Genre Grandeur – Serendipity (2001) – Encore Review 3 – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – New York Films That Take Place Prior to 9/11, here’s a review of Serendipity (2001) by Me

Thanks again to Darren Lucas of Movie Reviews 101 for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s genre has been chosen by Ryan of Ten Stars or Less and we will be reviewing our favorite Movies Directed by the Main Actor/Actress.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Oct by sending them to actor-director@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“You don’t have to understand. You just have to have faith.” – Sara

Number of Times Seen – At least 10 times (20 Jul 2002, DVD, 15 Jul 2014, 7 Dec 2016, 3 Dec 2021 and 29 Sep 2022)

Link to original review – Here, Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – Two strangers meet randomly and wonder if perhaps they are meant to be together and constantly look for signs from above as to what to do.

My Take on it – This is one of my favorite rom-coms because it has such an amazing idea and twist that helps keep it quite unique.

They do a wonderful job following the two separate storylines simultaneously and I love how they have the characters just missing one another at various points in time which shows the viewer that they are meant for one another, but they still don;t know that yet.

The film has a great philosophical question that it seems to have the true answer about and that helps things play out even better.

Despite not having many scenes together, John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale have amazing chemistry that helps make things work even better.

The plot is set up really well and stays so fascinating from start to finish because of the mystical aspects of it all.

The soundtrack is superb and helps add so much more life to the way things play out.

New York City is an important character in the film and that helps enhance the story even more along the way.

Eugene Levy has a great extended cameo here that helps endear this character even more depsite the fact that he is menat to be very obnoxious and annoying.

Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Jennifer Aniston turned down the lead role. The director explained: “I distinctly remember Jennifer Aniston coming in to meet us. I remember when she came in, she said, ‘I do a romantic comedy once a week,’ her being on Friends (1994) at the time. So, she clearly had other things on her plate, and it was her decision not to do it. She came in good faith without an offer, but we definitely would have made her an offer if she wanted to make it.” (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10) (no change from original review)