Time travel twist can’t save this mediocre “not” love story
Sheila is a woman who has been through a lot in her life, and she’s not the type to take things for granted. She knows that time travel is something that can be used to improve her life, but she also knows that it can also be used to screw up things. When she meets John (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), she’s already aware of the temptation to perfect their relationship, and she knows that he won’t be the only one who falls for her.
Meet Cute is a love story set in the quantum world of time. Despite its premise, it is not about time travel or finding a perfect love. Instead, it focuses on the protagonist’s mental state as he tries to find someone to love him for who he is, not what he looks like or how he behaves. If you are expecting Meet Cute to be like About Time, you will be disappointed.
Sheila and Gary are sitting in a bar, chatting casually. They seem to know each other vaguely, but there is an underlying feeling of familiarity. The conversation is polite and light-hearted, with no strong sexual undertones. However, it’s clear Sheila knows more about Gary than he does about her.
Gary is a regular guy who lives a normal life. One night, he meets Sheila, a woman who tells him she is a time traveller. Gary is skeptical at first, but Sheila proves it by quoting intimate details of his life. This scares Gary, but he soon finds himself sitting across Sheila again and the cycle continues. ..
The film has a strong beginning that quickly establishes the themes and characters. The writing is engaging and the actors are great. We are drawn in from the start, but it is all downhill from there.
But the story never really takes off. The characters are one-dimensional and the plot is too slow to keep up.
Charlie Kaufman’s human insights are not as strong as they could be. The film does not have the emotional depth that it could.
Meet Cute is a poorly written and unengaging film that fails to provide us with interesting or relatable characters. The writers missed a trick by purposely writing their protagonists as troubled people, without the discovery process where we can see things take shape. With Gary and Sheila, we are given readymade flaws that play out through words and not visuals.
The film’s climax is problematic because the characters don’t seem to have the backing of the script. Cuoco and Davidson’s performances are subpar, as a result. ..
I found Cuoco’s rendition of Sheila to be problematic. You could see strong glimpses of Cassie in her without the comic undertones. But the character seemed really derivative in that sense. It worked on borrowed conviction and maybe you can’t blame Cuoco for it. She took all she can from her experience of living Sheila’s character in real life and through other roles she has played. Despite that, their presence is the only thing that makes Meet Cute watchable. ..
Gary’s sudden change in character in the third act didn’t make sense. While the movie started out with Gary trying to save Sheila from her misery and pain, it ends with her becoming a savior for him.
The bridge scene in Meet Cute was perhaps the most crucial junction for the story. It had a critical significance which could turn the dye on either side. What we do end up seeing destroys any chance of redemption for the story. Even Gary’s sojourn into the past which was meant to be a tectonic event in the film, turned out to be really drab. It really highlights everything that went wrong with the project.
Cute has a skip recommendation from us. It never really blossoms into a full-blown narrative about two people struggling to find love – as it should have – remaining restricted to coming across as the diary of wimpy kids done distastefully and with little originality.
In a story that has a cute ending, a young couple is getting ready to go on their first date. They are excited and nervous, but they are also in love. As they get ready to leave for their date, the man says something that makes her heart melt. He says, “I love you.” She responds with an emotional response of her own. They kiss and enjoy the rest of their date.
