If Only

For You Who Love Hewitt

Plot:

Violinist Samantha (Jennifer Love Hewitt), an American music student in London, is always taken for granted by her live-in partner Ian Wyndham (Paul Nicholls). Shortly after a painful fight with Ian (and nearly broke up), Samantha dies in a terrible accident.

Miraculously, the next day Ian gets an opportunity to live the fatal day all over again. What will Ian do? Try to love Sam like there’s no tomorrow, or even try to changing the events with hope to prevent her death?

Release Date: January 23, 2004
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Directed by: Gil Junger (10 Things I Hate about You, Black Knight)
Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Paul Nicholls, Tom Wilkinson, Lucy Davenport
Budget: n/a
Gross Revenue: n/a (not distributed in US theaters)

Review:

Have you ever taken someone for granted? And if you only have one day, what will you do to make up to that person? That’s the main theme of If Only. Well, the plot about “second chance” and Brit guy dating American woman probably sound cliche to you. Moreover, you might also doubt the cast. I mean, who the heck is Paul Nicholls? And when Jennifer Love Hewitt ever played a good film? At the very least, you’ll recognized Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson, but he only played a small role as cab driver in this movie.

Well, don’t let all of that fool you. This is a good movie, even if the story, including the ending, is so predictable.

The first 1/3 of the film introduces you to the pair, which will probably make you hate the Ian character, as he neglects his beautiful, funny, kind, and sexy girlfriend. But after Sam died in accident, you will suddenly share Ian’s sorrow, and feel pity for him. Imagine Ian’s surprise when he wakes up the next day with Sam is still alive, and he can redo the events from the previous 24 hours.

Ian’s efforts to change events and love Sam like there’s no tomorrow is arguably the best part of If Only movie. The scenes are romantic, warm, and filled with smiles and tears. So touching that you’ll probably view the world in different perspective, and embrace the time you have with your loved ones.

Unfortunately, as good as it is, there’s a big flaw in the script. Instead of “one more day” for Ian, it feels more like “one more week!” Started with wake up in the morning, he then attended company meeting, celebrated in bar with colleagues, searched Sam around town, then took her to the village by train, hiking, made love in a cabin, back to the village and drink in a pub, back to London, back to the apartment and get dressed, photocopy a lot of music sheets, and then attend Sam concert at 7 pm. Meaning that all of those activities were done in about 12-13 hours! Many viewers probably ignored this, as it isn’t the point of the movie, but for me, it’s just bugging.

Lastly, if you love romantic movie, this one will suit you well. Moreover, if you love Jennifer Love Hewitt, this is probably her best performance ever. The acting was okay, although not extraordinary, but she’s beautiful, convincing, and sing several nice songs in this film.

My Rating: B-

IMDb user rating: 7.0/10

Rotten Tomatoes meter: n/a

Metacritic: n/a

Entertainment Weekly: n/a

MRQE Metric: n/a

Your Ratings: (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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Note that ratings and gross revenue are based from when this review was written, so the values might already changed by now.