Telling a lie requires you to invent more lies to sustain the original untruth. Likewise, an implausible premise requires abundant fictions to keep the story going--often into even more absurd realms. The premise of "Serendipity" is that it is not you who determines your own destiny; rather it is fate that makes the determination as to how your life will play out. Consider Sara's retort to Jonathan just after they meet and he wants to get her name and phone number:
Jonathan: I just had a really great time and for all we know I wouldn't be able to find you again.
Sara: Well, if we're meant to meet again, we'll meet again. It's just not the right time now.
Now how does Sara know what the RIGHT time is? She doesn't, so she's going to let fate decide. How droll!
The doctrine of fatalism is a flawed doctrine which states that all events are fixed in advance so that we are powerless to change them. People are merely pieces on a chessboard, manipulated by some supernatural power--all choice has been removed from the equation and we have no recourse but to submit ourselves to the will of some external agency. At one point in the movie, Sara's friend Courtney told her as much, and that was the closest we come to ANY truth in this movie. But the premise must be maintained at all costs, and so once the two main characters part, all kinds of fatalistic events occur as if on cue to help them find one another again--the five dollar bill with Jonathan's name on it, the book with Sara's phone number in it, etc. The list of improbabilities increases as the movie descends into utter ludicrousness.
One particularly distasteful aspect of this movie was the shallowness of the lead characters. When Jonathan and Sara first met, they were both involved with other people. And those other people, we come to find out, are very nice people who are in love with our main characters. Well it seems to me that Jonathan and Sara can't be too happy with their respective relationships if they are flirting with one another! And if they had any misgivings, then it would have been honest of them both to let their significant others in on the secret instead of leading them on in such a disingenuous fashion--especially since those significant others were good and decent people who truly loved them. To string someone along to the point where you've convinced that person that you want to marry him or her, but to pine away for someone else and then end the relationship at the last moment is not only cowardly and dishonest—it is cruel. But why settle for second best when fate has decreed otherwise?
Given the above, it was impossible for me to like Jonathan and Sara. All I felt was contempt for their willingness to submit to fate and to not take the responsibility for their actions into their own hands. If I had met a girl whom I thought could be the love of my life (and I sincerely doubt such a thing would happen during a brief interlude in a department store as it did in the movie!), you can bet your bottom dollar that I would NEVER, EVER leave anything up to chance! I would have asked that girl for her phone number and would not have left her without it. Unless of course she was a girl like Sara, in which case I probably would have had no choice but to let fate decide. After all, she did say "it's just not the right time now." Sure babe. Sure.
To cap off the succession of absurdities, there was no emotional payoff at the end of the movie. Jonathan and Sara shake hands when they finally meet followed by a weak and unconvincing kiss. You would think after two years of constantly thinking about one another and trying desperately to reconnect, that our lovers would have rushed into each other's arms and shouted for joy. But no! They simply stand next to each other on the ice rink looking cold and bemused. But then, considering the flawed script and all the fatalistic occurrences that permeate every inch of this ridiculous movie, I can only believe that it was fated to be this way.
Jonathan: I just had a really great time and for all we know I wouldn't be able to find you again.
Sara: Well, if we're meant to meet again, we'll meet again. It's just not the right time now.
Now how does Sara know what the RIGHT time is? She doesn't, so she's going to let fate decide. How droll!
The doctrine of fatalism is a flawed doctrine which states that all events are fixed in advance so that we are powerless to change them. People are merely pieces on a chessboard, manipulated by some supernatural power--all choice has been removed from the equation and we have no recourse but to submit ourselves to the will of some external agency. At one point in the movie, Sara's friend Courtney told her as much, and that was the closest we come to ANY truth in this movie. But the premise must be maintained at all costs, and so once the two main characters part, all kinds of fatalistic events occur as if on cue to help them find one another again--the five dollar bill with Jonathan's name on it, the book with Sara's phone number in it, etc. The list of improbabilities increases as the movie descends into utter ludicrousness.
One particularly distasteful aspect of this movie was the shallowness of the lead characters. When Jonathan and Sara first met, they were both involved with other people. And those other people, we come to find out, are very nice people who are in love with our main characters. Well it seems to me that Jonathan and Sara can't be too happy with their respective relationships if they are flirting with one another! And if they had any misgivings, then it would have been honest of them both to let their significant others in on the secret instead of leading them on in such a disingenuous fashion--especially since those significant others were good and decent people who truly loved them. To string someone along to the point where you've convinced that person that you want to marry him or her, but to pine away for someone else and then end the relationship at the last moment is not only cowardly and dishonest—it is cruel. But why settle for second best when fate has decreed otherwise?
Given the above, it was impossible for me to like Jonathan and Sara. All I felt was contempt for their willingness to submit to fate and to not take the responsibility for their actions into their own hands. If I had met a girl whom I thought could be the love of my life (and I sincerely doubt such a thing would happen during a brief interlude in a department store as it did in the movie!), you can bet your bottom dollar that I would NEVER, EVER leave anything up to chance! I would have asked that girl for her phone number and would not have left her without it. Unless of course she was a girl like Sara, in which case I probably would have had no choice but to let fate decide. After all, she did say "it's just not the right time now." Sure babe. Sure.
To cap off the succession of absurdities, there was no emotional payoff at the end of the movie. Jonathan and Sara shake hands when they finally meet followed by a weak and unconvincing kiss. You would think after two years of constantly thinking about one another and trying desperately to reconnect, that our lovers would have rushed into each other's arms and shouted for joy. But no! They simply stand next to each other on the ice rink looking cold and bemused. But then, considering the flawed script and all the fatalistic occurrences that permeate every inch of this ridiculous movie, I can only believe that it was fated to be this way.