Happy Accidents (2000)

  When Netflix first recommended this romantic comedy to me I thought the algorithm had messed up again.  Then I watched it and realized that it's actually a movie about mental illness and the world made sense once more.

Ruby (Marisa Tomei) is a recovering codependent who is finally ready to stop trying to fix every man she dates.  Then she meets Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio), a driver for a hospice facility, who seems like the antidote to all her drama.  Sure, he has little idiosyncrasies like a fear of dogs, an inability to distinguish between types of things, and a general air of cluelessness.  But he's sweet, and sincere, and genuine.  Then he tells her that he's actually a time traveler from the year 2470 who came into the past specifically to find her because he saw her picture in an antique shop.  Aaaaaand we're back to the crazy.  Her friend Gretchen (Nadia Dajani) thinks it's some sort of weird sex game and her therapist (Holland Taylor) thinks it's a combination of guilt over a trauma Sam experienced and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.  Ruby doesn't know what to think.  On the one hand, this man is obviously deranged and in serious need of psychiatric help but on the other, this is her healthiest relationship to date.  What's a girl to do?

I laughed myself stupid watching this.  Not so much because it was written with a humorous intent but because, hello, some dumb broad's boyfriend told her he was a fucking time traveler.  If one of my friends came up to me and told me that shit I would be enthralled.  They would be my new favorite person.  But none of my friends are that gullible, so I will miss out.

Stylistically, this film felt more late-60's than 2000.  There are a lot of still shots, a lot of reverse shots and it feels much older.  I don't know who the target audience for this film would be.  Not me, obviously, because all I'm going to do is make fun of it.  Codependent chicks looking for the perfect man?  Dudes looking for the mother of all fake stories?  "Hey, baby, my watch is from the future and it can tell you don't have any underwear on.  You do?  It must be fifteen minutes fast."