Only You (1994)
A childhood incident has convinced Faith Corvatch that her true love is a guy named "Damon Bradley," but she has yet to meet him. Preparing to settle down and marry a foot doctor, Faith impulsively flies to Venice when it seems that she may be able to finally encounter the man of her dreams. Instead, she meets the charming Peter Wright. But can they fall in love if she still believes that she is intended to be with someone else?
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I can and do watch it over and over again: no violence, brutality, dark images or ugliness; all smiles, fun and beautiful locations with beautiful people in beautiful outfits. Locations themselves are worth watching it for, not to mention the acting which is brilliant. Tomei and Dawney seem such a wonderfully matching couple, you can easily believe they are a couple in real life. Bonnie Hunt is so beautiful, so natural, so perfect for this role. Loved the whole movie from start to finish, there are no slack moments, you must watch it or loose the thread. What is more, the story line is believable - well almost, apart from bits here and there, such as you can not just change flights at moment's notice and it seems the action takes place over not just 48 hours but at least five days or more! Recommend it heartily - and wish there were more movies like this and much less the "other" kind that are full of dark scenes, killing, gore and brutality.
"Only You" is an immodest, sweet confection, a romantic comedy from one end to the other that doesn't have much meat on it but is the kind of movie that you cozy up with with cup of hot chocolate. It is slightly better than I might have expected and that's probably due to the talent involved.The movie stars Marisa Tomei, probably the only actress who could have made this material believable. She has the effect of being cute without being cutesy. She plays the appropriately named Faith who, since childhood, has believed that her entire destiny is leading her to be with a man named Damon Bradley. She is told by a fortune teller at the age of 11 that she and Bradley are destined to be together. She has no idea who this man is, but stands hard and fast to the information that their bond is written in the stars.Years later, now in her 20s, she has given up on Damon Bradley and is about to marry a podiatrist. On her wedding day, she receives a phone call from a friend of her husband-to-be saying that he cannot attend. His name . . . Damon Bradley, and he's on his way to Rome. Without a second thought, Faith and her sister-in-law Kate (played by the invaluable Bonnie Hunt) jump on a plane and go after him.Faith and Kate run around Venice like maniacs trying to track down Damon Bradley and when they find him, he turns out to be exactly what Faith had hoped he would be. He is handsome, dark-haired, charming and looks exactly like Robert Downey Jr. Who wouldn't swoon? The two embark on a sweet tour of Rome, very much in the same vein that Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck did in Roman Holiday. In fact, one of their stops is Pavonazzetto marble monument of The Mouth of Truth which was most famously seen in that 1953 classic.Yet, it wouldn't be romantic comedy if they simply fell in love. A complication arises with the validity of whether or not Downey actually is Damon Bradley. That sets the whole movie off on a wacky romp through the countryside as he tries to prove to her that he really is in love with her, despite the validity of his claim.This is all not to be believed. Only You is the kind of happy romantic comedy of a bygone era, before cynicism became an insurance policy. This is a movie that believes in destiny and fate and love at first sight and it is played through a cast of actors who are smart enough and convincing enough to pull it off. What distinguishes this movie above most is that it is always just a notch better than it should be.Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. are beautiful people but they are such good actors that they are able to sell this story with a convincing charm. Tomei, with her wide-eyes, and pouty lips is able to push through this confection and make you believe that she really does believe everything that she is saying. Downey too is excellent, giving us a character who wears his heart on his sleeve. He loves this woman and he is willing to do what it takes to be with her. They're good together, even when the script tips in the direction of being too unbelievable for its own good.Both Downey and Tomei are wonderful, but for my money, the real gem of this movie is the supporting performance of Bonnie Hunt, as Faith's eternally-loyal sister-in-law. She always stands just to the side of Tomei and brings the movie an unexpected, and very funny, extra joy. Her comic timing is flawless. She has a manner of giving us funny asides that are delivered with just the right precision like: "I married a liar. Why? Because I married a man." I love that line and her comment when she and Faith are dismayed by an awful wedding dress that had been handed down, she says "If I had a dress like that, I'd give it away too."Kate has her own problems back home with an uncaring husband (Fisher Stevens) how has long ago abandoned love for a union that doesn't stretch beyond "Where's dinner?" She's a portrait of what happens to a marriage long after the ceremony when two people have settled into a relentless pattern of misunderstanding. Yet, what comes of their relationship completely took me by surprise."Only You" was directed by Norman Jewison, the man who directed "Fiddler on the Roof", "In the Heat of the Night" and the one of the best romantic comedies of all time "Moonstruck". He doesn't succeed as well this time. This movie often feels like a nice day off, something he made as a lark. The movie is like cotton candy, all about romance and love and destiny shot against the background of one of the most beautiful locations on earth. There's nothing really wrong with that, it is probably better than it should be, given the creative talents but it won't leave you with much to think about.
