By Valerie Kalfrin
Signature Reads, Feb. 12, 2016
“Journeys end in lovers meeting,” Shakespeare once wrote. We disagree. Any love story or romantic twist begins when sweethearts first cross paths, even if they’re oblivious to the significance. Movie lovers even have a name for such a time and place: the Meet Cute.
Meet Cutes happen pretty much anywhere: from planning a heist to a walk in the park, the top of a skyscraper or a street corner. Despite the name, they aren’t always cute. Plenty are awkward. Feisty. Eye-rollingly ridiculous. Flirtatiously sweet. Downright hot.
When everything clicks – thanks to chemistry, lighting, music, or darn good writing – they’re a gift to romantics everywhere. So here’s our Valentine to you: A handful of adaptations with stellar moments wherein characters found love – sometimes in the oddest of places.
Over breakfast: “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” (1998)
Forty-year-old stockbroker Stella (Angela Bassett) meets twenty-year-old Winston (Taye Diggs) on vacation once he asks to share her table at a Jamaican resort in this infectiously sunny adaptation of Terry McMillan’s novel. Although Winston starts digging himself a hole – “I’ve never seen a forty-year-old woman who looks like you” – Diggs’s radiant smile, charm, and taut biceps throw him a lifeline, which viewers know thanks to hearing Stella’s admiring voiceover.
Next door: “Like Water for Chocolate” (1992)
Magical realism infuses Laura Esquivel’s novel of the same name in much the way emotions affect everything that Tita (Lumi Cavazos) cooks. Director Alfonso Arau’s adaptation watches Tita and Pedro (Marco Leonardi), a boy from a neighboring ranch in Mexico at the turn of the twentieth century, fall in love as they grow up together, glancing at each other down the dining table. She later feels the heat of his gaze on her bare shoulders amid a houseful of guests.
In a men’s room: “The Adjustment Bureau” (2011)
Philip K. Dick’s short story “Adjustment Team,” about mystery men who direct people’s lives, gets a quirky and witty upgrade from writer-director George Nolfi. Congressman David Norris (Matt Damon), seeking privacy to rehearse a concession speech, meets ballerina Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) in a hotel men’s room where she’d been hiding after crashing a wedding. Elise, an unexpected blip in David’s pre-charted life plan, steps out to chat at the sink once she hears David speak. The initial surprise sparks playful banter that ends in a way neither expected – and sends the movie down the rabbit hole.
In the woods: “Cinderella” (2015) and “Ever After” (1998)
Both of these live-action spins on the classic fairy tale wisely added depth to the romance by having the heroine meet the prince before the ball. In the former, directed by Kenneth Branagh from a script by Chris Weitz, Ella (Lily James) doesn’t recognize the Prince (Richard Madden), who startles her horse with his hunting party. She convinces him to let the stag he’s chasing go free after a coy and compassionate exchange.
In “Ever After,” Danielle (Drew Barrymore) instantly recognizes Prince Henry (Dougray Scott) once he doffs his hood. Unfortunately, that’s after she’s pelted him with apples for trying to ride off with her horse. “Majesty, I did not see you,” she says, asking forgiveness. Her aim, he notes, suggests otherwise.
At a party: “Pride and Prejudice” (1995) and “Pride & Prejudice” (2005), plus “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (2001)
Jane Austen’s beloved classic establishes the dynamic of misunderstanding between headstrong Elizabeth Bennett and reserved Mr. Darcy at dances in both the 1995 British miniseries starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and the theatrical adaptation with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. After Darcy rebuffs the chatty Elizabeth, she overhears his initial unfavorable impression, leading to much sparring later.
Austen fan and author Helen Fielding gave her comically flawed “singleton” Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) a foil in attorney Mark Darcy (played by Firth in a bit of clever casting), whom Bridget’s mother thinks would make a great catch. Mum introduces the two at a Christmas party where he’s wearing a reindeer sweater and she’s smoking and hung over. Needless to say, all doesn’t go well.
At a retail counter: “Carol” (2015)
This nominee for multiple Oscars, including best adapted screenplay (from Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt), is a master of subtext as chic suburbanite Carol (Cate Blanchett) and shopgirl Therese (Rooney Mara) size each other up in a 1950s department store. Carol asks for Therese’s advice on a Christmas present for her young daughter. Therese suggests a train set, which Carol buys, then walks away with a parting compliment about Therese’s Santa hat, leaving her gloves behind on the counter.
In a war zone: “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992)
Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis), a white trapper raised by the Mohicans, and his adoptive father and brother stumble across an ambush during the French and Indian War, rescuing Cora (Madeleine Stowe), her sister, and a British major from harm. Lingering glances and sumptuous cinematography embrace the couple in director Michael Mann’s rousing adventure following Hawkeye, Cora, and their companions through a dangerous land.
Through an aquarium: “Romeo + Juliet” (1996)
Director Baz Luhrmann’s inventive, modern-day version of Shakespeare’s tragic romance drops Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Juliet (Claire Danes) in the fictional Verona Beach, where the hotheaded Montague decides to crash a costume party at the rival Capulet mansion. Dressed as a roguish knight, he gazes into the aquarium to find an eye belonging to an angel – Juliet, replete with wings – looking back at him through the coral. Des’ree sings “Kissing You” in the background while love at first sight zings through the glass like a dream, leading to stolen kisses in an elevator.
From http://www.signature-reads.com/2016/02/8-ways-to-find-your-meet-cute-as-inspired-by-film/