It's Just Movies

— by ADAM POYNTER —

After one night together — July 15, 1988, the day of their college graduation — Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway), a working-class girl with ambition and principles, and Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess), a wealthy and charming television producer who acts as if the whole world is his private playground, embark on a friendship that lasts a lifetime.

Over the course of 20 years, we see each of them on July 15 during various years and see they are sometimes lovers, sometimes friends and other times strangers. Even though they are not always connected or together, their thoughts wander towards each other. As each of their lives change, they grow to realize that maybe their biggest hopes and regrets could have all gone away if they had handled things differently many years ago on that first night together.

That is the premise of “One Day,” directed by Lone Scherfig (“An Education”) and based on the bestselling novel by David Nicholls. A truly emotional story about love, loss, redemption, hope, laughter and tears, it is sure to be a dramatic film that has two phenomenal actors showcasing some of their talent.

We have five all new clips for you to see and they take us from their first meeting – according to Dexter- through years of friendship, candid conversations about each other’s lovers and into a future where many years have passed and they both have changed immensely.

In the first clip, Emma and Dexter run into each other when their friends decide to hook-up. When Dexter introduces himself, he learns that they have met before — multiple times — but he always happened to be drunk. In this clip, you can see Emma’s tendency towards sarcasm and Dexter being full of himself.

The next two clips both come a few years later down the line, when Emma feels the need to bare her soul and tell him about her school-girl crush on him. He, of course, says he knew and wasn’t surprised. When she then feels the need to try to confess her feelings for him once again, his lack of maturity ruins the moment.

I really like the next clip, which comes even a few years later where Emma and Dexter talk about their current relationship and joke about Dexter’s wild sexual adventure. He mentions how he screwed up his career, relationships and his girlfriend Sophie’s lack of sense-of-humor. Emma says her boyfriend Ian has only made her laugh when he fell down the stairs. The dry type of humor in this clip really brought a smile to my face and the chemistry between the two leads is undeniable.

The fifth and final clip comes towards the end of the film, when Dexter and Emma have been friends nearly 20 years and as he starts to confess there is a reason why he came to visit her in Paris she interrupts him to tell him something, and then the clip cuts off.

My general impression of the clips is that they are simple but say a lot about the dynamics and chemistry found in the film and it is one that I will be seeing when it comes to theaters. These clips only focus on two of the actors, but there is also a good supporting cast as well including Patricia Clarkson, Jodie Whittaker, Georgia King, Ken Stott and Romola Garai.

You can see “One Day” in limited theaters Aug. 19. It is rated PG-13 for adult content, language, substance abuse and partial nudity.

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