''Happy Accidents'' is a 2000 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film starring

Marisa Tomei Marisa Tomei ( , ; born December 4, 1964) is an American actress. She came to prominence as a cast member on '' The Cosby Show'' spin-off '' A Different World'' in 1987. After having minor roles in a few films, she came to international attentio ...

and

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

. The film follows Ruby Weaver, a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

woman with a string of failed relationships, and Sam Deed, a man who claims to be from the year 2470. The film was shot almost entirely in Brooklyn, New York.

Plot

Ruby Weaver is weary of her long history of failed relationships with men when she meets Sam Deed in a park. But after the two fall in love, Ruby becomes suspicious of Sam's past, his obsession with a "Chrystie Delancey", and "causal effect". Under pressure from her, he finally explains that he is really from the year 2470 and is what he calls a "back traveler". Ruby initially ignores this story, but after Sam's persistence, she begins to wonder. She takes him to see her therapist Meg Ford. Ruby becomes worried as to Sam's sanity when he reveals that everything he has done was a deliberate attempt to change her life. In the end, both Deed ''and'' Ford turn out to be time travelers and the fatal accident that would have killed Ruby is avoided.

Cast

Reception

''Happy Accidents'' was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2000.The film later opened in limited release on August 24, 2001 to 2 screens in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

earning $14,840 on its opening weekend, and (the weekend before 9/11) reaching a widest release of 49 screens and grossing a total of $688,523 domestically in the United States. On

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a 71% approval rating, based on 62 reviews with an average rating of 6.36/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Happy Accidents'' has enough quirkiness and charm to rise above the more formulaic entries in the romantic comedy genre." In his review of the film Roger Ebert describes it as being "essentially silliness crossed with science fiction", giving the film a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. Ebert's co-host on '' Ebert & Roeper'',

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

, ranked it #8 on his top ten films of the year list.

References

External links

* {{Brad Anderson American romantic comedy films 2000 romantic comedy films Films shot in New York City 2000s romantic fantasy films Films about time travel Films directed by Brad Anderson American romantic fantasy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films 2000 independent films