IMAGINE ME & YOU

by Kevin Koehler

There is an alarming trend in independent films where the “indie” label has come to represent size of budget rather than the content and communication of ideas. Obviously there are exceptions, but in Imagine Me & You we have the rule. Let’s discuss.

Not to completely bash this trifle of a movie, as I'm sure writer/director Ol Parker is an entertaining gentleman at parties, but it really is emblematic of everything that is wrong with current independent filmmaking. Financed and released by an assortment of production companies/distributors, one wonders what exactly there was in this material that was thought to be outside the mainstream.

The lesbian romance of the film's two attractive leads Luce (Lena Headey) and Rachel (Piper Perabo) begins at the latter’s wedding to the unfortunately-named Heck (Matthew Goode, much too young to be typecasting himself as the cuckolded husband after Match Point), continuing for the better part of its running time in an inevitable march towards tastefully-lit consummation. Director Parker is clearly a student of the romantic comedy genre, more specifically the Brit populist Richard Curtis (Love Actually, a film that manages to be even worse than this one), whose tiresome clichés Imagine Me & You shamelessly apes. Replace the female love interest with a man, London with New York City, and suddenly you have Matthew McConaughey and the current disposable “It” girl starring in summer escapist chick-crack.

Let’s count the ways Imagine unimaginatively parrots romcom convention without even the slightest sense of irony:

-- title cribbed from a popular song lyric (“Happy Together” by the Turtles, sung by various cast members at the conclusion, natch)

-- a climactic public declaration of love

-- an unusually attractive lead with the inability to find someone willing to date them, confounding all reason and logic

-- cute children with wisdom beyond their years

-- cute old people with the vitality and vigor of the young

I could go on – the steadfast adherence to genre commandments truly defies belief. And I will:

-- the oversexed male best friend who learns lessons about commitment

-- a protagonist who leads an urban lifestyle (and possesses a wardrobe) incommensurate with their apparent income

-- needlessly extended picturesque establishing shots

-- the complete absence of poor people

Does all this sound like something you’ve seen before with the image of a roaring lion preceding it, or perhaps a white-capped mountain?

If this is supposedly independent, what exactly is this independent of? Does the presence of two lesbian protagonists and rote lip-service made to gay issues elevate what is, at heart, uncreative and vacuous filmmaking?

New boss, same as the old boss.

Interesting footnote: Writer/director Ol Parker is married to actress Thandie Newton, probably best known for staring in the Oscar-winning abomination, Crash. Interestingly, she was originally cast as a member of the Charlie’s Angels triumvirate but had to ultimately withdraw due to her commitment to Mission: Impossible II, which had gone over schedule. Lucy Liu replaced her.

© Pretentious Musings. This review may not be reprinted, in whole or in part, without the express consent of its author.