Review of Only You (1994) by Jean B — 22 Jul 2010

There are certain movies that can only be appreciated prior to 9/11, prom, and The Great Recession. "Only You," unfortunately enough, was recommended to me by friends after all of those events.

As much as I love romance and the whole carpe diem notion, I dearly wanted to embrace Faith and her feverish pursuit of her soulmate. (Really? They had to name her that AND have her use Ouija boards and seek out fortune tellers?) I wanted to experience the same magic that my other girlfriends had.

Then came all the itty bitty moments of... WHO ARE YOU KIDDING. With effort, I looked past the fact that she was ditching her wedding in 10 days to chase a name given to her from the two previously mentioned superstitious board games and people.

I attempted to laugh at the dated sequence of running past the security checkpoint and demanding to be let onto a plane without a ticket or ID. And then came the whole parade of five-star hotels on a friend's credit card without any hesitation, and oh yeah, Faith.

I got it that she was in complete love with the idea of meeting her other half in the next minute but like Kate with the credit card and normal name implied, Faith (and this movie) needed help. Thankfully, lines like "I was born to kiss you" were countered with Robert Downey Jr's wit-inflected delivery and quirky gestures.

If not for this suave man, this movie would have face-planted into cheese and corn and then maybe second helpings of both. That's not to say he single-handedly saved this movie and downright compelled me to add it to my Amazon wish list.

When the credits rolled, I was left feeling what I had at the end of "The Bridges of Madison County": annoyed but aware of the passion that decapit-, I mean, captivated the audience. (And enthusiastically applauding those wise people who'd thought of Robert Downey Jr and Meryl Streep for these roles.

).