Happy Accidents (2000)
August 3, 2023 12:26 PM - Subscribe
[TRAILER] Just as Ruby (Marisa Tomei) is beginning to relish her first-ever healthy relationship, Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio) begins muttering about being a time traveler from the year 2470.
Also starring Nadja Dajani, Tovah Feldshuh, Holand taylor, Richard Portnow, Anthony Michael Hall.
Written & directed by Brad Anderson (Session 9, Transsiberian).
70% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Streaming in its entirety on YouTube. JustWatch.
hanov3r was kind enough to support MeFi with a donation. Their request was for six films about time travel. bent back tulips also donated to MeFi and is interested in sci-fi thrillers, so I'm doubling down on this one, which is helpful since there are a lot of good films available. I'll be using the tag #timetravellin
Donate $25 or more to MeFi and you can MeMail me a request for a themed day of your own. I'll fill up the sidebar on FF with six movies that fit your theme.
Also starring Nadja Dajani, Tovah Feldshuh, Holand taylor, Richard Portnow, Anthony Michael Hall.
Written & directed by Brad Anderson (Session 9, Transsiberian).
70% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Streaming in its entirety on YouTube. JustWatch.
hanov3r was kind enough to support MeFi with a donation. Their request was for six films about time travel. bent back tulips also donated to MeFi and is interested in sci-fi thrillers, so I'm doubling down on this one, which is helpful since there are a lot of good films available. I'll be using the tag #timetravellin
Donate $25 or more to MeFi and you can MeMail me a request for a themed day of your own. I'll fill up the sidebar on FF with six movies that fit your theme.
I watched this, probably about the time it came out, I think because I had liked Session 9 and was checking out what else Anderson had done. My memory is hazy, but I remember enjoying it. I remember it as a subversion of a rom-com that somehow winds up being a rom-com anyway. Do they explicitly say he's from the future or not? I remember being very on the fence about it.
posted by mrphancy at 6:06 PM on August 3, 2023
posted by mrphancy at 6:06 PM on August 3, 2023
Brad Anderson is a really talented director who never got the commercial success or indie credibility to really spread his wings. TV definitely noticed his skills though and his IMDB indicates he has worked steadily for decades.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:27 AM on August 4, 2023
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:27 AM on August 4, 2023
I would not in a hundred years would have guessed this is from the same director as Session 9. The trailer makes it look like a rom-com version of 12 Monkeys... I'm gonna have to dig this up!
posted by FatherDagon at 10:08 AM on August 4, 2023
posted by FatherDagon at 10:08 AM on August 4, 2023
Just watched this last night; the Youtube link that DirtyOldTown provided is really high quality and listenable/watchable, which is not always true about all Youtube rips.
I didn't see it when it came out but was in the target demo. Please don't assume this is a criticism but the best part (IMHO) was that Marisa Tomei and her friends were dressed in what 1998-holyrood (age 18, midwest burbs) would have considered The Most With It Fashion (they were totally normal mall clothes). Disregard the date; this is 100% a completely 90s movie. It might even be more 90s than Reality Bites.
Also the story is bonkers and the actors really sell it anyway! This is a fantastic movie all around.
For those who have seen it: do you think they just wrote the scene as "In bed, he pretends to be (random 80s teen actor)" and went looking for someone who would be willing to do so? Or did Anthony Michael Hall beat up Brad Anderson so this was his court-ordered service?
posted by holyrood at 10:14 AM on August 4, 2023
I didn't see it when it came out but was in the target demo. Please don't assume this is a criticism but the best part (IMHO) was that Marisa Tomei and her friends were dressed in what 1998-holyrood (age 18, midwest burbs) would have considered The Most With It Fashion (they were totally normal mall clothes). Disregard the date; this is 100% a completely 90s movie. It might even be more 90s than Reality Bites.
Also the story is bonkers and the actors really sell it anyway! This is a fantastic movie all around.
For those who have seen it: do you think they just wrote the scene as "In bed, he pretends to be (random 80s teen actor)" and went looking for someone who would be willing to do so? Or did Anthony Michael Hall beat up Brad Anderson so this was his court-ordered service?
posted by holyrood at 10:14 AM on August 4, 2023
I really did like this movie.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:07 AM on August 4, 2023
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:07 AM on August 4, 2023
Someone should make a website cataloguing which trailers were on which VHSes because I feel I saw this trailer a lot, though it could also just be that it's the apotheosis of the late-90s indie aesthetic.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:45 PM on August 4, 2023
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:45 PM on August 4, 2023
I remember liking this movie. It had that kind of 'genre adjacent' quality similar to 'Safety Not Guaranteed' - where, if you've gone into it mostly unspoiled, you don't know for sure whether you're watching an indie drama about love and mental illness or a full-on sci-fi story until a certain point. I think I stumbled upon 'Happy Accidents' on cable after hearing positive yet vague buzz, so the tonal shift when therapist Holland Taylor starts berating Sam in their session was great.
posted by oh yeah! at 3:19 AM on August 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by oh yeah! at 3:19 AM on August 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
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Years ago, many people would insist I was a perfect doppelganger for Vincent D'Onofrio.
Then he got fat and old and people stopped saying that. Then, some years ago, people started saying it again.
I cannot help but notice he has not gotten any younger or thinner.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:04 PM on August 3, 2023 [8 favorites]