Imagine Me & You - Palm Beach Post movie review

'Imagine Me & You': Formulaic but effective

By HAP ERSTEIN
Palm Beach Post

What, you're not still debating Brokeback Mountain, are you?

Forget it. That's old news. Now the question is: Should London newlywed bride Rachel leave her husband and change teams to find happiness with her female wedding florist, Luce?

Fox Searchlight Pictures

'Imagine Me & You'

The verdict: A formulaic, though effective romantic comedy of the girl-meets-girl persuasion.

Director: Ol Parker
Starring: Piper Perabo, Lena Headey, Celia Imrie, Matthew Goode, Anthony Stewart Head
Run time: 93 minutes
Release date: Jan. 27, 2006
Rating: R for language and non-graphic sexual situations.
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Welcome to the world of Imagine Me & You, a by-the-numbers romantic comedy, except for the fact that the love couple taking the requisite hour-and-a-half to figure out they are meant for each other are both women.

Otherwise, this first feature from director Ol Parker will probably remind you of the territory claimed by director-screenwriter Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love, Actually), with its glib, verbal characters and sunny outlook, despite the emotional turmoil. Nor is the comparison diminished by the casting of Matthew Goode as Rachel's husband, Heck, whose nervous grins and occasional stammer are right out of Hugh Grant's playbook.

Anyway, somewhat nervous, magazine-cover-ready bride Rachel arrives at the church for her tradition-bound wedding — well, after a bathroom stop at McDonald's — and catches a glimpse of flower supplier Luce while walking down the aisle. Destiny and love at first sight are discussed throughout the film and, if there are such things, they happen for Rachel and Luce at that moment.

But it takes Parker's screenplay a while for the two of them to acknowledge the attraction because these feelings are so new to Rachel (Piper Perabo, Coyote Ugly) and because Luce (the gorgeous Lena Headey, The Brothers Grimm) works hard at not breaking up Rachel's marriage. Still, love will out, even from the closet, and it does not hurt that Rachel's perplexed but supportive parents urge her to "follow your heart."

Presumably part of the message is that two women can fall in love with all of the formulaic trappings of a heterosexual romantic comedy, for that is what Imagine Me & You traffics in. More Hollywood hokey than it needs to be, the film climaxes in the back of Luce's shop, where she and Rachel begin locking lips, just as Heck arrives, flagellating himself for his own shortcomings that have driven his wife away.

And speaking of driving, the movie ends up in a furious race to the airport — Luce trying one last time to put distance between herself and Rachel, and Rachel trying to catch the woman she loves. The outcome is designed to send most, though perhaps not all, moviegoers home happy.

Imagine Me & You is several cuts below Brokeback, but as an alternative date night movie, it makes its case effectively enough.