Rating (1 to 10) : 6
Summary: The life of Helen, in two alternate worlds.
What would happen if you had a really crappy day, getting fired from your job, and then going home to find your boyfriend/girlfriend in bed with someone else? And how would your life turn out differently if you arrived later in the day and didn’t find your significant other cheating on you? This “alternate history” story is shown with both story tracks interspersed with the other throughout the movie.
The story begins with Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow, “Emma” and “Great Expectations”), an employee of the PR firm, getting fired because she “borrowed” some liquor from her office, causing her firm to be out of beverages for clients that day. She doesn’t help matters by trying to brush off the unfortunate incident with a cynical remark about the true purpose of PR firms. She leaves the office and tries to call her boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch, Paul Hill in “In the Name of the Father”) but Gerry put the phone off the hook while engaging in his tryst with his ex-girlfriend Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Helen in “Waterworld”). While leaving her office for the last time, she encounters James (John Hannah, Jonathan Carnahan in “The Mummy”) in the elevator when he picks up an earring that she dropped.
Helen goes to the subway station to catch the train back to her apartment. In one version of the movie, she catches the train and gets back home early and unexpectedly catches Gerry in bed with Lydia. In the other version, she misses the train, finds out that the route is delayed because of an accident, tries to catch a cab but is mugged, goes to the hospital, and finally arrives back home later, after Lydia had left.
As the movie splices scenes from both versions of the story, it’s up to the viewer to infer what version is being shown. In the version where Helen catches Gerry cheating on her, she meets James again while riding the subway back to her apartment. They start chatting when James breaks the ice with humor but Helen is in no mood to laugh as she discloses that she just got canned. After she catches her boyfriend in the act of infidelity, she leaves and later bumps into James at her favorite restaurant. James approaches her again and a budding romance between James and Helen begins.
Cut to the other version, the one where Helen doesn’t catch Gerry. She gets home and Gerry is in the shower, surprised that she’s home early. He realizes that only a few minutes was the difference between his infidelity revealed and concealed. Gerry, scared at almost being caught, is nervous when Helen arrives home but tries to mask his guilt by being comforting and indulgent to her. John Lynch does a good performance of acting like a man who just avoided trouble by sheer luck. To divert attention, he takes Helen out and fetes her. Unfortunately for Gerry, Lydia wants to get back with him and thus wants Gerry to end his relationship with Helen. Using the cunning of a scorned woman, she schemes to disclose her involvement with Gerry to Helen as the catharsis.
Helen by now cannot find another job at a PR firm so she’s reduced to holding two part-time jobs. Gerry doesn’t work – he’s a writer still working on his “novel” so Helen supports them both. One of Helen’s jobs is to deliver sandwiches in the mornings to various offices and one day she delivers them to Lydia office. She berates her for delivering sandwiches that were spoiled and which made her employees sick. She then reveals to Gerry what she’s done, which makes Gerry very nervous as he realizes that he’s trapped by Lydia’s threat of blackmail.
Cut back to the version where Helen breaks up with Gerry and romances James instead. Things look so perfect for Helen in this version of her life. Helen cuts her hair short and dyes it blonde to give her a new identity. James encourages her to start her own PR firm and thru his contacts, she gets her first clients for her fledgling firm. This version seems like the ideal version but there is a cloud on the horizon. The plot implies that James has not been fully forthcoming about his relationship status and we discover that he has a wife.
So which version of Helen’s life is better? In the version where Gerry is trying to hide his previous acts of infidelity while Lydia is trying to break Helen and him up by subtle means, all of which causes much anguish to Gerry? What to do for Gerry? He thinks he finds a solution but there is a conclusion at the end of this version that isn’t so fortuitous for Gerry.
That must mean that the other version of Helen’s life is better since she found out about the true nature of Gerry’s behavior and that allowed her to make several significant changes to her life. She’s met James and she started her own business. But what about James’ wife? Well there’s a story behind that too – I won’t spoil the movie by giving it away.
There is a twist to this movie and you might be a bit surprised by which version is the real happy ending. I hope this isn’t enough of a spoiler. I found this movie enjoyable; Gwyneth Paltrow does a passable job playing an English woman by skillfully using a British accent but her vocabulary usage sometimes gives her away as a non-Britisher. But the best acting is done by John Lynch as he plays the cheating boyfriend burdened at first by his guilt, then by fear as Lydia contrives to disclose their secret. He makes best use of his facial expression, especially his eyes, to convey a sense of worry, nervousness, guilt, and of being trapped when he’s trying to assuage Helen’s rising level of guilt while at the same time trying to prevent Lydia from revealing their affair. Not the greatest film but it's amusing and entertaining.
Memorable quote: "Well I've had a dreadful day. I got sacked. And so did you, it would seem. Cup of tea?”
-- Helen, after catching Gerry in bed with Lydia