By Molly Dunn
Assistant City Editor
Unconventional for a love story, “One Day” follows the lives of two friends, Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dex (Jim Sturgess), who met on July 15, 1988, the beginning of their complicated and frustrating relationship.
Rather than telling their story in a short time frame, the movie progresses through their lives by visiting the characters one day, July 15, of each year since they met. Emma and Dex start their relationship as “just friends” but as the years pass by, the obvious attraction becomes evident.
In the first 20 minutes of the movie, you can tell the pair will not stay friends forever.
With every romance comes struggle and conflict and, hopefully, a happy ending. “One Day” gives the viewers something of what they expect; the occasional witty lines and compassion for the lovers if something doesn’t go their way, but not an overall happy ending.
It seems as though movies today cannot tell a story without twisting the ending to be depressing, leaving viewers disappointed even if they enjoyed most of the movie. “One Day” progresses the romance between Emma and Dex in such a way you expect a happy-go-lucky ending.
Without spoiling too much, I will say the ending didn’t match the rest of the film. It was so jarring that it changed the overall tone of the film to a more depressing one and.
Why can’t screenwriters create love stories that leave the audience feeling good after the credits roll? If the movie is depressing, don’t mislead the viewers into thinking everything will be okay in the end.
Maybe one day love stories will tell a story about love, not the depression of losing love. Until then, I’ll continue giving films like this two stars out of five.