Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

One Day Blu-ray Movie Review

Scherfig's sticky romance ambles, meanders and infuriates, in no particular order.

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown November 29, 2011

One Day isn't a poignant romance or a touching love story. It won't leave a lump in your throat, no matter how desperately it plucks at your heart strings, and it won't leave you pondering the intricacies of intimacy or pining for the one who got away. No, it's a sloppy wet kiss courtesy of An Education director Lone Scherfig; a slippery, sappy, saccharine genre pic that should be much more pointed and moving than it is. It longs to say something, but can barely muster a likable lover, much less an affair for the ages. It longs to mean something -- anything really -- but obsesses over the mundane so often that it neglects the universal truths of love. It longs to be a sweeping saga, a timeless romance even. But it loses its way early, wanders around aimlessly, sometimes carelessly, and stumbles into tragedy as if by accident, even though its terrible twists of fate are all but a certainty from the outset.

"If I could give you just one gift, do you know what it would be? Confidence. That or a scented candle."

Based on David Nicholls' award-winning 2009 novel of the same name, One Day tracks the tumultuous twenty-year friendship-turned-romance of plain-jane Emma (Anne Hathaway, sporting an on-again, off-again English accent) and womanizing celebrity Dexter (Jim Sturgess). After their first chance encounter, though, the two only see each other once a year, on July 15th. Otherwise, their communication is limited to phone calls, drunk dials, and pleas for help that tend to go unanswered. The attraction? Well, that's a bit of a mystery. It might be the droll banter. Emma and Dex do love their banter. Or perhaps it's an emotional connection. She needs yanked out of her shell, he needs yanked off his pedestal. Or maybe it's just because Dex has a ying-yang tattoo on his ankle and has a thing for perfectly paired opposing forces. (Seriously, it's in Nicholls' screenplay and it's almost, almost stated that bluntly.) Whatever the case, Emma and Dex can't resist orbiting one another, even if their yearly collisions seem to do more harm than good. Grab your Kleenexes, genre junkies.

Or don't. One Day is so uneven, so clumsily orchestrated, so contrived and so aggravating that nothing managed to crack my usually susceptible heart's wall. Hathaway and Sturgess give it their all and make the most of each scene, but they don't have much to work with. Emma is an aloof ugly duckling who's both maddeningly detached from her convictions and all too enamored with them. Some might find her endearing. I found her finicky, oblivious and annoying. Dex, meanwhile, is a self-important, self-infatuated extrovert with a healthy ego and a not-so-healthy sex life. Some may find him to be an overcompensating charmer. I found him to be a shallow, obnoxious, transparent braggart. Scherfig dabbles in humor, wit, pathos and heartfelt heartbreak, but none of it makes it any easier to wish Dex and Emma the best. They aren't good for themselves, they aren't good for each other, they aren't good for their friends and family, they aren't good for anyone. And by the time they are, it's too little, too late and too unlikely. Hathaway is endearing, Sturgess is charming, sure. But Dex and Emma? The credits couldn't come soon enough.

If there's any respite, other than Hathaway and Sturgess' valiant efforts, its the support of Patricia Clarkson and Ken Stott as Dexter's parents. Their scenes with Sturgess are among the film's most effective, and their neatly laid performances ring true even when everything else around Dex amounts to little more than a Hollywood construct. Sadly, Scherfig has no choice but to follow dear Dexter, leaving cancer-stricken Alison and non-nonsense Steven behind. How much of the film's failings fall on Scherfig's shoulders, how much should be attributed to Nicholls' screen adaptation and how much traces back to his original book is more difficult to assess. By most accounts, One Day doesn't delve as deeply, evolve as honestly or blossom as subtly as Nicholls' novel. But, if I didn't already know it, I would have never guessed An Education and One Day were helmed by the same director. Scherfig's latest film lacks the elegant touch and effortless grace that were so apparent in her 2009 Oscar-nominated drama, and Hathaway and Sturgess don't feel as if they've been guided by the same skilled hand as Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard. Granted, Dex and Emma's relationship is messier than Jenny and David's (at least on the surface), but everything about One Day plods along predictably and peculiarly. None of it resonates, none of it registers, none of it sticks. Like Dex and Emma, it's better left forgotten.

One Day Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

One Day ambles but its 1080p/VC-1 video transfer doesn't waste any time. While not the sharpest presentation around, the encode's grainy, filmic faithfulness shouldn't be undervalued and Universal's devotion to the film's source and Benoît Delhomme's photography (easily Scherfig's greatest asset) is the highpoint of the release. Colors are intentionally muted overall, but several striking primaries stand out. Black levels are deep as well, contrast is consistent and delineation is excellent. Detail, again, isn't razor sharp, but it isn't meant to be. Still, fine textures are nicely resolved, edges are clean and refined, and there isn't any aberrant softness or smearing to gripe about. Significant artifacting, banding, crush, ringing and aliasing are nowhere to be found, and while noise spikes on occasion, it never grows unruly or distracting. Say what you will about One Day, its high definition presentation is spot on.

One Day Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The same could be said of Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, although its finer qualities aren't as readily apparent. Dialogue is warm, clear and intelligible, even if its fly-on-the-wall sonics and indie sensibilities blur the line between hushed voices and ambient effects. LFE output and rear speaker activity are restrained but more than effective, creating a wonderfully subdued soundfield, no matter how quiet or bittersweet it becomes. Crowd chatter is convincing, restaurants and bars sound as busy as they should, and waves lap against the shore with disarming realism. It isn't an engrossing experience, but it is an captivating one.

One Day Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Feature Commentary with Director Lone Scherfig: Scherfig's passion, though restrained, doesn't waver, even though long stretches of silence dominate her commentary. She's joined by Focus Features' Trina Dong, not that you would know it if she didn't mention it at the outset. Her guest's comments and questions have been left on the cutting room floor, making her production overview as choppy and scattershot as it would be if Scherfig had flown solo.
• The Look of One Day (HD, 5 minutes): This three-part -- Featurette? Documentary? Nope, a triple-dip studio EPK divided into three bite-sized nuggets -- involves a whopping five minutes of behind-the-scenes material. Well, three minutes if you don't count the string of rapidfire film clips that accompany it. Segments include "Making a 20 Year Love Story," "Creating Emma with Anne" and "Dexter's Transformation."
• Em and Dex, Through the Years (HD, 4 minutes): All hail yet another short, none-too-sweet EPK in all its promotional glory.
• Anne Hathaway: Bringing Emma to Life (HD, 2 minutes): Hathaway offers up twenty-seven seconds of insight tossed into two-minutes of a fifth, equally inconsequential EPK.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 5 minutes): Five ho-hum cuts, none of which leave a mark.
• My Scenes Bookmarking
• BD-Live Functionality

One Day Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If my review of One Day strikes you as harsh, might I direct you to my colleague's theatrical review. Suffice it to say, neither Brian nor I enjoyed Scherfig's followup to An Education, not even remotely. But to each his (or her) own. Fortunately, Universal's Blu-ray release won't break any hearts. Its video transfer and DTS-HD Master Audio track are so impressive that it's almost easy to overlook the disc's lackluster supplemental package. My advice? Rent One Day before making a lifelong commitment.