Serendipity

Plot synopsis:
Serendipty is a romantic drama about how the hand of fate affects two people who meet by chance at Christmas in New York.
During the Christmas season in New York City, Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) meets Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) trying to buy the same pair of black cashmere gloves at Bloomingdale's. They feel a mutual attraction and despite the fact that each is involved in other relationships, they end up sharing dessert at Serendipity 3 together, where Sara reveals her opinion that fate determines a lot of her decisions in life. They say their goodbyes and leave, but both return to the same restaurant a short while later to retrieve missing things.
Considering this to be a stroke of fate, Jonathan and Sara decide to spend more time together, and at the end of a magical night they start to exchange phone numbers, but Sara's gets blown into the wind, which she takes as a bad sign. However, she comes up with the idea of putting their names and phone numbers out to the universe, his written on the back of a $5 bill, hers written in the front of a used book entitled, Love in the Time of Cholera that will be sold the following day. If they are meant to be together, they will find the items and contact each other.
Several years later, it's revealed that Jonathan is getting engaged to Halley Buchanan. On the same day, Sara (now in San Francisco), comes home to find her boyfriend Lars Hammond (John Corbett), a famous musician, proposing to her. As their respective wedding dates approach, each finds themselves with a case of cold feet resulting in each attempting to find each other again before their respective weddings. Jonathan finds an old receipt for the gloves and uses it to try to find Sara's contact information, and Sara takes a trip to New York with Eve, hoping that fate will bring her to Jonathan.
After Eve convinces her to give up the chase, they visit Serendipity. Eve is handed a $5 bill as change, which the audience sees has Jonathan's name and number on the back. When Sara returns to her hotel room, she finds Lars, who followed her to New York, and realizes marrying him would be a mistake.
The night of the rehearsal, Halley gives Jonathan a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera as a gift, and Jonathan finds Sara's name and number inside. He and Dean fly to San Francisco to find her, but upon arriving, they see Sara's sister, Caroline (who resembles her) through the window fooling around with her boyfriend. Jonathan gives up and realizes that maybe the reason he's chasing ghosts is that he doesn't really want to marry Halley.
On the plane home the next morning after breaking up with Lars, Sara realizes she has mistakenly taken Eve's wallet. But when paying for a headset from it, she discovers the $5 bill with Jonathan's name and number on it. She gets off the plane, tracks down Jonathan's address and goes there. Upon hearing from his neighbors of his wedding, she rushes to the Waldorf Astoria, and she's ecstatic to find out that Jonathan called off the wedding. Eve encourages Sara to find Jonathan.
Jonathan wanders Central Park, and comes upon Sara's jacket on a park bench. He uses it for a pillow while lying in the middle of the rink. He's for some reason brought the one black cashmere glove. As he's gazing up at the falling snow, a cashmere glove falls on his chest.
Realizing he has them both, he looks up to see where it came from and sees Sara, who has come to retrieve the jacket she'd left at the rink. They walk to each other, and introduce themselves to each other formally for the first time. The film concludes with Sara and Jonathan at Bloomingdale's, enjoying champagne on their anniversary at the same spot where they first met.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) is shopping for a gift for his girlfriend, and Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) is looking for something for her boyfriend when they reach for the same pair of gloves on a rack at Bloomingdales.
For Jonathan, it's a significant emotional experience, and he realizes something has happened, that something has changed in his life; Sara feels the same, but being a true believer in destiny, she needs a sign that this is meant to be before she'll consider pursuing whatever it is that's just happened between them.
A few years on, Jonathan and Sara are both engaged to other people, but each keeps thinking about whether the other is their true soulmate, and then they start to see signs which they interpret as the fates trying to tell them somethingThis is a charming romantic comedy  a heavy suspension of reality is required, but that's surely part of the point.
Jonathan Tragger (John Cusack) meets Sara Thomas (the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale) by chance in the Christmas eve, in Bloomingdale's, both trying to buy the unique pair of black gloves available for sale.
From this day on, Jonathan will 'chase' Sara's book trying to reach his lost love.I did not know the word 'serendipity'.
