One Special Night (1999)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

One Special Night tells the tale of two lonely people one who's wife suffers from Dementia,while the other her husband passed away a few years back meet up at a nursing home as Robert(James Garner)was visiting his wife,while Catherine(Julie Andrews) a doctor was just popping into the nursing home to see the patients. Of course with a snow storm lurking upon them the two end up getting stuck in the snow storm and find an abandoned cabin where they stay there till the storm goes down as Catherine offered a lift for Robert to take him home. With the two stuck in a cabin even though their persona's differ will romance blossom between them and will they ever get together?Overall this was a really nice sweet love story between two old people who fall in love as they are both lonely with their companies not with them anymore. Julie Andrews is well in my opinion one of my favourite English actresses of all time. I have seen her in a lot of films ranging from Mary Poppins to The Sound Of Music. James Garner was also very good too as the lonely contractor Robert who strikes up with Catherine(Julie Andrews).Yes the story reminds me of The Notebook with a hint of Sleepless in Seattle with the whole faith thing as in the beginning of the film we meet Catherine and she doesn't see Robert twice,until she met him at the nursing home.If you want to watch it be sure you catch it on TV whenever its on. My rating is 8/10Very Good

I gave "One Special Night" to myself as a Christmas present and it was worth every cent I spent on it. James Garner as Robert the Builder and the great-looking Julie Andrews as Catherine the Doctor are a terrific couple, funny, heart-warming and lovable. You can see that Garner and Andrews known each other for quite a while and that they're used to act together. They do have a chemistry that makes your heart want to jump. Julie is funny but nonetheless you can see how Katharine's suffering. And Jim, well, let's say, he's the great re-actor he's ever been. I really enjoyed watching those two eat maccaroni and cheese and Julie's face just as well as Jim's. There are so many little scenes you don't realize when you see the movie for the first time that'll make you laugh when you watch for the third or fourth time. I love the way, Catherine talks to herself. We all do it, right? But only few people show it. It was funny and sad, and Julie made it so great. She's just perfect (I LOVE HER!!!) So guys, get some hot chocolate and watch. It doesn't have to be between the holidays, but every day. But in summer, I recommend chocolate ice-cream instead of hot chocolate. If you're not disgusted when you see two older people fall in love, you'll enjoy this movie!

POSSIBLE SPOILERSIf this movie wasn't set during the holidays, it wouldn't have worked. However, people want a happy ending for holiday movies, because that's what Thanksgiving and Christmas are all about anyway. So yeah, this movie is absolutely darling. Julie Andrews (my favorite of all time) and James Garner have kept their great chemistry for over thirty years and it shines even brighter in this movie. The whole subplot with his family was a little overdone (three words-reeks of Lifetime), but the scenes where they are in the cabin, the bulk of the movie, is a tribute to their talents both individually and together. They both allow themselves to become vulnerable about the love they feel for their dead or dying spouses and they fall in love with each other because they know the other one understands. And I can't help myself-I cry every time Julie's character, a pediatric cardiologist, saves the life of James's character's newborn granddaughter after he tells her that maybe the reason she never had children of her own was because she was meant to save one special child who would grow up to find a cure for her husband's cancer. (Can you tell I've seen it a few times?) And that part happens on Christmas Eve, the night of miracles. Again, in a movie not centered around the holidays and billed as a "holiday movie," this brand of sap would be over-the-top. But it's Thanksgiving and Christmas in the movie and in real time when it's being replayed on TV, so it's perfectly acceptable.

While it was nice to see a film about older people finding each other and falling in love and the performances by Andrews and Garner were not bad, this picture poured on the sapp and schmaltz at every turn. Every curve in the plot was in view from a mile away!