Worse than AWFUL


OMG I wish I had read some reviews of this movie on this site before I dragged my poor husband to this movie and wasted $14 and 2 hours. The review in The Houston Chronicle gave it 5 stars so I thought the reviewer had seen the movie. Obviously I was wrong.
The movie seemed to drag even though it zipped through years without any significant purpose.
I am a middle aged woman who loves a good romantic movie and this was not good nor romantic. This is a terrible movie!! Do not waste your time.

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Well, this middle aged woman who loves a good romantic movie respectfully disagrees. I'm not saying the movie didn't have its faults, but I quite liked it.

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Spoiler Warning:
This movie is garbage. I didn't read the book. I'm commenting strickly on this pointless movie. WHY? The story offers us nothing. Boy meets girl. They see each other once a year....most of the time. They finally fall in love...she dies. Who Cares? What's the hook? Total waste of film. I can't believe it made money. The "Movie Going Public" is extremely perplexing.

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No, they don't see each other once a year. WE see THEM on one day every year. THEY see each other throughout the year. Sounds like you didn't really bother watching it. If you actually watched it, you might have appreciated it a little more.

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I will be forever pondering which one of us didn't pay attention; because the entire movie is about them meeting on the anniversary of their first meeting.
But that's OK.....what ever works for you. :)

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Nope. Ninispjc is right. We see them once a year.

Do you really think that, once it gets toward the end, they decide to enter into a relationship, don't see each other for a year, and then are magically getting married a year later? Or that, once they are married, they still only see each other once a year? Or even back toward the beginning. Do you think that the first time they saw each other after graduation night - one year later and, according to you, the one day they get to spend together - she was like, "Hey, you know what would be fun? You can help me move!"?

Your take on the movie doesn't make sense. Try watching it again.

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Lol exactly. They even reference times they've spent together that we, the audience, don't see; so obviously, WE only see THEM once a year. XD Jesus.

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no...in the book they see each other once a year for the most part...but sometimes more often, especially after they get married *duh. The movie changes that a little bit.

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I know this comment is almost two years old, but trust me, it was YOU who did not pay attention. I've seen this movie several times, at least 15 times, and WE see THEM one day a year. Remember when they talk about having slept together after Dex's divorce? Well, we didn't see that, did we? No, because it didn't happen on July 15th. but clearly you didn't pay much attention to the movie.

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ANYONE who would watch this horse poop 15 times, has serious issues.....doesn't HE?

WE both know that YOU have some serious issues...don't WE?....lol

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I certainly don't have as many issues as someone who doesn't even bother to pay attention to a movie before publically trashing it and then being rude and hateful to anyone who disagrees.

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If you think I was rude or hurtful, I apologize. I think I was actually going for comedy here, not hurting anyone's feelings.

IMDB provides us with two main services:

#1: We get to read about an upcoming movie we are looking forward to, or one that we just enjoyed watching. Who's in it, where it was filmed, watch the Trailer.....and so on.
#2: We get to vent our frustration when we see a movie that we think sucked.

That's why I came here. I wanted to see if anyone else thought it sucked. Guess what: We are in a thread entitled "Worse Than Awful".......and I didn't start it.

Also, I do understand that many of us have a personal Tragedy or life experience that draws us into a movie with similar events. However sympathetic I may be to those folks, it still wouldn't change the fact that this movie was poorly conceived and executed.

Enjoy your movies.....:-)

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It's quite pathetic to see someone who admits to mainly using IMDB to make exaggerated complaints about the movies they didn't enjoy and to insult everyone who enjoyed it, as if everyone must subscribe to your personal preferences otherwise they're stupid (ironically you're the one who couldn't even follow the story in this movie). At least offer some logical criticisms of movies instead of just being a pessimistic, miserable human being who wants to put down others for not liking the same movies as you.

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If you are replying to the post directly above you that I wrote, then you are a disturbed little cry baby, because I was extremely polite.

If you are replying to any post before the one above, you are still a whimpering little cry baby, but I can understand that a cry baby would react that way to a terrible review of a movie that he must have loved.

Ether way, I think "You be miserable, and me be happy".

If you can't deal with anyone's opinion but your own, then you're on the wrong site dude.

Leave your address, and I'll send you some Kleenex.

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There you go again with a bunch of unwarranted insults and name-calling, as if anyone is affected by the nonsensical, immature remarks of a depressed and childish stranger on the internet. We need a kiddie version of IMDB for people like you who are incapable of intelligent, cordial discourse. Get your life together. You'll never amount to anything with that attitude and those social skills.

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jreastland - so agree. this movie is garbage. both characters are annoying, immature and boring. they deserved each other.

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Terrible, horrible..... Yet I knew this would suck and I sat through it anyway, man what a sucker I am.

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This movie is a total waste of time. I was never a massive fan of the novel, but did think it was well written and emotive; at least on a surface level.

This movie adaptation lacked anything resembling profundity. It zips through the story without developing the characters or the story arc in a satisfying way. It's like they decided to dramatise the blandest aspects of the novel and completely disregard elements that would have worked better for a movie adaptation. Hathaway's accent is the least of this film's problems as, ultimately, the entire flick is poorly written and badly directed.

I will argue that when big events happened in the novel, the reader was moved and affected by them. The depiction of emotionally big events in this film version registers minimal impact. I was not in slightest bit moved by scenes that were meant to move me. The film generated little sympathy for its characters or for the predicaments they encountered. In fact, I will go as far as to say there was hardly any character in the film that came across as even moderately likable, including Dex and Emma.

This was a truly wasted opportunity and that is why ONE DAY has flopped both critically and financially in both America and Europe.

