Sliding Doors

I have probably watched this movie about 10 times since its release and still enjoy its twists and turns. John Hannah is simply adorable as James and his Glaswegian sense of humour still makes me laugh out loud even though I know the jokes in advance. Every performance is great but Gwynyth Paltrow deserves a special mention for her faultless role as two different versions of the same woman at once. Without giving anything away, I did not see the ending coming at all the first time through but it was entirely satisfying without being cloyingly Hollywood. Don't expect a cultural masterpiece. Just 'the Spanish inquisition' and some fine entertainment. Highly recommended

One morning, on arrival at her PR company, Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) finds out that she has just been sacked. She's on her way home and then she misses the tube train.

But what if she made it? She meets James (John Hannah) on the train, who's sitting right next to her and who's a friendly and witty man. When Helen gets home, she sees her boyfriend, Gerry (John Lynch) in bed with his ex-girlfriend, Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and Helen quickly ends her relationship with Gerry and forms a new, loving one with James.

The other possibility is that, Helen misses the train, gets robbed and a nasty cut, goes to hospital and by the time she arrives at home Gerry is already in the shower. Helen then gets a sandwich job and a waitressing job in order to support her loser boyfriend who is supposed to be writing his first novel but in fact has been cheating on her.

As the ending approaches, the story becomes unpredictable and it leaves you wonder why it has to go this way. The ending is likewise enigmatic. Heartily recommended.

This film is a lightweight comedy/drama with a unique story. Although Gwyneth Paltrow plays the same character in both aspects of the story, both Helens seem completely different. The flow of the story seems quite natural and the cast does a wonderful job going through the twists and turns of their characters lives. It's a chick flick with none of the sap.

I am so enamored with this kind of film. How many people have asked the question after having an accident or chanced upon something, "If I had only left a minute later, none of this would have happened." Now we get into the who time continuum thing and parallel universes. I know this isn't a science fiction film, although a Twilight Zone episode may have fun with this plot. When we are dealing with the characters colliding through the fourth dimension, a whole different set of circumstances are put in motion. The reason we can never travel back in time (while forward is possible) is that time would then become mutable and what we are may no longer be and then we wouldn't travel back in time. Two roads diverge in a woods paraphrasing Robert Frost, but what if we could take each of those roads and see what happens. This movie is quite magical and does the best it can to get Gwyneth Paltrow through her parallel universes and see the things that one would see. I think the problem is that unless we get into quantum physics, it's hard for the average person to really reconcile these sorts of events. I thought the acting was very good and believe things as they unfurled. I would recommend this film if you like to think about the possibilities it envisions. Try it on yourself sometime and extrapolate your own existence from some fork in the road and imagine what may have been.

The romantic comedy, 'Sliding Doors', is a great look at how quickly a person's life can change in a matter of moments. By taking one path instead of another, forming a tantalizing 'what if?' In fact this movie gives the impression that some things are meant to be known, while some things are not.

London publicists Helen, is effortlessly sliding between parallel storylines that show what happens if she does or does not catch a morning train back to her apartment. Love. Romantic entanglements. Deception. Trust. Friendship. Comedy. All come into focus back and forth, overlap, then surprisingly converge in one of the great romantic comedy films in years.

Sliding doors is one of the best films that Gwyneth Paltrow has done. It has it all, humour, anger, sadness, love, compassion and a lot of lying. This movie is most special for the way the two storylines overlap, making this a very original movie. Paltrow's performance is grand as the 'hurt Helen' or the very 'naïve Helen', depending on which parts of the film you are watching. Some of her lines are priceless. Paltrow has had a very celebrated career in acting and of late singing and deserves all the accolades she gets. It was also refreshing to watch her in the murder thriller 'The perfect murder', along with screen legend Michael Douglas.

Yet there are some other great performances in this film. John Hannah was exceptional as the sensitive and understanding 'James', who is helping the 'hurt Helen' back to being her 'old self'. Then you have the cheating boy 'Jerry' played by John Lynch, who was using the 'naïve Helen' to live out a very adulterous and selfish lifestyle. It was very funny to see the way he handled the situation with Helen actually. Then to top it all off, we get a great performance from Jeanne Tripplehorn, who was Jerry's girlfriend on the side, who gives Jerry a very difficult time in both parts of the story.

This film also has an impressive soundtrack. With acts like Blair, the Brand New Heavies, Dodgy, Jamiroquai and the Space Monkeys. Yet there are two very famous parts to this soundtrack. One is Elton John, who is given a bad mention in the movie, when Jerry is caught in a most precarious of positions while playing the Elton John song, 'Honky Cat'. However the best song on the whole soundtrack comes from the band Aqua, with the tune 'Turn Back Time', which suited the film perfectly. The film clip to this song is also very good.

Sliding doors is one of those feel good movies, which can also make you feel sad as well. It shows how difficult life can be in a relationship and how important relationships can be as well. It also proves that relationships are extremely hard work and you need to find someone who you trust and love and that you get the same feelings back in return. If you want to see the good and bad sides of love take a look at this romantic classic.

CMRS gives 'Sliding Doors': 4.5 (Very Good- Brilliant Film)