The beauty of art is that anything or anyone can be a muse or inspiration for a great work. Some people find inspiration in quiet rooms, long walks, a good conversation with friends or even better, strangers. That sums up the kind of movie She Came To Me (2023) is. What attracted me to this romantic comedy was seeing Peter Dinklage and Anne Hathaway together on the movie poster as a married couple! I had to see how this pairing would work and knew I was in for a few laughs too.
Written and directed by Rebecca Miller, She Came To Me is a romantic comedy that brings together Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway, Marisa Tomei, Joanna Kulig, Brian d'Arcy James and a supporting cast of characters to make this odd and playful movie.
Peter Dinklage plays Steven, an opera composer suffering from writer's block. He has an important opera to finish but the music refuses to come. His wife, Patricia (Anne Hathaway), is a therapist and his former therapist which already makes their marriage an interesting situation. Unlike Steven, she is organised and obsessed with keeping everything around her in order. So she pushes him to leave the house and look for inspiration.
Walking his dog, Steven meets Katrina (Marisa Tomei), a free-spirited tugboat captain who is addicted to romance and seduces him. This encounter gives Steven the spark he has been missing but it also creates a problem for his marriage. His new opera comes alive from the experience bringing his private mistake into his professional life in a funny and uncomfortable way.
Meanwhile, a younger romance blossoms between Patricia's teenage son, Julian, and Tereza, the daughter of their housekeeper, Magdalena. But Tereza's stepfather does not approve of her dating Julian and tries to make things difficult for them. This brings another layer of conflict as the adults around them struggle with their own ideas about love and responsibility.
My Review And Rating
I didn't expect to enjoy this movie this much. The plot is decent enough for a romance comedy, split into two: love between adults and older teenagers. This film doesn't treat love as a neat, predictable thing as these two groups of characters have a different idea of what love should look like. Steven wants something that makes him feel alive again (probably a midlife crisis thing) while Patricia searches for meaning in her own way. Katrina is vivacious and consumed by romance. Interestingly, the teenagers see love as the most beautiful feeling while the adults who think they understand love are trying to figure it out.
The cast is one of the main reasons I watch this movie. Peter Dinklage is a fine actor and gives Steven a nervous, awkward vibe that makes his creative frustration easy to understand. He's flawed and passive in a way that makes you root for him despite the fact that he's married. Anne Hathaway embodies Patricia in a different light. She appears to have everything under control so when she gradually shows the uncertainty underneath her polished exterior, viewers are taken aback.
I have always loved Marisa Tomei in movies. She's the one who brings the most unpredictable energy to the screen. Katrina is romantic and impulsive and Tomei plays this role with enough warmth that elevates this movie. She's a character that is difficult to forget.
I loved that this film mixes romance with comedy, opera, family drama and spiritual questions without losing its charm. They portray a story of people who seem lost and desire things out of life while willing to pay the price to get them. There are scenes where the comedy doesn't always land but there are tender, funny moments that make this film enjoyable. It's a better improvement to some horrible romcoms that I have seen released this year alone.
Also, the title fits the movie nicely based I think on Steven's search for inspiration. Inspiration, romance and change often arrive without an appointment. He spends so much time looking for the thing that will bring his creativity back only for it to arrive through an encounter he didn't plan.
She Came To Me is not the kind of romantic comedy I would recommend for someone looking for an entertaining, cosy love story with a predictable couple at the centre. This movie portrays the many ways people chase love, meaning and happiness sometimes with questionable judgement.
Rating this movie, I'd give it 7 out of 10 stars. It's not your usual romantic comedy but the cast gives the movie personality and makes it worth watching.
All images above are screenshots from the movie
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Rating: 70/100