The plot premise, in a particularly streamlined nutshell:  In holiday-season Manhattan, Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) and Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) meet cute and, although they both have Significant Others, they end up spending a charming and romantic evening on the town (including coffee and dessert at the aptly-named Serendipity III restaurant).
Cusack and Beckinsale are surrounded by a delightful supporting cast, too, particularly Jeremy Piven and Molly Shannon as their respective best friends and the scene-stealing Eugene Levy as an officious, self-serving Bloomingdale's salesman.
Bridget Moynihan and John Corbett (did the casting directors just stroll on over to the set of SEX AND THE CITY one day and say "Who's free to make a movie?" :-) were appealing enough that I could understand what Cusack and Beckinsale saw in them, yet they were just self-absorbed enough and not-quite-on-our-heroes'-wavelength enough that I didn't feel bad when they got dumped.
Kate Beckinsale shows her talent -finally- within the movie by blending right into the act of John Cusack.
The best love stories arent so much about the story as they are about what we wish romance in our lives was.Instantaneous...Tender...Magical...Hearts all a flutter.If you like good chemistry between the likeable Cusack and Beckinsale in a magical setting...prepare to be touched.I was.This is by far one of my favorite love stories,only slightly behind " Somewhere in Time " .If you expect realism dont bother -but if you want what love SHOULD be...hypnotic,mesmerizing,a heart awash a sea of tenderness...then get ready to enjoy yourself.May you all find your true love as well.....
This is a "romance" film about two individuals who, whilst both in perfectly-good-but-not-quite-perfect relationships with other people, take a fancy to a random stranger they meet in a department store one evening and so spend the rest of the night flirting outrageously like a cheap tart with them.This done, off they both go to continue their extant relationships.
Every other character featured in the film is quite laughably two-dimensional and the only deliberately comedic fragment I managed to spot was a quite nicely done best man's speech - made at the weddding subsequently destroyed by our lovably lust-fuelled hero and heroine.I am secretly hoping that the joke is on me, and Mr. Chelsom is treating us to a wonderfully dark satire on morals and romance in modern times.
"Serendipity" is your typical boy-loses-girl story where you know from the beginning how it's going to end (but anything but typical because it's actually romantic and actually funny).
A young man(John Cusack) and a drop dead gorgeous woman(Kate Beckinsale)keep meeting by chance and wonder if they are meant for each other.
It is so much fun watching this special pairing of John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale at their all-time best.This is classic John Cusack - the tortured, intelligent soul who falls for the perfect girl, then watches her disappear by her own "destiny" devices which crushes him.
He's simply believable and sympathetic in his quest to put right what went wrong so many years before.Kate Beckinsale --- With the exception of her character's "destiny-speak" at the opening, she's the most perfect leading lady in which Cusack will drop anything (and actually, everything if you think about it) to finally track down and begin a life together.
Not this one.I remember that I watched this movie on TV a couple of years ago and I was quite excited about it, nice heart-warming story, good acting, the movie had something I like to call "it" that made me watch it from beginning till the end.Let me see...
Thanks mostly to the performances of John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale and the anticipation that was build up along the story and the screwy supporting cast of Eugene Levy, Molly Shannon, and Jeremy Piven.
It is an easy going romantic comedy that will get the girls cooing over the sentiment and the boys drooling over Kate Beckinsale.At times, the movie gives you that feeling of frustration when things just aren't going the way they should for the characters.
John Cusack has been making movies like this (Better Off Dead, Sure Thing, Say Anything, and even Grosse Pointe Blank) for years.
You just have to cut notions like "destiny', "fate" out of your mind because this is no more than the scenery for a movie about a love story and love in its romantic sense.
Sadly, the film fails on the most basic level to entertain, leaving the viewer with nothing but a more-than-mild case of hatred for the protagonists and a sick feeling in their stomachs.In You've Got Mail the idea that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were developing a relationship behind their respective significant others' backs worked because their significant others were shallow, nasty people that we could muster no love for, who continually let down and abused Tom and Meg.
In the most stomach turning scene in the movie, when his fiancee gives him the key to find Beckinsale, and, incidentally, dump his fiancee and destroy her life, he looks at her, his face blank, thanks her, and leaves to find another woman.The characters in Serendipity are never more than shallow and self-centered, willing to mislead their fiancee's, lie, even cheat, for just one chance to have, not just happiness, but ultimate happiness.If these characters had shown any honesty, any decency towards the jilted parties, perhaps it would have been a different movie.
