Before You Say 'I Do' (2009 TV Movie)
5/10
Nicely Done But I Have Issues
15 February 2009
This is a cute fantasy romantic comedy: the two leads are engaged, but she had such a horrid first marriage that she breaks it off. What can he do? He can get into a traffic accident which turns into a bit of time travel that zips him back ten years, three days before her first wedding. Can he manage to woo her and stop the wedding before she becomes unable to commit? Well, it's a romcom, not a tragedy. That's obvious from the first minute. You guess if things work out.

This movie is full of cute actors -- Jennifer Westfeldt is quite charming and there are some very funny sequences (asked to make predictions for a newspaper column, David Sutcliffe comes up with Martha Stewart serving time in prison and is told "It has to be believable"). The movie is light and engaging.

But I have the feeling that the people behind this don't get an important point of fantasy: the fantastic elements don't replace the realistic elements, they reinforce them in a piece like this. And what we have here is a statement that the path to true love and commitment is .... via an impossible path. No, I'm sorry, but that's not a message a movie like this should send. Especially not when it premieres on Valentine Day as this one did.
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