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While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I'll put this right out there that I happen to like John Cusack. I think he's got the chops to pull off a lot of different roles and there's this dry wit about him that I love. And Kate Beckinsale is, let's be honest here, she's absolutely gorgeous and finally she's able to show the world that she's not just another pretty face but can actually act. So we're faced with a couple that meet by accident, have a perfect date and are going their separate ways. But they're going to let fate decide if they're to be an item or not. So if within 10 years they meet again they will wind up together. If not, it was never meant to be.Years pass and while they've moved on, each of them in a relationship and thinking of getting married they can't let go of that one chance meeting while buying gloves for their respective loves. So they put their plans on hold and each one of them tries to find the other.Through a series of near misses they literally find each other and of course sparks fly. The end.As I said it's not a deep movie. It's not an engrossing movie. And it's not a particularly clever movie. But it's fun. And that's really the best thing that can be said about it.

Ever felt you locked yourself in a slushy romantic comedy and you have no alternative but to accept the fact that you brought the ticket and you have to endure all the mushiness whether you like it or not? So we have two very attractive individuals who are going their business going Holiday shopping and then by by default they start conversing with each other over a certain item and it takes till eternity.This truly is what the film "Serendipity" is all about. Just a standardized, done to death structured, man meets woman romantic comedy. I can imagine screenwriter Marc Klein scratching his head trying to add an original twist to the overblown genre, but can't and does all he can guarantee we can still enjoy the film no matter what the outcome is.The movie is directed by Peter Chelsom who has directed such great films like "Funny Bones", "Here My Song" and the career-high for him which was Warren Beatty's "Town and Country". The leading performers are John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale as two urban-dwellers who meet by default and fall in love. The only problem, they're both seeing other people.Sure it looks polished when written, even through the casting of Cusack who can always provide a competent performance in romantic comedies with his general likeness and warm personality of the roles he's played in his career. But still Cusack requires a compelling script and a proper haircut. He loses here on both accounts here. It has all the similarities to the 1993 classic "Sleepless in Seattle" and the overly sugary "You've Got Mail". The only difference we get here is awkward silliness over the more wittiness that aforementioned films provided. And it's nowhere close to the inventive intentions of the always enjoyable "When Harry Met Sally".Cusack plays the role of Jonathan a TV news director who's gone holiday shopping when he randomly meets a young lady named Sara (Kate Beckinsale) who we don't know what her profession is, but we do know she's obsessed with a thing called fate. They join each other for coffee at a place called "Serendipity", imagine that. This events leads them for a little skating at Lincoln Centre and get more closer to each other as the superficial snowflakes come falling down their hair. She eventually writes her number in the book "Love in the Time of Cholera" and he writes his number on a five dollar bill. Which means if they should cross each others numbers by coincidence in the future, it means they were meant to be together.And so for a ninety minute film it feel like an eternity when these two ever meet each other again. Even though the premise of this film of two strangers whose acquaintances rapidly involves to friendship which leads to love is very unheard of, what irks me the most is what about the people they're both seeing. How do they fit into the picture? To really ensure a likeness to John and Sara, they have to be in a relationship where their lovers aren't that likable, but not overly hated to the point where we question the tastes within John and Sara. By way of contrast their loves can't be too likable because we wouldn't have any reasons why we should care for John and Sara. From my observations, John seems to dating a likable, but not a very interesting woman. And Sara seems to be in a relationship with a musician of an Eastern band, tooting on his flute while romantic interludes are interrupted while shouting through his cellphone. He's foolish but hard to know how foolish he is exactly.These shenanigans go on until Jonathan and Sara finally become a couple as they casually kick their lovers to the curb. The scenes seem absurdly simplistic with no gasping spark, and the clichéd happy ending feels predicable and forced with no real obstacle for either of them."Serendipity" reminds me a lot like Ulu Grosbard's more superior and vastly underrated Brief Encounter remake starring Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro which has a similar theme about two people meeting by chance while Christmas shopping with the exception being that movie has a more real story behind it and a more mature approach that the stars must face.Sure the genre of this movie is a romantic comedy, but for this movie to work we need something believable to invest into the story. "Serendipity" doesn't have anything we can relate because everything is so innocent. It's like everything is handed so simple to the couple we never see any conflicts to make us fully care about the characters no matter how likable they are.

Serendipity is a romantic comedy that just does NOT work. I have seen this film twice, truthfully it's one of my family's favorite films, but I can't stand it. John cusack is completely UNlikable here, I feel nothing in his performance, no heart and no feeling. And there is no romantic on screen chemistry between Beckinsale and Cusack, absolutely none. That is what a romantic comedy must get right, that is the chemistry. I will say this, Molly Shannon is good here, funny as hell. Truth be told that's why I gave it a 2, she was the only good part of this film. John Corbett is weak here, he fails as being funny or slightly entertaining. The writing is just standard, nothing special to brag about. Jeremy Piven also falls flat. This movie is BORING, it doesn't engage its audience at all, doesn't offer any real feeling or satisfaction either. I wish I could give you a good review of Serendipity and say it's a cute heart warming movie with good chemistry, but unfortunately, that's just what I wish it was, I put the majority of the blame on John Cusack, and the lack of chemistry. Serendipity receives only a 2/10, because of Molly Shannon's funny performance as Beckinsale's best friend.

In this romantic love story it tells the tale of how two ordinary people meet while Christmas shopping and give the universe a sign of one another in order to find out if they are meant for each other. Years later they both get the other person's sign and know their love was meant to be. Before the couple gets together years later, they were both about to get married to someone else. I guess everyone has someone they're meant to end up with. The name's of the two people are Jonathan and Kate, Kate describes Serendipity as "a fortunate accident". Which describes the movie perfectly because them meeting was supposed to happen and usually accidents aren't good, but in this movie it was a good thing that they did meet. The way that the universe kept sending them signals of each other before they met again was interesting. Both of them almost gave up because they didn't know where else to find each other. They then met again at the Ice Rink where they went after meeting and were together for a long time. This movie is a great movie to watch at any time, but better during around the holidays because it's around winter season in the movie. I love the concept of how fate can bring any two people closer than they thought.