Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, John
Hannah, John Lynch, Jeanne Tripplehorn
Directed by Peter Howitt
Helen gets fired from her job, then catches
a train...and misses the train...well, she does both! You see, this
film explores how Helen's life would progress if she catches the
train and if she just misses it. When she catches the train she
meets an oddly humorous and talkative man, then later walks in on her
boyfriend fooling around with an old fling of his. She leaves him to
live with her best friend where she runs into the man she met on the
train and they form a relationship. In her alternate life, she
misses the train, gets mugged, comes to her home and her boyfriend
manages to cover up the affair, only to slowly have her suspect. The
film alternates between both lives.
I'm not sure what the underlying message
is, but I recommend the film because it maintains a certain interest
level and the acting is quite competent. Helen is a likeable
character and it is interesting how one's life can dramatically
change by the mere fact of missing a train. Both stories are
compelling and complex, and even though you may think the whole film
ended up rather pointless, it still is immensely watchable and
enjoyable while it lasts. And any current film with no less than
three funk jams on the soundtrack, including the opening song, can't
be all bad in my book.
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