Serendipity: An unexpected breath of fresh air

For about the last year or so, we have been trapped in date movie hell. Movies like “Autumn in New York,” “Sweet November,” and “The Wedding Planner” (please don’t try to convince me “The Wedding Planner” is good) were so contrived and unoriginal one had almost given up hope in the entire romantic comedy genre as a whole.

It is for this reason that “Serendipity” comes as a breath of fresh air--a light at the end of the tunnel that will deliver us from the abyss of bad romantic comedies.

John Cusack, one of my personal favorites, stars alongside the adorable Kate Beckinsale in a story about letting destiny decide.

The film opens with the two meeting in a department store at Christmas time. Both are shopping for their significant other’s gifts, but wind up having coffee in a local coffee shop, aptly called Serendipity.

She explains she believes fate is behind everything. Signs will always dictate whether or not something is destined to happen.

They wind up meeting again later that evening and decide it’s a sign they should spend the rest of the evening together.

He reveals his name as Jonathan, but she refuses to give her name for the time being.

Of course, they have a magical evening, including ice skating and asking each other conversational questions.

By the end of the evening she agrees to give him her phone number. Unfortunately, the slip of paper blows away in the wind and she is convinced it is another sign. He is not so swayed.

So she writes her name and phone number in a book and explains that she will sell it to a used bookstore in the morning. If they are destined to be together, he will find the book. All she tells him is that her name is Sarah.

Flash forward a few years and we find both characters engaged to their partners with his wedding in three days, and her’s in a week. They haven’t seen each other in years, but it’s obvious they still can’t stop thinking about each other, more so for him.

He begins to have cold feet about his wedding and compulsively searches for the book she sold.

He is aided by his best friend, played by the talented Jeremy Piven, who co-stared with Cusack in the excellent “Grosse Point Blank,” which Cusack wrote.

What makes Piven and Cusack so good together in this film is Cusack allows Piven to really take the scene and accentuate his character, without allowing Piven to steal the scene.

In their search, they come in contact with a nosy department store clerk played by Eugene Levy, (Jim’s Dad from the “American Pie” films) earning laughs in his role here.

At the same time, Beckinsale starts to fret about her marriage and drags her best friend, played by Molly Shannon, to New York to look for clues that may help her find her lost love.

The rest of the film is basically an adventure of the two lovers trying to find one another, and of course, just barely missing one another at certain points.

The main thing about a movie like “Serendipity” is one always has a pretty good idea of what the ending will be. Everything that takes place in the film is just a means to an end. It doesn’t matter.

This film is possibly the most enjoyable romantic comedy I’ve seen since “Sleepless in Seattle.” As far as style and script, it’s not of the same caliber as “Sleepless,” but Cusack and Beckinsale are just so darned likable in their roles that one will follow them wherever they want to take us.

It’s fluff, to be sure, and the script does require one to slip their brain into their back pockets for a couple of hours.

But that’s really the point of the movie anyhow--forget about what you know to be true and realistic. Just let destiny take the wheel and steer.

Enjoy the ride.