The Personal Canon is a recurring column discussing my favorite movies of all time. While they may not necessarily be "A" rated, they are the movies that, for some reason or another, hold a special place in my filmgoing experience.
Return to Me (2000)
Return to Me (2000)
Starring David Duchovny, Minnie Driver, Bonnie Hunt, Jim Belushi, David Alan Grier, Carroll O'Connor, Robert Loggia, and Joely Richardson
Directed by Bonnie Hunt
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***
This was my first watch of Return to Me in several years. It was a film I simply became enamored with when I first watched it thanks to its endearing love story, its simplicity (despite its absolutely absurd premise), and its old-fashioned humor, and I was worried it wasn't going to hold up. Seeing as how this review is posted under the heading of "The Personal Canon," it's pretty obvious that I still adore the movie. I'm a sucker for a good romantic comedy and Return to Me is a film I love.
The reason the film was even on my radar upon its release in 2000 was because I'm a huge fan of Bonnie Hunt. Now, Mom, if you're reading this, please don't take this the wrong way, but I always thought if I had to choose another mother for whatever reason, Bonnie Hunt would be a good substitute. She exudes warmth but also has a wry sense of humor that when making a dig at its intended "victim" still comes with a hefty dose of heart. That quality is certainly on display in this film which she both directed and co-wrote. Granted, she may not have the greatest directorial eye -- there are a few incredibly corny moments at the beginning which resort to unnecessary flashbacks -- but despite her rather by-the-book visual sense, she allows her created characters to shine.
And goshdarnit, the characters in Return to Me are people that you want to get to know and become buddies with. You want to head down to O'Reilly's Italian Restaurant run by the Irish Marty O'Reilly (the great Carroll O'Connor) and Italian Angelo Pardipillo (the equally great Robert Loggia) and sink into a booth while Marty's lovely granddaughter Grace (Minnie Driver) sings a tune while taking your order. It's Grace whom the story revolves around who, at the film's start, is in the hospital on death's door awaiting a heart transplant. As fate would have it, a heart comes Grace's way. After a simply lovely evening out with his zoologist wife (Joely Richardson), a terrible car accident kills Bob Rueland's (David Duchovny) spouse leaving him emotionally devastated and Grace with Bob's wife's heart and a new lease on life. You know where this is going, right? Bob and Grace end up meeting a year later and fall in love in perhaps the sweetest, most innocent romance captured on film since the 1940s...and, since this is the cinema, after all, the truth will inevitably be discovered.
Yes, the plot is silly, but it works...trust me. It works because the actors sell the innocence and purity of a movie that could've been made decades earlier (the Dean Martin-heavy soundtrack fits right in, in that respect). David Duchovny and Minnie Driver have never been better as they get us to truly care about them despite the fact that we are well aware that there's going to be trouble for this couple up ahead. But the supporting cast around them is what really helps Return to Me shine and lifts it to that extra level. Carroll O'Connor is absolutely darling -- sure, that's a silly term to use nowadays, but his good-natured, strongly Irish-Catholic grandfather is a joy to watch in both his interactions with Grace and his old man buddies. When he sits in a church pew and prays for his granddaughter's surgery to succeed, we can't help but want the same thing even though we've only just met his character mere minutes before. Jim Belushi and Bonnie Hunt are also hilarious and certainly worthy of a mention as the uncouth husband-and-wife duo who only want what's best for their good friend Grace.
I've recommended this movie to a lot of people and I've yet to have one person come back and tell me they disliked it. There's something so innocently charming about Return to Me, and it's the film's lack of irony and refusal to stoop to raunch that makes this a film I can keep going back to year after year. It's a love story that can be enjoyed by my twenty-four year-old brother or my eighty-five year-old grandmother or my fifty-eight year-old dad. And that's a testament to its quality, in my opinion, and it's a testament to what makes a great film. [And since this flick is streaming on Netflix, there's no excuse not to watch it.]
The reason the film was even on my radar upon its release in 2000 was because I'm a huge fan of Bonnie Hunt. Now, Mom, if you're reading this, please don't take this the wrong way, but I always thought if I had to choose another mother for whatever reason, Bonnie Hunt would be a good substitute. She exudes warmth but also has a wry sense of humor that when making a dig at its intended "victim" still comes with a hefty dose of heart. That quality is certainly on display in this film which she both directed and co-wrote. Granted, she may not have the greatest directorial eye -- there are a few incredibly corny moments at the beginning which resort to unnecessary flashbacks -- but despite her rather by-the-book visual sense, she allows her created characters to shine.
And goshdarnit, the characters in Return to Me are people that you want to get to know and become buddies with. You want to head down to O'Reilly's Italian Restaurant run by the Irish Marty O'Reilly (the great Carroll O'Connor) and Italian Angelo Pardipillo (the equally great Robert Loggia) and sink into a booth while Marty's lovely granddaughter Grace (Minnie Driver) sings a tune while taking your order. It's Grace whom the story revolves around who, at the film's start, is in the hospital on death's door awaiting a heart transplant. As fate would have it, a heart comes Grace's way. After a simply lovely evening out with his zoologist wife (Joely Richardson), a terrible car accident kills Bob Rueland's (David Duchovny) spouse leaving him emotionally devastated and Grace with Bob's wife's heart and a new lease on life. You know where this is going, right? Bob and Grace end up meeting a year later and fall in love in perhaps the sweetest, most innocent romance captured on film since the 1940s...and, since this is the cinema, after all, the truth will inevitably be discovered.
Yes, the plot is silly, but it works...trust me. It works because the actors sell the innocence and purity of a movie that could've been made decades earlier (the Dean Martin-heavy soundtrack fits right in, in that respect). David Duchovny and Minnie Driver have never been better as they get us to truly care about them despite the fact that we are well aware that there's going to be trouble for this couple up ahead. But the supporting cast around them is what really helps Return to Me shine and lifts it to that extra level. Carroll O'Connor is absolutely darling -- sure, that's a silly term to use nowadays, but his good-natured, strongly Irish-Catholic grandfather is a joy to watch in both his interactions with Grace and his old man buddies. When he sits in a church pew and prays for his granddaughter's surgery to succeed, we can't help but want the same thing even though we've only just met his character mere minutes before. Jim Belushi and Bonnie Hunt are also hilarious and certainly worthy of a mention as the uncouth husband-and-wife duo who only want what's best for their good friend Grace.
I've recommended this movie to a lot of people and I've yet to have one person come back and tell me they disliked it. There's something so innocently charming about Return to Me, and it's the film's lack of irony and refusal to stoop to raunch that makes this a film I can keep going back to year after year. It's a love story that can be enjoyed by my twenty-four year-old brother or my eighty-five year-old grandmother or my fifty-eight year-old dad. And that's a testament to its quality, in my opinion, and it's a testament to what makes a great film. [And since this flick is streaming on Netflix, there's no excuse not to watch it.]
The RyMickey Rating: A-
Check out my other Personal Canon films like Requiem for a Dream and United 93 by clicking this link.
Check out my other Personal Canon films like Requiem for a Dream and United 93 by clicking this link.
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