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Well, I liked a lot. Maybe I was not expecting so much of if, and I felt in love with the story.
And no, this was not a financial flop, it costed 15M$ and get back about 60M$. Not a record, but it made the gross out of USA.

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I agree... 2 hours of my life I will never get back and I wasted a coupon I got from walking out after 30 minutes of another movie that should not have been made (Change Up: HORRID film!)

Why is it that I didn't feel bad for the character who died? I saw it coming and still I jumped but thought 'gee that's too bad'!

Why is it that the most appealing parts of the movie for me were seeing Edinburgh on screen (visited there briefly last year and didn't know any part of the story was set or filmed there) and the dates come on and off the screen?

The reason is the film as an absolute BORE! And Jim Sturgess' pompous brit character annoyed me for much of the film. The way he talked, the way he walked, ugh.

I can't believe this film was made and I can't believe it didn't go straight to video as it should have!

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"Why is it that the most appealing parts of the movie for me were seeing Edinburgh on screen...?"

Yes! It was the only good thing about it. Otherwise it was just the story of two incredibly dull characters, just dull in diametrically opposite ways. That, and the lack of any real character development or any convincing reason why they'd be persistently interested in one another, made this fall for me under "I don't care what happens to any of these people."

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To be honest, the source novel was so horrendous, the movie couldn't be anything but an improvement.

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I agree! I am a middle-aged woman that absolutely adores romance films, even cheesy crap ones. I didn't read the book so I could get surprised by the film, but also stopped it after 30 minutes. I didn't like either of the characters and there was nothing in their relationship so far that had any meaning. I also am annoyed that people actually compare this film to "When Harry Met Sally," which is a way better film than this could ever be. Watch all other romance films and you will find that the first 30 minutes of those films will be about building the relationship and romance - those glances, those deep conversations, that moment when you realise you miss the other, etc. etc.

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I didn't like either of the characters and there was nothing in their relationship so far that had any meaning.

DING! DING! DING!
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

I disliked Dexter immediately.
I liked Emma at first, but that faded quickly.

More importantly:
Dex didn't like Emma.
Emma didn't like Dex.

Why again were these people meeting up every year?

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Wow, that's a really penetrating critique you've submitted!

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I agree, this movie was just beyond. At times I was begging for the sweet release of death to come and take me from this movie. My GF had brought it over, and man... I don't know what to say, it started off okay, then it dragged on. Plus Anne's horrible Scottish accent, mamma mia! This movie is cruel and unusual punishment. She liked it, but I really disliked it.

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I disliked it too. I usually like romances, even ones with sad endings, but for me I just didn't get it. Maybe it worked as a book, who knows, I didn't read it and after watching the movie I'm sure not going to. The basic set up of the book, that being the 1 day thing just didn't seem to work for a movie. A lot of important things had to happen off stage which annoys me and the ending seemed pretentious with us finally getting what happened when they were young on that 1st day, being it did nothing to add to the characters, the impact of the story or anything it just seemed out of place. For me the whole thing was a mess. I thought that the 2 leads were good but other than that it was a mess about a really unlikable guy and the girl who sacrifices her personal life because she can't get over him. It could be a good premise but because of the basic 1 day set up it just didn't work. I also agree with the person who said there is no real reason for them not to get together except that he needs to get his *beep* together, but that wasn't played to make him sympathetic, he just seems like self indulgent ass.

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People who prefer the average Romcom or lovestory with a happy ending definitely should step away from this movie!

And I would never in my life dare to compare this to When Harry met Sally. Ever.

Just from my experience: I hated Dexter for 3/4 of the movie. They did push the character a bit much at times. Sometimes maybe even to the point of nausea.
It is possible that he was intended to be quite this way though.

In the end I had sympathies for both characters, I felt like I knew them. And all throughout the movie I did in fact understand their relationship with each other. Each step of it. And I think the way the story was told was quite clever. Even though now I may not be able to watch it again, because the ending made me heartbroken.

But I'm glad it's not just another Hollywood lovestory.

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People who prefer the average Romcom or lovestory with a happy ending definitely should step away from this movie!


Agree.

Me for example, prefer this kind of movies, romantic movies but with no happy endings. Though when Dex was with his daughter on the hill was kind of a happy moment for him.

I really enjoyed this movie, dont get why people are complaining

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he just seems like self indulgent ass.


For a long time, he was a self-indulgent ass. He gets better. By the end of the film, he has changed and grown to the point that he has become likable. Decent, as her wannabe-comedian ex said.

_____
Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you find the real tinsel underneath.

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It takes all sorts, I suppose. I'm a man in his mid-fifties who loathes and despises romcoms and chick flicks, but I was devastated by the book - I thought it was nigh on unfilmable but they did a decent job of sort of giving us a digest of the book. I'm sure all of you people above could give me a list of your favourites that I would hate, but that doesn't make either of us right or wrong. It's a cliche, but it would be a boring old world if we all liked the same stuff all the time.





I'm a Prick With a Fork.

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Okay, it wasn't the best movie of all time! It has precious little in common with When Harry Met Sally. It is most certainly not your average romantic movie. But that is exactly what I loved about it.

a) It kept me hooked throughout.
b) The acting was brilliant. Anne Hathaway is the movie for me. The other actors carried their weight well.
c) It was fresh and interesting, even though it broke my heart towards the end.
d) It moved me and stayed with me long after I finished watching.
e) It seemed very beautifully shot to me. Haunting almost.
f) It seemed much much more realistic in its approach to relationships and people than any other romance I can think of.

Again I say, it's not your average romance. Avoid it if that's what you're looking for. But if you're even a little open to some un-average cinema, I say watch this and then form your own opinion. It deserves a chance, at the very least.

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