"Serendipity" was not in my mind until a friend of mine recommended it last night. So, tonight I have seen it. It has 91 minutes of runtime, but it took more than two hours for me to finish it because almost each scene reminded me of something, therefore, I constantly needed to stop the film and take notes. So, in this review I am going to write mostly about those notes and thoughts.
I had a couple of interactions with John Cusack in films like, 2012, 1403 and Hot Tub Time Machine, and decided that I don't really like his way of acting. He always seems cold and distant. I always failed to have a connection with him. "Serendipity" is the film where I made peace with him. Even though it is not a performance oriented film, I have enjoyed the chemistry between him and Kate Beckinsale. "Serendipity" is directed by Peter Chelsom. It was made with a budget of $28 Million and grossed around $77.5 Million. Even though it was made in the beginning of the 21st century, 2001, it still has the clear and relaxing atmosphere of the 90s romantic and comedies. "Serendipity" is a spiritually beautiful film just like its name. I didn't know the meaning of Serendipity, and after the film, I checked and found the following description; "the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way." Now the name makes perfect sense compared with its story.
As I have mentioned above, "Serendipity" was made in 2001. Back then, English actress Kate Beckinsale was 28 years old. In one of the scenes Jonathan's (John Cusack) best friend tells him that "British women do not age well." Today, in the year 2018, Kate Beckinsale is 45 years old and still incredibly beautiful. Jonathan's best friend's statement is probably the only thing that is wrong about this film. Because of the high-level predictability, I found the story a bit boring. But, extremely romantic scenes, in the most unexpected times, made it up to me. It is a well-balanced film, and intended to be made with good and happy thoughts. I am one of those people who believe nothing really bad happens during the Christmas time. "Serendipity" starts in one of those peaceful moments in Christmas where everyone shops for their loved ones. So, based on my early theory, this film is going to be calm, good and peaceful. At the end of the film, I was proud to see that my theory turned out to be true. It was indeed calm, good and peaceful. In one of the scenes Sara (Kate Beckinsale) explains what a soul mate really means. She says that "I honestly think it's dangerous to use term "soul mate". It implies there's some magical element that we have no control over like fate or destiny. I think holding onto beliefs like that stops us doing the real work." She agrees for the fact that this is a special term and must be used only about someone really special. She tries to protect this special term from turning out to be like "I Love You" which, unfortunately, lost all its meaning long time ago and became a meaningless, empty statement. Sara is a woman who still believes in special things like love, fate, destiny and soul mate. This is the inner beauty of Sara, this is the beauty of "Serendipity."
Both Jonathan and Sara have ideal partners who love and adore them, but when something doesn't supposed to happen, it is not going to happen. No matter how perfect things may seem, if those things are not in your destiny, they are not going to happen, or on the contrary, if something is meant to happen, it will happen no matter what. You may agree on this or not, but this is the only message "Serendipity" believes in, and shares with you. That being said, when you are making a film based on destiny, then you really need a character like Sara. In this point of view, character profiles are one of the strongest point of the film, as well as the beautiful soundtracks which are mandatory for a film like this.
"Serendipity" is going to shake some things up in your soul. It is a great film for a cold and rainy evening, and even a perfect one for the Christmas time. I had a lot of fun watching it. It is going to make you believe in something. After all, maybe I was destined to watch this film tonight. Who knows?
I had a couple of interactions with John Cusack in films like, 2012, 1403 and Hot Tub Time Machine, and decided that I don't really like his way of acting. He always seems cold and distant. I always failed to have a connection with him. "Serendipity" is the film where I made peace with him. Even though it is not a performance oriented film, I have enjoyed the chemistry between him and Kate Beckinsale. "Serendipity" is directed by Peter Chelsom. It was made with a budget of $28 Million and grossed around $77.5 Million. Even though it was made in the beginning of the 21st century, 2001, it still has the clear and relaxing atmosphere of the 90s romantic and comedies. "Serendipity" is a spiritually beautiful film just like its name. I didn't know the meaning of Serendipity, and after the film, I checked and found the following description; "the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way." Now the name makes perfect sense compared with its story.
As I have mentioned above, "Serendipity" was made in 2001. Back then, English actress Kate Beckinsale was 28 years old. In one of the scenes Jonathan's (John Cusack) best friend tells him that "British women do not age well." Today, in the year 2018, Kate Beckinsale is 45 years old and still incredibly beautiful. Jonathan's best friend's statement is probably the only thing that is wrong about this film. Because of the high-level predictability, I found the story a bit boring. But, extremely romantic scenes, in the most unexpected times, made it up to me. It is a well-balanced film, and intended to be made with good and happy thoughts. I am one of those people who believe nothing really bad happens during the Christmas time. "Serendipity" starts in one of those peaceful moments in Christmas where everyone shops for their loved ones. So, based on my early theory, this film is going to be calm, good and peaceful. At the end of the film, I was proud to see that my theory turned out to be true. It was indeed calm, good and peaceful. In one of the scenes Sara (Kate Beckinsale) explains what a soul mate really means. She says that "I honestly think it's dangerous to use term "soul mate". It implies there's some magical element that we have no control over like fate or destiny. I think holding onto beliefs like that stops us doing the real work." She agrees for the fact that this is a special term and must be used only about someone really special. She tries to protect this special term from turning out to be like "I Love You" which, unfortunately, lost all its meaning long time ago and became a meaningless, empty statement. Sara is a woman who still believes in special things like love, fate, destiny and soul mate. This is the inner beauty of Sara, this is the beauty of "Serendipity."
Both Jonathan and Sara have ideal partners who love and adore them, but when something doesn't supposed to happen, it is not going to happen. No matter how perfect things may seem, if those things are not in your destiny, they are not going to happen, or on the contrary, if something is meant to happen, it will happen no matter what. You may agree on this or not, but this is the only message "Serendipity" believes in, and shares with you. That being said, when you are making a film based on destiny, then you really need a character like Sara. In this point of view, character profiles are one of the strongest point of the film, as well as the beautiful soundtracks which are mandatory for a film like this.
"Serendipity" is going to shake some things up in your soul. It is a great film for a cold and rainy evening, and even a perfect one for the Christmas time. I had a lot of fun watching it. It is going to make you believe in something. After all, maybe I was destined to watch this film tonight. Who knows?