Review of Imagine Me & You (2006) by Barbara D — 03 Jan 2011

"Imagine Me & You" is about a young woman named Rachel who has the big conventional white wedding and while she's supposed to be happy, she notices a charming lady named Luce who is present. When she feels an immediate connection with Luce, she then begins to realise that maybe she isn't straight, while at the same time she questions whether love at first sight is really possible.

This film has a wonderful cast, but the three standouts without a question are Piper Perabo as Rachel, Lena Headey as Luce and Matthew Goode as Rachel's husband Hector. Perabo is highly believable, which is especially impressive given that she is an American actress playing an English woman. Her accent didn't slip once and if I hadn't known she was American, I would've thought she was English like the rest of the cast. Apart from her accent, I really believed that her character was struggling with her sexuality. While she doesn't have any internalised homophobia like many of the other characters you'd see in film, she's still confused because she hasn't considered the fact that she may be a lesbian until she meets Luce. On that topic, the chemistry between Rachel and Luce is brilliantly done and is treated the exact same way as a straight couple. It's also refreshing to see a movie that doesn't stoop down to one-dimensional stereotypes or the classic lesbian sexploitation designed to please men. Apart from Rachel and Luce, Hector's character was really interesting because he's the person that comes between Luce and Rachel, but instead of being the classic villain, he's actually a three dimensional character. You can tell that he's really hurt by his situation, which just goes to show that some of the toughest decisions in life are made with the people you love, not necessarily with heartless antagonists.

After seeing the movie and reading the reception that it got from LGBT fans, I was completely baffled to find that it got mostly bad reviews. The main criticism from critics is that it's still a very generic story and the only thing different about it is that it has lesbians as the main couple. In that respect, the critics are right because the film does have that inevitable conflict between the two leads, the scene in which one of them has to stop the other from leaving, and of course, the happy ending. We've seen these cliches many times before, but how many times have we seen it with lesbians? I flat-out disagree with the critics in saying that these cliches would prevent it from being a good film. I actually think that they make the film all the more groundbreaking because they are treating a lesbian couple the exact same way as they would a straight couple in a typical rom-com. In fact, the film was originally written as a straight love story, but it was later changed because it seemed to make more sence with a same-sex couple.

I should also point out that even though the inevitable conflicts generally annoy me in romantic comedies, the conflict between the three leads in this film is actually genuine. Hector has to deal with the fact that although Rachel loves him, she'll never love him the same way she'll love Luce because she isn't straight. Rachel has to deal with the fact that the only way she can live an honest and happy life is if she is out. This is a very real conflict and I can guarantee that there are millions of people who are going through that exact same problem. So while there were other cliches in the movie, the problems that the characters face are very real.

The funny thing is that "Imagine Me & You" is not the only LGBT romantic comedy that has several cliches seen in straight ones. "Ethan Green" had a number of cliches, but it was bad because unlike "Imagine Me & You", it didn't have good characters or a decent cast, it didn't seem the least bit realistic and the writing was awful. We should thank the writer of "Imagine Me & You" for giving us a typical romantic comedy because this is where we're headed. We need more films like this which treat people as equal without being preachy or political. The fact that we have a generic romantic comedy with a same-sex couple is the future of equality.