Imagine Me and You Review

January 27, 2006 11:10 AM
by [email]

Writer/director Ol Parker believes in love at first site, a notion that struck him with “bells, whistles, and fireworks,” when his wife-to-be walked through the door. Since Parker is married to the actress Thandie Newton (“Crash”, “Beloved”), who could make many a man or woman denounce fear of commitment, I’d recommend taking his exuberance with a grain of salt.

But when implausible convictions are translated to screen with wit, charm, and just an ounce of sentiment, it’s hard not to at least contemplate being convinced.

“Imagine Me and You,” which is Parker’s fourth screenplay and first foray into directing, is a thoroughly British romantic comedy that opens like an even cheerier “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” There’s only one wedding this time, between Rachel and Heck (Piper Perabo and Matthew Goode) a nauseatingly perfect British couple who have been best friends for so long the roles “lover” are only a natural progression.

Fetching florist Luce (Lena Headey) walks right past the altar and intrudes on Heck and Rachel’s fairy tale. Out-of-place and surrounded by black tie, Luce befriends Rachel’s perpetually inquisitive eight year old sister “H” (Boo Jackson) because she’s the only person willing to answer the kid’s questions.

During the ceremony, Rachel’s ring falls into a bowl of punch, and Luce wets her sleeves and saves the day.

Rachel and Heck initially think Luce is the perfect match for their friend Cooper (Darren Boyd), a womanizer who has some of the best lines in the movie (“Fuck me if I’m wrong,” he tells Luce, “But I think you want to kiss me.”) When Luce reveals that she’s a lesbian, Cooper is sure anyone can “switch teams,” and Rachel starts to wonder if the odd feeling she had when she first saw Luce was more than simply platonic.

If “Imagine Me and You” was a Hollywood film, it would have been toted as specifically gay, a funny, colorful, female “Brokeback Mountain” set in London. But Parker stumbled into the more inventive plot when he realized that if Rachel fell in love with a man, the movie would have been over in twenty minutes.

Smart move. Not only does the script work on a purely entertaining level (there are literally no slow spots), Parker makes a statement that - with the exception of a scene when Heck and Rachel stumble on a gay couple in the woods - is nicely understated.

Parker doesn’t create an antagonist, which puts the viewer in an odd spot. As played by the charismatic Goode (“Matchpoint”), Heck is incredibly appealing, and I was genuinely torn between admiring Rachel and Luce’s fledgling affection and hoping Rachel would give up and work it out with her perfectly lovely husband. Of all the dilemmas a girl could have, Rachel’s is envy-worthy, but Perabo’s performance is so winsome and emotionally spot-on I felt sorry for her.

The movie is bolstered by several subplots, including Luce’s relationship with her bitter single mother, and Rachel’s bickering parents and preternaturally wise kid sister (Jackson steals virtually all her scenes).

Through these dimensional characters, Parker is able maintain a streak of honesty even when the movie takes on a fluffy layer of implausibility most evident in one of the final scenes, when a cyclist singing the popular Beatles song that also happens to be the movie’s name inspires Rachel to jump on the roof of her taxi and scream “Luce!”

Moments like this are redundant of so many cute romantic comedies, but since “Imagine Me and You” has witty British characters and complex relationships, it ends up heads and shoulders above the rest. Rather than harping on sexuality, Parker has simply made a sweet, sometimes very funny film in which two lovers – orientations irrelevant – stop dreaming and start living. And that alone is worthy of imagination.

Grade: B+