Happy Accidents (2000) – Spoilers (Vincent D’Onofrio, Marisa Tomei)

One of the hardest films I ever watched, this strange film featuring a time traveler from 2470, played by Vincent D’Onofrio and a skeptic whose likes to fix men, Ruby Weaver, played by Marisa Tomei, is an unlikely classic. The film takes place in the nineties, and Sam Deed, the time traveler, goes back in time to save Ruby Weaver’s life. To hear Ruby Weaver tell it, Sam Deed is a delusional man that just wants to think that he is from the future. But his stories are so strange, so outlandish, there just might be some truth to it.

To be fair, this is really an existential film that has nothing to do with time travel or romance. Sam Deed is just a guardian angel sent to protect Ruby Weaver. Everyone else in her life at that particular time is there to discredit Sam Deed, in order that Ruby Weaver would die. As the film unfolds, we find out that Ruby’s therapist is also a time traveler. Ruby tries to call Sam’s dad to find out the truth, but he isn’t any help. It is not until she goes through some photos to attempt to figure out which one she is going to put in her pile of ex boyfriends that she comes across a photo from the near future, her only clue that Sam’s story is true.

The dance between the truth, suspension of disbelief, faith, trials and tribulations, and the “spiritual” nature of the relationship between Sam Deed and Ruby Weaver is fascinating. That is what I took away from this movie, even though that is not the message that is explicitly communicated. There are some clues though; early on in the film Ruby is sitting around with her girlfriends, all jaded New Yorkers with failed relationships, and one tells a story about meeting a Jew for Jesus, and how she, as a Jewish girl, could not get along with someone that believed in Jesus Christ.

I hate to admit it, but I leaped at the chance to see Vincent D’Onofio on the big screen. He is not Phillip Seymour-Hoffman but for me he is the next best thing. He does not disappoint in this film. Seeing him with Marisa Tomei was a real treat. This is a very, very, unconventional romantic film, in part because of the science fiction aspect to it, but also due to the skill at which the look and feel of nineties New York is caught on film. You can tell that this is 1999, when everything is about to change; old New York before the collapse of the World Trade Center before “the innocence was lost”.

You may have a string of losses and find yourself at a place in life in which you are very cynical and disillusioned. But then someone, or some thing, comes into your life and nothing is the same. Of course, when change is about to come, there is a perfect, quiet storm, and a series of events that attempt to do everything humanly and spiritually possible to keep you stuck in your past. The talk of Sam Deed’s past, the version which does not exist, and his actual past, is just a metaphor to illustrate a larger point about what importance of Ruby Weaver’s past. If you never saw a movie by Brad Anderson, this is a good time to start! I will definitely check out his work in the future when the opportunity presents itself.