Imagine Me & You
A couple weeks ago, I somehow happened across a mention of a 2005 movie I had never heard of: Imagine Me & You. Maybe I had ordered some sort of queer movie from Amazon, and it was one of the “if you liked x, you might like y” recommendations? I'm not sure.
Anyway, the description and the cover image/poster looked intriguing—it was clearly a romantic comedy, and the romantic leads were women, and the trailer was kind of funny (I think I only watched the first half of the trailer, 'cause it looked like it was going to contain major spoilers), so I got the movie from Netflix.
Watched it today during a break from magazine stuff, and enjoyed the heck out of it. Fun, funny, and totally charming.
I should start with a couple of disclaimers: first, it's solidly in the romantic comedy genre (with concomitant genre conventions) in every way except for the leads being both women; second, if you can't suspend disbelief enough to believe in love at first sight, you will probably find this movie annoying rather than delightful; third, it is the kind of movie in which someone who's in a monogamous relationship falls for someone else, so if that pushes your buttons, don't watch this.
And fourth, I just read a review (written by a man who didn't like the movie) that suggested that actual lesbians would either not find the movie believable or be offended by it. I suspect that at least some of y'all actual lesbians might like it a lot, but I could well be wrong.
Anyway, if you're up for a love-at-first-sight romantic comedy in which one of the romantic leads is married to someone else, then here are some possible reasons to watch this one:
- Lena Headey as Luce, one of the romantic leads. I had previously known her only in the title role in Sarah Connor Chronicles; she's just as good in this very different role. Also, I had no idea she's British.
- Piper Perabo as Rachel, the other romantic lead. In case you don't recognize the name, she's the lead in Covert Affairs, but I like her way better in this. (She was also in The Prestige.) And I'm no expert, but I thought her British accent was quite good.
- Anthony Head, the guy who played Giles on Buffy, as Rachel's father.
- Rachel's young sister H, who is totally charming and asks great questions, like “Do penguins have knees?” (Played by a girl named Boo Jackson, who's apparently not been in anything else, which is too bad.)
- Rachel's husband Heck, played by Matthew Goode (who was Ozymandias in Watchmen, though I wouldn't have recognized him); it's basically a Young Hugh Grant role, but Goode is just as charming as Grant would have been.
Anyway, this is certainly my favorite lesbian romantic comedy since Better than Chocolate, and one of my favorite romantic comedies of any kind in the past year or so. (I would normally make a stronger statement than that, but I've seen one or two other particularly good ones lately.)
