One Day
Director:
Lone Scherfig
Writer:
David Nicholls
Cast:
Anne Hathaway – Emma
Jim Sturgess – Dexter
Tom Mison – Callum
Rafe Spall – Ian
Patricia Clarkson – Alison
Ken Stott – Steven
Romola Garai – Sylvie
Language:
English
Release Dates:
USA – 8 August 2011
UK – 24 August 2011
Ratings:
UK: 12A
USA: PG-13
Canada: PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario)
Canada: 14A (Manitoba)
Canada: G (Quebec)
Ireland: 12A
Netherlands: 6
Sweden: 7
Switzerland: 12 (Cantons of Vaud & Geneva)
Common Sense Rating: OK for kids 15+
IMDb: 6.8/10
Metacritic: 48/100
Netflix: 3.1/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 36% (Rotten)
Jim Sturgess & Anne Hathaway
One Day is a recent entry into the time-honored “two good looking people fall in love” genre, except that in this case it takes them a while.
Look, I’m just gonna say this right at the outset, there are so many things wrong with One Day that it pretty much squanders what is actually a reasonably unique concept.
Here’s the setup: On St. Swithin’s Day in 1988, recent British college graduates Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess) meet and instantly have a drunken one night stand. They decide to forego an attempt at an actual romantic relationship and just stay friends. The movie then checks in on Emma and Dexter every July 15th for the next 23 years as their relationship, their careers, and their relationships with others go through ups and downs.
The first problem I have is that, except for the graphic that comes up and says “15th July” and the year, there really isn’t anything that indicates the passage of time and eras. You see an occasional typewriter in the late 80s, and Dexter’s hair has a bit of gray to it towards the end of the movie, but that’s pretty much it.
Of course, I haven’t changed much since 1988 really. I was bald and overweight then too.
Some reviewers have had a problem with Anne Hathaway’s British accent, not being British it seemed OK to me. After a while I forgot about it. If any of my UK fervent readers want to weigh in on that I would love to hear it.
My biggest issue with One Day is that I didn’t really connect with Emma and Dexter as characters. I don’t know if that’s because we only see them one day a year, but the fact is that I never really liked them. I liked Emma a little bit better, probably because she’s played by Anne Hathaway, but Dexter was kind of a jerk. Granted, he grows a little over the years but it’s still pretty hard for me to see how Emma or anybody would fall in love with him.
The Misplaced Boy MST3K Scale:
So, all in all, One Day is pretty meh. Not evil, just meh.
Professor Bobo
Random Quote Whore Quote
“One Day is a respectful, blameworthy, desorption of a movie! Anne Hathaway is derisible!!!”
A MISPLACED BOY WILL RETURN
in
A Misplaced Boy 
1996: It is clear that although Ian and Emma now share a flat, she is disillusioned with him, as he is a deadbeat not earning money and not even working on their home like he promised. Emma goes out to meet Dexter at a posh club. He asks how her relationship with Ian is, and she kind of jokes that it is fine. Dexter goes to the bathroom and does some drugs, and when he returns he insults her job as a teacher. She curses at him and leaves. Dexter chases after her. Emma yells at him that she hasn’t seen him sober in three years, and that she really needed to talk to him about being stuck in a relationship with a man she doesn’t love. She knows he’s been through a lot, what with his mom dying, but she can’t even talk to him, and if she can’t talk to him, then what is the point? She storms off and he asks if they are “breaking up”. She comes back, hugs him, and tells him that she loves him, but she doesn’t like who he is anymore. She turns and leaves Dexter staring after her.
Yeah, I guess that’s why I didn’t connect with them as characters…they were both pretty immature.