Film review: ‘One Day’ starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess

This is basically a review of the movie by a fan of the book. Check out my review of the book by clicking here

I couldn’t hide my excitement to see one of my most beloved books in the big screen, and the characters being portrayed by two of my favorite actors (Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess) was also a plus when going to see the movie. I had read that critics were slamming this movie, giving bad reviews and all, but a part of me kind of knew perhaps why they were so harsh with it (I’ll explain in a bit) and in a way I’m glad I read the book because I was able to appreciate it better.

‘One Day’ is the story about Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess), who meet on July 15th 1988 after their graduation night from college and spend the night together. Both parties deciding not to end whatever started on that night, decide to become friends and after this evening, and every July 15th for the next 20 years you get to see their lives and where they are, you will see their ups and downs in their careers as well as their love lives.

In the book, the story feels as if it is non-linear. So many major events are skipped that you only get to see the consequences of such, but never losing grasp with what was happening between the two characters, only coming back to the very first scene towards the end as perhaps using it as a tool to show what really happened that first day they met and making the book feel like a complete circle. In the movie, it is used the same way, but since there’s so many years in between you don’t really get to dwell into them and understand what really happened. The movie keeps everything very fast paced, so here is where I agree with critics when they say that they didn’t understand their relationship etc. And in a way, if I hadn’t read the book before I would be the same way wondering “wait…hold on what’s going on now?“. BUT DO NOT BE AFRAID, I went to see it with my friend who hadn’t read the book and she understood the whole thing she just agreed in the part that it should have been slower and try to take in more of what was going on, but we must keep in mind that if you make these scenes any longer it will ruin the pace of the movie and therefore the scenes will become dull.

On the other hand, in my opinion Hathaway and Sturgess portrayal of Emma and Dexter was incredible, because Dexter is supposed to be this self-centered, cocky guy but leaves this stuff aside when it comes to Emma. And then you see Emma, being slightly awkward, smart and witty. I wish they could’ve put more scenes where you could see Emma with her comedic remarks, that made the book great, but still, whatever made the cut on to the movie was good. Both characters are at its best when they are with each other, not minding the fact that they were both at points in relationships with somebody else, every year for those 20 years sometimes after not seeing each other for long periods of time, its like they were never apart. Even if they missed stuff from the book, the essence of it was there, the message is there: to never wait for the right moment to do or say something, to go after what you want because one day it will be too late.

‘One Day‘ is not only a love story of two people wanting to be together and fate pulling them apart by different circumstances, as well as sometimes putting them together later in life, its a relatable story to anyone because even if it isn’t in your case, you’ve seen two people who are meant for each other yet never end up together and never go after what they really want.

Needless to say, my eyes felt like a waterfall last night watching this movie, I cried like there was no tomorrow, holding onto those moments at the beginning of the movie not wanting to let them go. The cinematography was very pretty, I loved to see the characters change fashion throughout the years as well as the landscapes from Edinburgh, London, Greece and Paris.

‘One Day‘ is the movie to go see this weekend if you’re down to see a romantic film that’s very real and relatable about taking chances in life and never waiting for the right moment to come because the right moment is NOW.

One Day is in theaters in the US.