at the movies: one day

August 28, 2011 in movies

One Day was the best book I read last year, so I was looking forward to seeing whether the film adaption (starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess) would keep the charm of the novel.

The story follows the lives Emma (Hathaway) and Dexter (Sturgess), starting with a one-night stand on their graduation night – 15 July 1988. The story then skips one year ahead to the same date, and the next year, and so on (hence the title), to show what Em and Dex are up to and how their friendship has progressed.

I wasn’t sure how the year-skipping, which worked so well in the book, would translate to the screen. Fortunately I wasn’t disappointed and the boy (who was doing his obligatory chick-flick viewing in exchange for me seeing The Rise of the Planet of the Apes last weekend) seemed to enjoy it too.

Ms Hathaway was surprisingly convincing as a Brit and I loved her version of Emma every bit as much as I loved the character in the book. Sturgess also did a brilliant job of bringing loveable rogue Dex to live.

I would definitely recommend One Day as a good date night or girls night film – it has some good laughs, some touching emotional scenes and a decent plot to boot. That being said, I still preferred the book and would recommend you read it for yourself.

Rating: ***1/2