I love the whole feel of the New York atmosphere in this movie, and Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack were flawless as the leads!!This is a film that I can watch over and over and over again and it will never get old.
The movie intends to send the explicit message that though many things seem to happen by accident, there is destiny involved and every individual is responsible for shaping his or her destiny in life."Serendipity" means good luck by accident which is exactly how Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) and Sara (the ravishing Kate Beckinsale) meet up while shopping for Christmas gifts in a departmental store in New York.
Serendipity is a word that means an aptitude for making fortunate discoveries accidentally and explains perfectly this film because it represents the power of the destiny.One day, Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) met on a shopping center of New York, since this moment he felt that Sara was the woman of his life, but Sara believes in fate so she lets things happened without doing anything, because if they are destined to be together the fate will tell it.It is a romantic comedy and very predictable, but it also makes you laugh with a lot of scenes.
Basically it shows two different and separate lifes that by the fate finish joining together (for the rest of his lifes, I suppose).In my opinion it is a film to see it with your best friend eating an ice-cream and enjoying the role of John Cusack and having fun with him but do not get your hopes up because it is not a film to remember.
"Serendipity" is half-way between "Sweet November" and "You've Got Mail." The plot premise is about as silly as the former, while it has some of the acting charm and New York locales of the latter.John Cusack (as usual) makes the movie worthwhile as he gets so intensely involved in his romantic search.
Not even good actors (John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale and the rest of the cast) can save this movie from the awful script, which does not hang together logically - rather, it is glued together with deus ex machina events, making the story progressively more unbelievable.Characters are shallow, which, unfortunately, makes it impossible to care about them or what happens to them.What a shame.John and Kate must have really needed the money.
John Cusack romantic comedies are almost always good, but occassionally he First off, this movie, except for Eugene Levy as a snotty Bloomingdale's clerk, isn't remotely funny.
I like romantic comedies where the characters spend time with each other instead of running around New York City and San Francisco, almost bumping into each other.
However, for anyone who loves romance, New York City(pre 9/11) or the actors John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale Serendipity is time well spent.
That's the draw and hold of the film.John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale are the two strangers who meet, separate and then spend years wondering about the other person.
Both Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack are in their element in this romantic-comedy.
Implausibility is therefore a given.John Cusack plays Jon Trager, a New Yorker who meets Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) while fighting over the same pair of gloves at Bloomingdales.
Just in Christmas Eve, New York and its lovely well decorated department stores hold thousands of love stories, like the one between Jonathan Trager and Sarah Thomas, complete strangers who meet because of time's requirements and by destiny's caprice.
The whole movie is about one character's desire to wait for time to decide, while the other one rejects the idea of being manipulated by some kind of force out of this world, which they will tend to call it, fate, destiny and even fortune in its most grated cases.Serendipity, or, as some people calls it "Happy Accident" means to make a fortunate discovery by accident.
Also an ice cream flavor, this word represents the message of this film, the attempt to convince us that everything is written and if it is, will happen for sure.Premiered in 2001 this fifteen year old movie is going to definitely heat you up, while you discover at the same time as the characters do, if they are meant to be or not.
best ever seen in the romantic movie with an expectation to meet the loved ones...
Over the course of the evening the two come to realise that they may be each other's destiny, but when they decide to put it to the test, they become separated and Cusack spends the next few years looking for the one that got away.John Cusack is an at times frustrating, neurotic actor who seems to only play varying shades of the same character.
We know how these romantic movies are going to end most of the time, but the important thing is the story and the chemistry between the lead characters; and Serendipity didn't disappoint me.
In my opinion this is by far Peter Chelsom's best film thanks to a great dual performance from John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale who really shine together on screen.It all happens one magical night: Jonathan (John Cusack) is doing some Christmas shopping for his girlfriend and while grabbing the last remaining pair of black gloves he runs into Sara (Kate Beckinsale) who is also thinking of buying them for her lover.
Serendipity is one of those few romantic Hollywood movies that actually works thanks to a great love story, good performances, and memorable dialogues.
