It Had to Be You (2000)

Really Surprised!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Rom-coms are notoriously hard to get right, when one such genre piece is all but a direct to DVD offering it really doesn't bode well for a good film. It Had To Be You isn't a great film, but it's the sort of sweet and harmless piece that fills a time slot when you are stuck for a viewing one afternoon.Natasha Henstridge {Anna} and Michael Vartan {Charlie} play two pretty people, who are soon to be married to other people, who get to know each other in the course of planning their respective weddings in the Big Apple. Cue pretty people clearly meant to be together unable to do so out of loyalty to their respective, and clearly wrong for them, intended aisle walking partners. Cue best friends involved, gags and set ups come and go and the ending is never really in doubt. There's even time for some demon exorcising thrown in for added emotional impact.If that sounds cheekily simple in summary? Then that's because it's befitting the film. It's a simple tale that's been told many times before, both better and worse than this. Vartan and Nat fail to generate much chemistry yet remain charming throughout, and the comedy is good enough to raise a smile or two. Particularly from Michael Rispoli & Olivia d'Abo as the couple's best friends. It's decently shot and unobtrusively directed, while that obvious ending still has the ability to warm the cockles of even the coldest of hearts. Should have been better for sure, but by no means a time waster in the basic sense of the saying. 5.5/10

There was a quote where the main actress checks into the hotel and the bellboy says something to the effect of "walk by the fountain, you'll feel like you're in Rome" I could have sworn i heard this in an old classic somewhere. I wondered if anybody remembered seeing it. I gave the movie 5 stars because I don't like Romantic comedies, but I didn't want to tank it based on my bias. I don't want my vote to throw the balance off one way or the other. It is interesting that Michael Vartan later played Michael Vaughn in alias. As a younger actor his director must have forced him to take on the name of Charlie :). For what it is worth i know i watched this movie in the theatre with my wife but it didn't impact her enough for her to remember it the next time around.

I just want to make one thing clear- I love Michael Vartan! But this film really lets him down. His acting is still superb, he's still as charming as ever, and he still looks great. But the film itself is a load of rubbish! Natasha Henstridge, I'm sorry to say it, comes over bit manly... you're constantly waiting for her to run off with her best friend, who's own sub-storyline is a little weird. Myself and my family (who sat down and watched the film with me) were also put off by the soundtrack to the film; at times the music just didn't fit with what was going on in the scenes. However, even this was not the worst aspect of what I found to be a very disappointing film. I could forgive the leading lady's butch-ness, I could forgive the freakish characters that were thrown in to the mix, and I could forgive the poor choice of musical accompaniment, but whose choice was it to cut out the whole middle section of the film and skip straight to the end??? The ending was obviously planned from the beginning but how it gets there is left untold. If you're a Michael Vartan fan skip this film: buy yourself a poster instead.

The key word here is "potential". After seeing "Never Been Kissed", which I absolutely loved, I was on a search for another Michael Vartan movie. After checking all the choices, this movie seemed to be the logical choice of progression. It is the movie right after NBK and it is a romantic comedy. I must say Michael Vartan is fine in this movie, the city of New York is a great location, but there were definite challenges watching this movie. The main problem is in the script, some of the lines are laughable but in the wrong way. There were only a few moments when I could get into this film, it never captured me emotionally to get into the characters or to understand why the characters were feeling the way they were feeling. I think there should have been more development scenes for me to experience that. This is not the worst film ever made, how could it be with Michael Vartan in it. It simply could have been better than it was. The writer had some good ideas here but couldn't quite reach the goal. It had the faint reminders of "Serendipity" and "Sleepless in Seattle". I would only recommend this movie to those of us who simply need another Michael Vartan movie to experience.