Return to Me Review
by Eugene Novikov (lordeugene_98 AT yahoo DOT com)April 2nd, 2000
Return to Me (2000)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
Member: Online Film Critics Society
Starring David Duchovny, Minnie Driver, Bonnie Hunt, James Belushi, Robert Loggia, Carroll O'Connor, David Alan Grier. Directed by Bonnie Hunt. Rated PG.
A new meaning is given to the expression "matters of the heart" in the farfetched, graceful new romantic comedy Return to Me. It stars David "Agent Mulder" Duchovny, in his second non-X-Files lead role (his first came in 1997, in the gigantic flop Playing God), who impresses with his charisma and comic timing, and Minnie Driver, whose smile is simply contagious. This is an exuberant but non-manipulative fairy tale about love prevailing over the most bizarre of circumstances.
The wife of architect/construction worker Bob Rueland (Duchovny) dies in a tragic car accident. We don't see it happen because director Bonnie Hunt wanted to preserve the gentle PG rating and because it doesn't really matter how it happened, only that it did. She was an organ donor. Her heart was healthy; it is given to Grace Briggs (Driver), a woman who has lost almost all hope for getting one. The transplant goes well, and although Grace is destined to live with a visible scar on her chest, her prognosis is excellent.
Things aren't so hunky-dory with Bob, however. He hasn't stopped grieving. He doesn't go out. His veterinarian friend (David Alan Grier) is desperately trying to get him to live again, but it doesn't seem to be working. The one time Bob does go out on a date, it's a disaster. Even his dog hasn't gotten over its master's demise; every day when Bob enters the house, the dog remains at the door, waiting for Mrs. Rueland to come in after him.
Bob and Grace meet, of course. They both have the feeling that they've seen each other before, which they really haven't. They fall in love. Neither have any idea how they are related to each other. For once, it's a relationship based not on a mood swing or a passionate desire based on appearances. Instead it's two people who genuinely like each other -- that is, each thinks the other is a nice person who is fun to be around. It's genuine: we really feel that these two people may have a future together.
The idea at the movie's core is farfetched, even ludicrous. The chances that these two people would actually meet and fall in love without realizing the situation are negligible. But it doesn't matter. First- time director Bonnie Hunt, who also stars as Grace's wise-cracking girlfriend doesn't linger on the specifics. The heart-transplant subplot is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. After the first 20 minutes, when the plot is set in motion, Return to Me is about its characters rather than the situation they are in. The result is a sweet love story, far more affecting than the average romantic drivel because it's so much less phony.
The surprise here is David Duchovny. Until now, the X-Files star has failed miserably on the big screen (except, obviously, in the X-Files movie) and I was ready to consider him incapable of playing anyone other than the obsessed Agent Mulder. In Return to Me, we discover his penchant for comedy. I wouldn't star him in a slapstick extravaganza but his everyday Joe appeal turns out to be perfect for the sort of sentimental shtick that abounds here.
Here's the ultimate pitch for Return to Me: you'll laugh, you'll cry, you won't have the temptation to puke. The biggest problem with movie love stories, perhaps, is that some of them are sappy and fake, their emotions exaggerated to the point where we cringe, not believing a frame of what we're seeing. Granted, a man probably wouldn't fall in love with a woman who has his dead wife's heart. But the emotions here are true.
Grade: B+
©2000 Eugene Novikov
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