Happy Accidents (R, 2001)

In HAPPY ACCIDENTS, Ruby (Marisa Tomei) and her friends keep a box of pictures of former boyfriends, as they try to sort through the weirdoes and creeps. They tell themselves that they aren't even looking for Prince Charming anymore, just someone who is not too crazy and will be nice to them. When Ruby meets Sam Deed (Vincent D'Onofrio), he seems too good to be true. He may have some quirks, but he I sweet and tender and crazy about Ruby, and that seems enough for a while. Until she hears that he is a time traveler, born 400 years from now, when Iowa is on the ocean, and he's traveled back in time to be with Ruby because he saw her picture in an antique store. Is he crazy? Is he sick? Is he really from the future? And, most important, does that mean he can't be her boyfriend?

There's a line in Splash that I thought of when I watched this movie. Tom Hanks plays a sweet guy who falls in love with a girl who turns out to be a mermaid. Utterly deflated when he finds out the truth, he says, "I don't understand. All my life I've been waiting for someone, and when I find her -- she's a fish!" The charm of that comment is that it is a metaphor for the way many people feel when they fall in love and have to grapple with the high-wire balancing act between intimacy and independence. That is certainly true of Ruby in Happy Accidents.

This is a tangy romantic comedy that plays sly games of its own with time as the story unfolds. While it is not quite up to the writer/director's previous Next Stop Wonderland, it is a charming love story and a lot of fun. Tomei and D'Onofrio are terrific, as are Holland Taylor as Ruby's therapist, Tovah Feldshuh as her mother, and Anthony Michael Hall as himself.