Imagine Me & You Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)February 2nd, 2006
IMAGINE ME & YOU
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
Piper Perabo is an extremely lightweight actress who has trouble giving convincing performances in even minor supporting roles. She is one of the forgettable dozen in the CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN series. When she tries to carry a movie, as she does in IMAGINE ME & YOU, the results are pretty disastrous. Although the movie is mainly a romantic comedy, the generic story requires Perabo to attempt drama as well. This is a stretch of which she is completely and utterly incapable.
Written and directed by Ol Parker, IMAGINE ME & YOU is a throwback. Although gay-themed films are becoming all the rage in the film industry, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has significantly raised the bar. Moviegoers now expect movies about gay people to be able to demonstrate at least a modicum of believability. Parker's picture, filled with plastic people, strikes one false note after another in its painfully predictable plot. Not only are the characters he creates rarely credible, they aren't very interesting either. The dialog consists of small talk -- very small.
The plot has CHASING LIBERTY's Matthew Goode, a weak actor who still manages to outshine his costar, playing a handsome English bloke named Heck. As the film opens, Heck is about to marry Rachel (Perabo), the love of his life and a woman who has been his live-in companion for many years.
Coop (Darren Boyd, HIGH HEELS AND LOW LIFES) and Luce (Lena Headey, THE CAVE) are the other "couple" in the story. Coop, Heck's best man, is the stereotypical playboy who brags about shagging every girl he has ever met. Rachel's friend Luce owns a flower shop, where a stream of customers come in to bare their souls while ordering bouquets to cover every occasion.
Yes, you guessed it. Coop's perfect record gets shattered when he finds that Luce is gay, something that Luce had been hiding from her friends. Coop's talk of "playing for the other side" and an aggressive pursuit does not get Luce to agree to change her sexual preference in order to go to bed with him.
Of course, Rachel, who is described as "Barbie Doll heterosexual," and Luce, who is said to be as "gay as a tennis player," will fall for each other. Recent wedding vows about "till death do us part" will not stop Rachel's quest for her new love.
There is little to recommend IMAGINE ME & YOU, although there is one well staged sex scene in the woods that is funny. The humor comes from the reason that the sex never gets started. And, speaking of things that don't happen, don't go to IMAGINE ME & YOU hoping that it might at least be a guilty pleasure since it is a lesbian story, which is rated R. This chaste film is a mild PG-13. A couple of fairly pedestrian kisses by Rachel and Luce appear to be the reason for the R rating.
IMAGINE ME & YOU runs a long 1:33. It is rated R for "some language and sexual material" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, February 3, 2006. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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