Review: ‘Imagine Me & You’ Isn’t Perfect
by Benjamin Hall
A woman and man are attending their wedding. Meanwhile, a florist is working at the same wedding. Bride and florist see each other briefly and fall in love. Will the groom stand in the way?
The set-up of the movie Imagine Me & You (2005) has a “love at first sight” aspect that is rather weak. The fleeting eye contact at the beginning of the main romance is extremely brief. There is some recovery, though, via an interaction between the two women during the reception. Still, there should be more screen time to establish these two strangers falling in love at one’s wedding to a different person. Arguably, having a marriage immediately falling apart by just a glance in a romantic comedy also weakens the premise via this particular cliché. Luckily, the movie features various cast members who make this narrative worth a watch. If one has trouble with the start of the movie, there is at least something to latch onto in order to keeping watching.
Speaking of clichés and tropes, there is a reliance on them throughout this movie. One of the most obvious: a bride running in their wedding dress. Of course, one might expect this since it is a romantic comedy that starts with a wedding and will end with a different relationship. However, this visual sees some subversion since it ends up at a McDonald’s for some product placement. The subverting of what one expects also applies to some of the characterization. An example of this is when a very minor character wants to buy a gift to save his relationship. Also, some of the things that various characters say are subversive.
Both the music and scene length seem rather irregular throughout the movie; both elements have timing issues. The former is sporadic at best with a lot of music at the start, a little at the end, and practically none for the majority. When it comes to the scene duration, some are too short and others too long. That irregularity might result in blunting the emotional impact of the respective narrative beats.
When it comes to the lighting, a few of the scenes have too lit. This is especially true of the first scene at the flower shop and the visual effect from the natural light.
There are a large number moments viewers might relate to, which are both good and bad things. The good comes from the realism and happier scenes. While the bad comes from the sadder scenes and large amounts of awkward humor. Although the type of comedy may not be a real problem for many. Nonetheless, those who find it a problem may require whatever methods they employ to deal with viewing such material.
Overall, this is a relatively decent ensemble film. Yet, as a lesbian love story, this movie barely rates a first watch much less a repeat.
Imagine Me & You is out now from Searchlight Pictures on streaming and in physical form.
