One Day [DVD] [2011]

I am a male in my late 20s. I've never heard of the book One Day is based on, and just went along with my girlfriend to see it (based on seeing the trailer it seemed light and 'inoffensive' at best). I was surprised at how much of an effect it had on me. It is a bitter-sweet story of two people who strike up a relationship while at Uni, but never quite get together. The film then follows them through the next 20 or so years, dropping into their lives on the same day each year.

Despite the first reviewer's opinion that he found the central relationship hard to buy, I found it very believable - it is easily possible for two people to be great friends, find support in each other, and 'light up' in each other's company, but if they were to have a relationship, it just wouldn't work. So, for me, it was completely realistic, I never thought anything like "oh, what does she see in him?!" or "come on, that's so contrived".

I think both Hathaway and Sturgess did a great job of portraying their characters. Emma slowly transformed from a slightly 'spiky' girl with a bit of a self esteem problem to a more confident young woman with life experience. Dexter is a carefree, quite irresponsible young man who gets sucked into the world of TV fame that distances him from the people who love him, and ultimately grinds him down into a convenient relationship. And yet, even as they change (and if anything, diverge from each other) over the years, something remains to draw them back together. Don't get me wrong, this is far less soppy than it sounds - and in fact I thought the film got the balance between 'emotional', funny and serious scenes mostly just right, although a couple felt perhaps too short.

In the end, how much it appeals will probably depend on how much you identify with what happens. For me, several themes struck quite a chord, and I walked out of the cinema feeling that it was definitely a "good film". And that's as much psychoanalysis as is necessary!

Whilst the movie gets 5 stars for being so close and 'faithful' to the book - it's this faithful adaptation which ultimately makes this film watchable, but not entirely enjoyable as the book was to read. The film tries to squeeze everything from the book into it, and so whilst the viewer is practically given a summary for each chapter via movie, it is just that - a summary. There isn't enough time allowed for the emotional turmoil to truly be felt, and for the romance to blossom.

The film basically just puts the viewer into a scene and we have to play catch up on how in the last scene they weren't really friends, and now they're really close. The second half of the film is much better than the first in that it goes into more emotional depth, capturing the sadness of the circumstances, but the first half basically feels like it was made to placate the loyal fans by putting as much of the book into the movie as possible. If the movie had been extended, maybe made it double the length that it was I think that it would have recieved higher reviews from critics as it would have given the audience a chance to fall in love not only with the characters, but with the decisions that they make and the lives that they lead. I'd watch it again, but I doubt I'd buy the dvd unless it was on sale.

Both my husband and I have read the book, so I pre-ordered the film in anticipation. We were really disappointed as the book was one of the best reads in years. The film looked as if it had been shot on a very low budget, the characters were not brought to life and were not nearly as funny and, as for Anne Hathaway's accent, what was that? It certainly wasn't north country. In the book the characters travel to Greece. I had conjured up the most wonderful images of this trip from the description in the book. They didn't even travel to Greece, it looks as if they had just hopped across the channel on a ferry. I can't believe the author allowed the film to be released as it is such an awful representation of a very fantastic book!