Film Reviews

Kate and Leopold

• Rating:
• Director: James Mangold.
• Starring: Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, Live Schrieber, Breckin Meyer, Natasha Lyonne, Bradley Whitford, Philip Bosco.
• Details: US / 114 mins / (15PG).

If you don't know anything about Kate and Leopold, the alarm bells should start ringing as soon as you read the tagline: "If they lived in the same century they'd be perfect for each other". Fiercely reminiscent of the deplorable Just Visiting, Kate and Leopold is a wishy washy, time travel romantic comedy, which sees Jackman playing a 19th-century British duke transported forward through a time portal to present day New York City. There, after a number of mishaps, he encounters and falls in love with high flying career woman, Kate (the increasingly annoying Ryan). The rest, I think it is safe to assume, you can guess. Sticking close to the innocent lost in a situation beyond their comprehension patented by Crocodile Dundee, Kate and Leopold is an extremely predictable and laboured excursion. Even if you are prepared to accept the idiotic premise, the narrative lacks any sort of element of surprise, and the characterisation is barely non-existent. Avoid unless you like this sort of thing.

Review by Garreth Murphy