La scelta del destino

IN A NUTSHELL: This romantic comedy is a tale of two people who believe in love, but seem to never be able to find its true meaning. In a wild twist of events, fate puts each in the other's path on a stormy New Year's Eve, as comedy and chaos ensue.

The film was directed by Marius Vaysberg, and is based on the play "Happy Steam-Bathing! Once On A New Year's Eve." Apparently, this is an American remake of the Russian movie from 1975 called "The Irony of Fate or Enjoy Your Bath" which is considered to be a holiday classic there. Quite a few negative comments from that Russian cast have been made about this remake. Another remake was made in 2015 called I Love NY.

THINGS I LIKED: I like Emma Roberts and want her to do well in her career. Her famous aunt, Julia Roberts, must be proud.

The true standout of the cast, for me, is Thomas Mann. I'd like to see more of him. He's charming and humble and perfectly awkward. I thought he and Emma Roberts had good chemistry.

Other cast members include Britt Robertson, Lewis Tan, Cheryl Hines, Madelaine Petsch, and Wendie Malick.

I loved the orange candle trick during the wedding scene.

That carnation pink coat is pretty cute and meaningful in the story. I love it when details overlap in stories.

The last scene was super sweet.

The story is very cliched, but if you don't mind, you'll enjoy the goofy romance.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: I really like the actress Britt Robertson, who has played the leading lady in quite a few rom-coms of her own. Unfortunately, the character she plays in this movie is so self-absorbed and demanding that she is unlikeable.

Some of the dialogue is pretty lame.

All of the women in the movie are "EXTRA" and a bit psycho. The men are mostly clueless and incapable of handling their wacky women. None of the characters seem realistic at all.

Much of the humor doesn't land. Nothing made me laugh out loud.

The setup of the leading man accidentally ending up in the leading woman's bed because he thought it was his apartment is completely ridiculous. How did he get in? Didn't he recognize all of the different furniture?

There are so many rom-com tropes from other/better movies, making the movie entirely predictable.

The background music is super sentimental, telling you exactly how to feel at every moment.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Lots of alcohol and drunk people A woman is high Some kissing "Mild" profanity A fight scene between men

THEMES: Fate Romance & true love Forgiveness Breakups Wedding Being flexible Hope

Roberts is a really good actor who seems to get better as time passes. The film was light hearted without vulgarity nudity with a half decent storyline. Nowadays it's almost impossible finding anything even partly worth watching so this was pleasant. All the characters did a good job. It's more of a 7 than a 10 yet gets the high score due to the unfair rating on here. The story was actually interesting as you initially get the feeling that it's been done before yet then your pleasantly suprised. It also doesn't have the typical cliches most romance films have which gave it a nice twist. Watch for a cool sweet romance to make you smile.

A modern day movie that's worth watching without all the agenda laden nonsense. At least, it wasn't as noticeable. A normal picture show with normal people and normal families. Emma Roberts looked amazing in this rom-com with her hair down because I didn't recognize her from the picture shown here on IMDb. This movie had so much potential and could've been so much more if it wasn't for the corny fight scene at the wedding. That scene almost lost me and it should have been a little more believable but it was so fake and why have a fight scene at all if you're not going to go all out. Another example of how one can make a great motion picture without all the profanity and sex.

I absolutely loved this movie.

In 2022, it is very hard to find a story like this.

The story is very character driven, there is no unnecessary subplots to confuse the viewer and there is no exploring side-character's stories unnecessarily.

Absolutely zero mention of THE MESSAGE.

(This is why this is a rare find in 2022)

In this movie, the just the lead actors telling their story how they meet on a fateful night and how they keep meeting for some reason is explored. It's just lead actors telling their story and the supporting actors are supporting the leads' story to progress.

Seven out of ten because there are some goofs and mishaps in the movie that make the viewer feel like deceived but it does not hurt the story's continuation.

A must watch if you love rom-coms which has the new year's eve theme bound to it.

An old style movie without the presumption to be a "neorealism movie" like those that win awards but nobody watches. I really enjoyed it. In a world where people confuse feelings with suffering, illness and other "real" things, well, watching this movie is like fresh water. Acting is fine, the story is clear since the first scene but who cares? We all need to dream, to love, to connect with our heart without constantly thinking about our real problems. We all live our days surrounded by anger, poverty, inflation, Covid, cancer, war, toxic relationships and a movie like this (as in the past) is a blessing.