Imagine Me and You (2006)
Directed by Ol Parker
Written by Ol Parker
Starring Piper Perabo, Darren Boyd, Matthew Goode, Lena Headey
Release Date June 16th, 2006
Published June 24th, 2006
New Rule: Never watch a romantic movie after you have had your heart broken. You can't possibly be objective. Take for instance the new to DVD romantic comedy Imagine Me and You starring Piper Perabo. This pencil thin romance barely scratches the surface of it's characters and is certainly no visual wonder and yet I loved it. I loved it because like great comfort food even the most flawed romance can't help but instill good feelings.
Piper Perabo stars in Imagine Me and You as Rachel, an English girl on her wedding day. Like all brides she is beautiful and beaming in love. Her soon to be husband is Hector (Matthew Goode), Heck to his friends, a super nice guy, handsome, kind hearted and her best friend. According to the best man, Heck's best friend Cooper (Darren Boyd), Rachel and Heck have been married for years and are only now making it official.
The wedded bliss seems unstoppable even after Rachel meets Luce (Lena Headey) and the two have a typical romantic comedy meet cute, Rachel dropped her wedding ring in the punch bowl and Luce fished it out for her. The chemistry between the ostensibly straight Rachel and the openly gay Luce is palpable but Rachel just got married.
Nevertheless Rachel is feeling something and attempts to make friends with Luce but soon the attraction becomes undeniable and someone is going to get hurt.
It's not all that complicated a story. Poor Heck was doomed from the start of the film. We know this going in so all that director Ol Parker, in his debut picture, can do is try and be funny along the way to prolonging the inevitable which naturally comes with a chase to the airport, don't they always.
The key to Imagine Me and You are the performers. Piper Perabo, employing a surprisingly good British accent, uses her unending likability to smooth over much of the ill will her rather flighty decision making might engender. Lena Headey is a strong presence that any straight woman might have a hard time resisting. She too is likable and pleasant enough that we forgive her for breaking up the cute married couple.
Matthew Goode is a star in the making. Watch him in one of last year's best films, Woody Allen's Match Point, and now here in Imagine Me and You and his charisma is undeniable. The inevitable Hugh Grant comparisons are made only because he is British. Goode is far more weighty and present than Grant who could not pull off the performances Goode has in his first two features. Combining wit, charm and a deep soul Goode's Heck is the only character we truly feel that we get to know in the picture, everyone else is likable but pulled along by the plot.
Even as the characters are thin representations of real people and the plot is terribly predictable and the script is filled with awful platitudes about love at first sight, love eternal and all that romantic stuff, I can't find fault with such a lovable picture.
Never watch a love story when your heart is broken. Remember that. You might watch a movie like Imagine Me and You and with judgment impaired recommend it to all of your friends and various strangers. Like a great piece of comforting candy or ice cream, I can't help but love this ridiculous little romance Imagine Me and You.
