‘One Day’ is a Good Tear-jerker

The visceral effect of a good old-fashioned tear-jerker can be as overpowering as the jolts and jitters produced by a horror flick. One of the reasons people go to the movies is to bond with strangers through a shared experience, and One Day succeeded in dissolving its predominantly female audience (at the Friday night screening I attended) into a pool of tears.

I haven’t witnessed this much sniffling since 2002’s A Walk to Remember.

Of course, a film doesn’t need to be a work of great cinema in order to manipulate audiences. In the case of romantic melodrama, characters must be relatable and engaging in order to ensure that the final act is a slam-dunk. Viewers must be placed on the edge of their seats, desperately hoping that the two photogenic leads will one day end up in each other’s arms.

Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess are two enormously appealing actors, and would certainly make for a cute couple. But their problematic characters in this picture are something less than compatible.

Read more:

Based on David Nicholls’ beloved best-seller of the same name, the film centers on Dexter (Sturgess) and Emma (Hathaway), two friends who spend a meaningful yet chaste night together after their college graduation in 1988. Emma had always harbored a crush on Dex, though her attraction seems to be no more substantial than the lustful yearnings of the countless other women intent on throwing themselves at his vain mug. It’s clear from the get-go that Dex is a womanizing cad who treats his female counterparts like consumer products but cries over his stolen Armani suit. 

Sometimes sexual confidence is all a woman needs to find a man attractive, and Dex certainly has that in spades. Well, that and the odd penchant for injecting some uncharacteristic encouragement into his slick dialogue.

The script by Nicholls follows the structure of his book, spanning two decades in the lives of its characters while utilizing an ambitious narrative gimmick. Each vignette takes place on July 15, and when I first heard of this premise, I assumed that it was because Dex and Emma had promised each other that they would meet every year on St. Swithin’s Day. Nope, turns out that this storytelling device is merely a choice on the part of Nicholls, and it works both for and against the material.

On one hand, limiting each year to a single day allows Nicholls to sidestep some of the clichés one would expect in a story about two friends who may or may not be meant for each other. But it also causes the narrative to breeze over key moments that would’ve allowed the characters to be explored in a more complete light.

We never get a sense of how these characters would function as a couple, or what their chemistry would be like. Instead, we just get a series of trite scenes, such as the one where Dex encourages Emma to realize her potential, that are meant to be representative of an inner-life left off-screen.

This results in a picture of dramatic gestures that aren’t backed up by credible nuance.

With two inferior leads, this film could’ve easily collapsed under the weight of its audacious plot, but Hathaway and Sturgess are the two reasons why One Day works in spite of itself.

Ever since her star-making debut in The Princess Diaries, Hathaway has cultivated a devoted fan base of moviegoers who relate to her portrayal of the sly, self-deprecating, earthly radiant everywoman. She deserved to win the Oscar for her sensational, go-for-broke performance in Jonathan Demme’s woefully overlooked 2008 gem, Rachel Getting Married, and she has routinely bolstered each of her subsequent film roles with an uncommon intelligence and wit.

Sturgess is still best known for his John Lennon-like crooning in Across the Universe, and his genial screen persona allows Dex to be more sympathetic than he has any right to be.

On the heels of her superb 2009 drama, An Education, director Lone Scherfig once again proves to have a keen eye for observation when charting the coming-of-age and disillusionment of characters awakening to life’s inherent injustices. One Day is ultimately a portrait of the various obstacles that can steer one away from living the life he or she wants to live until it is too late.

Dex and Emma’s indecision about their future is not only tragic for them, but also ends up hurting others in the process. The marvelous Rafe Spall is assigned the thankless task of playing the kind but nerdy man whom Emma conducts a long, drawn-out relationship with despite the fact she has no real feelings for him. Spall’s character may be a sad sack, but he has a late scene of beautiful selflessness that may be the most moving moment in the picture.

Equally effective is Patricia Clarkson as Dex’s ailing mother, whose disappointment concerning her son’s susceptibility to sleaze resonates on a genuinely painful level. 

Despite the film’s last-second stabs at hope, One Day is a three-hanky weeper in the classic tradition of An Affair to Remember. Lovesick viewers in need of a good cry could do far worse than this.

There’s ample opportunities for bawling during the film’s final 20 minutes, and at least one moment guaranteed to send the entire audience jumping out of their chairs. I love it when that happens.

One Day opened Aug. 19 at the AMC Showplace Village Crossing 18 and Regal Gardens 7-13 in Skokie. Movie, which is rated PG-13, ranked No. 9, with about $5.2 million in ticket sales during its debut weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.

Like us on Facebook

Download the movie