"Imagine Me and You" is not your average romantic comedy. That might be because it is a British lesbian romance. To be more specific, it is a comedy about a woman that didn't know that she was a lesbian but finds herself in love with a woman on her wedding day.
The plot is simple. The story starts with the wedding of Rachel (Piper Perabo of "Coyote Ugly") and Heck (Matthew Goode of "Match Point"). The two seem quite happy, which is always the first sign of danger.
"Everyone promises you happily ever after... but life turns into a different kind of fairy tale," Rachel says.
She makes the outcome for her marriage obvious from the beginning of the movie, lending to the predictability of the film. There is a look that constantly glints from behind Rachel's expression, the kind of look someone has when they're secretly in love with someone they are not supposed to be.
The first glimpse of Rachel and Luce's tragic future surfaces during the argument about love they have during a dinner party. The running conversation on love and sexuality is open, honest and probably the best part of the movie, other than the acting.
The plot is, for the most part, mediocre. The story is slow and rather predictable. The ending should be no surprise to anyone paying the least bit of attention. The humor is dry and lacking consistency. There is an abundance of wit, though it is obscure and often absurd.
"I love the smell of hotdogs in the evening. Smells like... hotdogs," Ned says as he reaches for a hotdog. Hilarious.
Perabo gives a good performance as Rachel, playing a woman confused between the affection she has for her husband, Heck, and the passion she feels for Luce. There wasn't much depth to the character, but Perabo substitutes emotions missing from the script with her ability to emulate the emotions physically.
There are plenty of lines throughout the movie that bring the audience to laughter, though the film was not nearly as funny as other British comedies.
"I want to fall into bed with her," says Coop at one point.
"This man's as useless as a fart in a jam jar," says Ella at another.
Puns and clich?(c)s run rampant through the movie. The common response to most of these is an eye-roll instead of the intended laugh. It is hard not to say, "Oh, please" aloud as the movie becomes more and more trite.
The cinematography, however, is absolutely beautiful. The camera pulls the audience into the story so well that it is easy to forget that it is all on screen. The location is stunning and the cinematography captures this flawlessly. There are several scenes in Luce's flower shop that are practically shot within the flowers. The cinematography captures the unspoken emotions.
The movie confronts the topic of homosexuality with very little judgment. There is a scene were Rachel and Heck are attempting to rekindle their love in a wooded area and run into two gay men. The men are obviously there for the same reason. However, the scene does play on a stereotype of gay men, as the two couples make introductions and it is discovered that the men had just met that night.
This pun on the cultural background of the movie brings its biggest issue upfront. It is a British comedy playing for an American audience.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