We all want to believe in love and how fate can give us a hand when it comes to finding our soul mate; and Serendipity works so well at getting this point across that it can turn the most skeptic person into a believer.
Nevertheless, I cannot deny that I really did enjoy this movie.Jon (John Cusak) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) were two strangers who met one morning in a crowded department store by accident.
The movie takes place a few years later after their initial meeting and we see both of them trying to find the other desperately.John Cusak and Kate Beckinsale were perfect for the leads.
In the romantic comedy Serendipity, it is a story of two New Yorkers, Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) and Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) who meet by fate in a Bloomingdale's department store over a pair of black cashmere gloves, and spend an odd yet nice night together, then leave it all to chance as they write their phone numbers on a five dollar bill and a used book.
If you don't believe in fate now, you will once you have watched this movie.Serendipity means a fortunate accident.
The lengths that they both endure are so sweet you just want them to find each other and fall madly in love again.John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale have amazing on- screen chemistry, and when put together they make the perfect pair.
He meets her at a mall, they fall in love at first sight, but instead of making plans to see each other again, she writes his number on a $5 and spends it, telling him that when that bill "finds its way back to her", she'll call him.Any normal man would see her as insane and just walk away, but not John Cusack, because this is a movie.
The Jeremy Piven and Molly Shannon best friend parts are good, and the "obit" written by Piven's character for Cusack's character borders on profound.BUT--here's my beef with the movie: perhaps part of the reason why so many marriages fail these days is that we have been seduced by the typical Hollywood romantic fantasy (of which this film is a textbook case), which can be summarized like this: all you need to be happy in love is to find that ONE PERSON meant for you.
The film tells the story of two strangers, Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) and Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale), who meet in Bloomingdale's after grabbing the same pair of gloves as a Christmas gift for their respective partners.
Without spoiling, the movie, too much, I have to say, Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack really do seem like they have the chemistry for each other to make this movie, works, even if they only share a small amount of screen-time, together.
I get what this movie is going for, but maybe, it's wasn't the best thing, to use the book, 'Love in the Time of Cholera', as a way to show that.
From the man that brought you Hannah Montana The Movie,this film stars Kate Beckinsale,John Cusack,Jeremy Riven to name a few and tells the tale of two people named Sara and Johnathan who meet at a department store after stumbling on a pair of black gloves as they were buying them for their significant other.
Can faith run its course and will Sara and John meet each other again in the next few years or less?Yes the film is predicable as we all know that they are going to find each other again by the end of the film and its got the same premise as Sleepless In Seattle which starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan but overall it wasn't a bad romantic comedy and I was glad to see it again.Its a nice Christmas Rom Com and if you are like me a fan of Romantic films than check it out.C+.
I like John Cusack in just about everything I've seen him in, and he does fine here as Jonathan Trager, who's obsessing over whether he let Sara (Beckinsale), the woman who could be the love of his life, get away from him by letting her talk him into this stupid idea of leaving their future to chance after fate brought them together in the first place.
I loved the pairing of John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.
They still can't stop thinking of each-other and go on there own little adventure with each of there best friends in search of one another and to see if they are really meant to be together.The cast in the movie, including, John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, (Who both make a great pair here.), Molly Shannon, Jeremy Piven and the brilliant Eugene Levy who is really funny here, are all great in the movie.*** Spoiler*** Serendipity is a lovely light-hearted comedy which will be enjoyed by everyone, especially if you're into romantic comedies.
Sara is a woman who still believes in special things like love, fate, destiny and soul mate.
It is a good message to those looking for true love and happiness, to never settle for less than someone who absolutely adores you.This is definitely one of my favorite romantic comedies of all time, one that you can just watch over and over.
The leading performers are John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale as two urban-dwellers who meet by default and fall in love.
It is in fact the chemistry between stars John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale that makes this film as watchable as it is.
One of the good movies in romantic genre, Serendipity will inspire the viewer to believe in destiny.
Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) meet in Bloomingdales when they both want to purchase the same pair of gloves.
Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) meet in Bloomingdales when they both want to purchase the same pair of gloves.
Serendipity is a romantic comedy that tackles love-at-first-sight that revolves around fate, destiny, and chance.It features John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.