'Only You' is the type of movie that makes anyone with a Y chromosome shudder in bewilderment. It embodies everything that romance-craving women want from a movie, and nothing a thoughtful viewer does. Marissa Tomei is told as a child that she will marry someone named Damon Bradley, and as an adult (I use the word generously) she decides to fly to Italy with one hours notice in pursuit of a stranger with that name. The crew at the airport accepts her idiotic reasoning for reopening the flight she missed ("The man I'll marry is on that plane." ?) and off she goes to Italy. When a man does this it's called 'stalking' or 'a security situation.' In the movie's grotesquely stereotypical idea of Italy, she improbably locates Damon after being completely boorish with a hotel clerk. The hotel clerk, who's old enough to give this girl an earful, instead instantly becomes cooperative, because he has no life, pride, story or values of his own. Bad writing is like that. Oh and her sister comes along too. I can only recount that much of the plot because this was so phenomenally stupid after 40 minutes that my attention drifted. Most people, I find, appreciate 'common sense' both in life and in movies. Nothing in this remotely resembles life as you know it. For the length of the movie, Tomei and Hunt sit in judgment of men and their perceived failings, without ever once acknowledging Tomei is at best a complete flake, and at worst... a fickle, developmentally-delayed lunatic. In the end, after a similar plane-boarding crisis is overcome and true love bursts out on the plane, a crowd of Italian airport personnel stands on the tarmac waving bye-bye (to a jumbo-jet?). When one thinks of the painstaking care and artistry on display in old film noirs, this movie looks like garbage.
What could be more wonderful than this? Everything about it is right. What intrigues me most is the mystery as to why Diane Drake, who wrote this and the equally wonderful film 'What Women Want', has never written any other film. And who is she? She must be a very shy creature indeed, hiding her talents away in some burrow or nest somewhere, emerging only on two occasions to delight us with these magnificent scripts. With this one, the inimitable Norman Jewison was on hand to use his well-honed directorial talents to produce the ultimate feel-good film. The casting is perfect. Who could be cuter and more engaging than Marisa Tomei at this age? She has a personality uniquely her own, which is so rare in this age of starlet clones. Every film she appears in glows with her special presence. The leading man, Robert Downey, Junior, is her perfect match. Bonnie Hunt as Marisa Tomei's sister-in-law is the perfect support, such a well-judged performance in every way. The comedic timing is perfect, the lightness of touch is there, it all works. When so many attempts at comedy fail by trying too hard, this all gives the impression of being effortless. The story is magical, and so funny: a childhood 'spirit message' giving the name of Damon Bradley to an eleven year-old girl that he would be her soul-mate and husband when she grew up. So fourteen years later, she sets out on a madcap search for him in Italy, with beautiful shots of Venice, Rome, and Positano to enrich the adventure. One has to keep in mind that this film was made in 1994, before the internet existed. I have just done a search on switchboard.com and there are fifteen Damon Bradleys listed in the USA. That would have ruined the story, as it takes all the mystery away. The girl would simply have looked them all up and worked her way through them, not nearly so romantic as a wild and hilarious adventure in Italy. So thank God for the past, or we would not have had this wonderful film. And this bring us to this consideration: just how much magic has been taken out of our lives by having too much information available too quickly? (The fact that it is in an undigested form makes it so much worse.) Do we know too much, and thereby understand too little? Immersing ourselves in this delightful film can remind us of what life was almost like, just a little while ago, or would have been like, if we were Robert Downey and Marisa Tomei perhaps.