If you love romantic comedies, you’ll probably love Imagine Me & You. While it does feature a wedding in the beginning and then finding true love at the end, plotted out in somewhat predictable fashion, the “chase” inbetween these two events is delightful to watch. The concept of the film is love at first sight. That a person can feel so greatly connected with another person through one mere look. Granted, this film concept isn’t all that avant-garde since there have been plenty before with the same theme, but in Imagine Me & You, this is a story about love at first sight between two females. It actually kind of reminds me of another Piper Perabo movie, Lost and Delirious, which focuses on the concept of love that surpasses gender boundaries and is just love in its purest form, between two people regardless of gender (and other variables).
All the characters in this movie are just so endearing and entertaining to watch that you can’t help but like/love them all. With Luce and Heck both vying for Rachel, you, as the viewer, will find it hard to choose who you want her to ultimately end up with because they are are both equally charming. Of course, the way these romantic comedies go, you can easily guess who she’ll end up with from the beginning scenes. While you cannot necessarily fault the predictability of the film, inherent in the entire genre pretty much, as a strike against the film altogether, I did feel there were some weak spots in the film. From what I understand, director and writer Ol Parker was constrained to a 90 minute time frame for his film. That, ultimately, may have very well inhibited his ability to fully tell the story of these characters. To me, the storyline felt loose and lacking in some respects. Given, it is a story about love at first sight so rationale and character context be damned, but regardless, it didn’t seem to paint a full picture of some of the main characters to make them truly compelling (it was really the acting and casting that saved them). However, Heck was not one of these characters because we the audience could see many dimensions of him: he was scared of heights, loved to cook for people, hated his job, scared to lose Rachel, often embarrassed himself, adored by Rachel’s family (especially her little sister, H), etc. Little if anything is known about the other two protagonists, Rachel and Luce. I’m not even really sure what Rachel’s job was besides that it involved sitting in front of or near a computer. The two, when compared to Heck, did not seem as multi-faceted and therefore, for me at least, as compelling.
Which brings me back to why the acting and casting saved the characters and by extension, the film as well. Lena Headey (Luce) and Matthew Goode (Heck) stood out particularly for me in this case. Lena Headey, especially, brought to her character a certain spark and spellbinding quality that I’m not sure I’ve ever witnessed on screen before — or at least recently. Anthony Head (Rachel’s father), who you may know as Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was also tremendous in his role, playing an adorable fumbling, kind of aloof father and husband in the movie. The only American actor in the cast, Piper Perabo (Rachel), actually does pull of a believable English accent and if there were any slip ups, they were hardly noticeable. And lastly, there’s Darren Boyd (Cooper), the yang to Heck’s yin, with his womanizing ways and and inability to settle down with just one woman. One of the funniest moments of the film was thanks to Boyd’s delivery of the line “anyone can change teams. {gulps drink} Not anyone, I wouldn’t… ’cause, I, uh {sputter}… I… {gulps drink}”, after his character finds out that Luce is gay.
All in all, even with my quibbles, I still think this movie is deserving of its praise. It’s heartwarming enough to watch again and again.
[rating:4]
