example. You could have just filmed any two people, Candid Camera style, and no one would know the difference. John and Kate aren't acting their roles, they're being their roles. It's all so real, it makes you feel like you're really a part of what's going on.

Basically, here's how it goes. Jonathan and Sara bump into each other at Bloomingdale's when they both reach for the same pair of gloves at the same time. Sara wants to get them for her boyfriend; Jonathan wants to get them for his girlfriend.

Next thing you know, they're talking over drinks at "Serendipity", and the whole Fate discussion begins. Jonathan thinks that his meeting with Sara might have been an act of Fate, but Sara doesn't buy it. That is, until a few moments later when they both return to the restaurant, both having left something behind. So they go out and have a good time after all. A genuine good time, not that kind of a good time!

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

Sara is writing her number down for Jonathan, but just as she goes to hand it to him, a truck drives by and the ensuing rush of air sends the scrap of paper into the swirling mosaic of garbage circling the sidewalk. Act of fate, Sara thinks. It's screwed. Jonathan doesn't want to give up, though, so they reach a compromise. He writes his number on the back of a five dollar bill, and Kate uses it to buy a Goo Goo Cluster or something. She then writes her name and number inside the first page of a book and promises to sell it to a used bookstore. So if it was really meant to be, one of them will stumble upon the other's number soon enough.

Of course, the audience, which tonight consisted of only me, myself and I, couldn't help but agree with Jonathan. "It's ridiculous!" he insists. "We have something going on here and you're just going to trust it all to Fate?" Well, I guess if you're going to cheat on your significant other, might as well leave it to Fate to decide. At least then you don't have to blame yourself.

So here we are, several years later. Of course, neither of the two has come across the other's phone number, both are engaged to their significant others. It appears that they really have moved on with their lives. Well, leave it to old Fate to change all that. They start seeing "signs". She sees a movie poster of his old favorite movie in a window. He hears a biker right outside his taxi window while sitting at a red light, wailing out "Sara Smile" by Hall & Oates.

This is where it really started getting good for me, because I can relate to this kind of thing. Even just yesterday at work, I was on my break, and I scribbled some of the words to "Rosanna" by Toto on a newspaper. An hour later, the song comes on the radio there. True story! I could sit here and tell you at least ten different examples of things just like that, just as amazing and coincidential as that, that have happened to me just since summer started. What it means to me, I have no idea. But damn if I didn't really start digging this movie when that stuff started happening.

You can't help but keep in mind that this is all a directed movie, a work of fiction, and that such coincidences are pretty far fetched. But when your life consists of similar coincidences, you can't help but want to go all introspective and explore. It's no wonder I could relate! In my case, though, it seems to be an ability to predict the future, hence my interest in the lottery. Like I said, idiotic.

Well, at any rate, back to the movie. Jonathan enlists the help of his reluctant friend (Jeremy Piven), who writes obits for the New York Times, but soon rediscovers the pleasures of being a jackass. I only wish I had been jackass enough to invite someone to come see this movie with me. (You'll understand when you see it yourself!)

Meanwhile, these "signs" that seem to be drawing Jonathan and Sara back together linger on their minds. But who can you talk to about something like that? Besides, they are both engaged and he's on the brink of a wedding! So are they going to go on as planned, or are they going to "elevate from the norm"? $8.00 is a small price to pay to find out.

I only say that because, aside from finding out what happens to them, you're going to be taken on a journey far, far away from everyday life, and into a world where there are "signs" around every corner. There are disbelievers. But it's a world where Fate is real. Where you want it to be real. And when you leave the theater, you may just think you are still there. It's a blessing to me to have spent most of my life there. Maybe that's why I say that this movie has such a sense of reality.