HAPPY ACCIDENTS is a romantic comedy fixed in neurotic behavior, psycho-pathology, the time-space continuum -- or Fate, if you will. As such, the movie may provide fortuitous relief from thoughts of last week's sudden catastrophe (and the consequences in train). It is not deeply profound or roll on the floor funny, but it has its moments, and in future days, you may enjoy 105 minutes with these lovers well-met through "happy accidents." The first of them, under the credits, is when Ruby Weaver drops a bag of groceries while crossing the street to her apartment, and the film begins to run in reverse, MEMENTO-like.

Look into my eyes . . . .

Ruby (Marisa Tomei) is a liberated, vivacious, 30-something New York City brunette, who has never found the proverbial Mr. Right. In fact, she seems to be compulsively drawn toward, if not Jack the Ripper, at least Mr. Not-So-Good. Jack the Ripper may be just around the next turn in her life. Apparently relaxed, but (as always) consumed by anxiety, she recounts for the umpteenth time for her therapist (Holland Taylor) the litany of her relationships: a drummer, a French lover, a foot fetishist, a heroin addict . . . .

And then, Ruby met Sam Deed. He came and sat down beside her on a bench one day as she was reading a book during her lunch break. Spidery Sam (Vince D'Onofrio) started a conversation. (He is passing the time, in more ways than one.)

Sam is a newcomer to Big Town, he tells her, from Dubuque, which Ruby thinks is in Ohio (but which we learn will one day be on the Atlantic seashore, unless we pay attention to Global Warming). He has a job transporting the elderly and infirm. Sam is goofy, awkward, kind and . . . different. All of which appeals to Ruby's love for "stray dogs." (Inexplicably, Sam has an uncontrollable fear of real ones.)

She goes back to work.

However, Sam sticks in Ruby's head; so much so that, after she loses her job at the Telephone Company that afternoon, for flirting on 411, she brings him up in a hen party at her best friend's house. Gretchen (Nadia Dajani) and her other girlfriends maintain an Ex-File in a cardboard box, which contains pictures of their past selfish, inconsiderate, sometimes creepy, loser boyfriends. After listening to Sam's characteristics, the women conclude it was just as well Ruby's meeting was so casual, accidental and brief.

On her return home, well-well-well, Ruby finds Sam on her doorstep. He has come to return the book she inadvertently left on that bench by New York Harbor. (We and Ruby's therapist know, in Freudian terme, what this means.) It is not long before Sam is hauling an old second-hand LP record player, some 1950's records, and a bottle of red wine over to her place. The only problem is that he doesn't know how to operate the player, is unfamiliar with the music and has never heard of Merlot.

Look into my eyes . . . .

Sam is adorable. (Aside from the fact that he has a bar-code on his right bicep.)

Within a week, he has moved in with Ruby. They are Out-of-this-World happy. In a month, she has taken him home to meet her laidback stock broker father Mark (Sean Gullette) and fussy mother Lillian (Tova Felshuh). Both take to Sam, ideosyncracies and all. Ruby's friends accept him, and they all go to the beach together. She has a new job teaching English as a Second Language, and, happily, Sam speaks a dozen of them fluently. Nothing could be more perfect -- but then, naturally, the trouble begins.

Why, Ruby wonders, are the photos of his family used to advertise picture frames? Did his beloved sister really die falling out of an apple tree, or was it by drowning, as he later tells her? Why does he swallow Dramamine like lemon drops? And who is Chrystie Delanty? And why does Sam have sketchbooks full of Chrystie's likeness, and of her name written over and over again on every page? Ruby's past experience inures her to the probability that he may be another lothario fit only for the collective Ex-Files, or worse, a dangerous Son-of-a-Sam.

At one point, Ruby's uncertainty is reflected in her remark: "He's a freak, but he sure does tell a good story!"

Ruby's puzzlements have only begun!

Looking through initial reviews, I expect that how your reaction to HAPPY ACCIDENTS will depend on what you want. If you desire a straight romance, you may object to the repetitious complications caused by Sam's preposterous explanations that he is a "back traveler from 2470," an escapee from a society of "corporate sponsored gene-dupes." If comedy is your thing, Ruby's neuroticism, anxieties and soulful pillow talk with Mom, about the dangers of curing a lover's addictions, may slow you up and make you think (for God's Sake). And if Sci-fi or the Fourth Dimension is what you crave, you may have visited the world of HAPPY ACCIDENTS before. If not, where are the Spielbergian special effects? And is Sam really from outer space?

I just chose to sit back, in the lovely hands (or arms) of Marisa Tomei and the off-center gaze of Vincent D'Onofrio, to laugh, rejoice and wonder at all those Happy Accidents. Fellow Brooklyners Tomei (MY COUSIN VINNIE, Lyne, 1992) and D'Onofrio (FULL METAL JACKET, Kubrick, 1987) are splendid actors whose careers misfired after initial success. Bringing them together, both in excellent fettle, Writer-Director Brad Anderson (SESSION 9, current) blessedly suspends for us any disbelief we may have in the psycho-metaphysical New Age plot.

Tomei, my old friend awizzer will eagerly appreciate, is her feisty self again. Now coy, then melting, always funny in a human way, she is constantly interesting and passionate. Notice how she kisses Sam fully on the lips; no "stage kisses" for her (surprisingly common in movies these salacious days.) Her Ruby Weaver is fully fashioned and entrancing. Believe me, when she talks like a Brooklyn Fireman, even awizzer will love her for it.

D'Onofrio, the only actor who has come close to playing a believable Orson Welles (in Tim Burton's 1994 ED WOOD), becomes any character he essays. Notice the rolling gait and dervish walk he adopts for Sam Deed. His desperate courtship of Ruby makes us root for him, even as we worry for her. He convinces Ruby (and us) that anything can be accomplished if people love enough . . . or hate enough.

It is here, alas, that events robbed HAPPY ACCIDENTS of its full romantic comedy climax for the audience I was with. Three days earlier, we would have indeed been on the floor. But even in the sad accidental reminder, for the thoughtful, at least, the philosophical underpinning of the film kicked in to lead us to solace and understanding.

A few Eastern critics, familiar with New York City, evidently have not found HAPPY ACCIDENTS very surprising, but most of us will be happily confused until the the last freeze frame.

Enough sappy romances. Give me HAPPY ACCIDENTS! I liked it.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older