The Very Thought of You

Rated [PG-13], 88 minutes
Starring Monica Potter, Joseph Fiennes, Rufus Sewell, Tom Hollander and Ray Winstone
Screenplay by Peter Morgan
Directed by Nick Hamm
website: www.miramax.com

IN SHORT: Don't Think too much. Pass it by.

It must have sounded great in the pitch meeting . . . especially 'cuz The Very Thought Of You is a British production and those folks have great accents. . .

It's a fabulous story of three best friends, mates since childhood. Daniel (Tom Hollander) is fabulously wealthy; A big record company executive, jetting around the globe, flying first class, wearing ugly red suits and getting away with it because he's a big record company executive jetting around the globe and riding in limousines. Stretch limousines. Very important. Regardless, he's at passport control at some awful American city . . . someplace cold . . . Minneapolis

Too much snow. Bad for the budget

We'll shoot in the summertime. I'll set you up with that lovely Mary Richards person. She's still single, I'm told

Fabulous!

At the airport Daniel sets his eyes on the woman of his dreams. Her name is Martha (Monica Potter). Young. Gorgeous. A Julia Roberts type but not as expensive, and Daniel whips out the corporate credit card and comes up with a wild scheme to upgrade the lass into first class, in the seat next to him. And then he puts her up in a first class hotel, spends thousands of Pounds Sterling but he doesn't land the bird!

Bugger.

No it's not! Because she's The One. Different rules apply. He tells his mates all about her and Frank (Rufus Sewell), the perennially out of work ex famous child star with burning eyes and smoldering temper . .

Ooo . . .

Frank coincidentally meets Martha and decides that he's going to get what Daniel couldn't get and then rub the conquest in his friend's face!

The lout!

Exactly! And while Frank is boasting of his plan tobachelor number three, Laurence (Joseph Fiennes)

She's buggered off . . .

SPOILER WARNING [swipe the empty space below to see it]

Of course she's buggered off, because she's already met the perfect man!

and that would be . . .

Of course it would be! Put all four of them in the same place at the same time and you get?

Nuclear warfare!

Not on this budget, mate. That would require a Bruce Willis type as well. You can have Julia Roberts or you can have Bruce Willis but you can't have them both . . .

The sad fact of the movie business is that many unknown actors who bear more than a passing resemblance to A-list stars wind up signing for pictures that would have been bumped up to the A-list if the producers had enough money to sign the A-list star. When they don't they try to sell their flick as a "star name-type" movie. The unfortunate victim in this is star Monica Potter who, even with blonde hair, is dead on for Julia Roberts. In this tepid but cleverly conceived romantic comedy (emphasis on the concept, not the execution which is neither romantic nor funny) Miss Potter has been done a great wrong. Cranky says this having seen her far superior acting work in Without Limits, which you can get at the local Blockbuster. Cranky doesn't have much good to say about the performance of Joseph Fiennes, either, but Rufus Sewell does have those smouldering burning eyes. That and a nasty right uppercut is about all his character requires.

The Very Thought Of You has the feel of a television movie, the underdeveloped kind of script that should've relegated it to teevee and godawful sound recording -- you won't notice it but I did. It's what I used to do. There's a clever bit involving the shrink in the apartment upstairs from Fiennes but that's about it.

On average, a first run movie ticket will run you Eight Bucks. Were Cranky able to set his own price to The Very Thought Of You, he would have paid...

$2.00

This should've been titled Three Guys and A Girl and sold to CBS. Pass it by.

	Click to buy films starring Monica Potter
	Click to buy films starring Joseph Fiennes
	Click to buy films starring Rufus Sewell

The Cranky Critic® is a Registered Trademark of, and his website is Copyright © 1995-2008 by, Chuck Schwartz. Articles by Paul Fischer Copyright © 1999 - 2006 Paul Fischer. All images, unless otherwise noted, are property of,©, ®, T their respective studios and are used by permission. All Rights Reserved. Not to be used or copied for any commercial purpose. Academy AwardT(s) and Oscar®(s) are registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Amazon Honor System

Your Donations feed us

Buy Cranky stuff

Buy movie posters!

BUY THE LATEST DVDs
Star Wars Trilogy (Widescreen) DVD (Full Screen)	Lord of the Rings Trilogy DVD
Marx Bros collection	Alfred Hitchcock Collection
Looney Toons Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Rocky & Bullwinkle Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Star Trek TOS Star Trek TNG Star Trek Films Criterion Collections

TV/Movie Collectibles

online movie critics

We're Kidlet Safe

Search engine
by FreeFind

click to search site

Now in Release:

The Band's Visit
Definitely Maybe
Hottie and the Nottie
In Bruges
Iron Man
Be Kind Rewind
Rambo
Cloverfield
Mad Money
U2 3D

28 Weeks Later
Black Book
Bourne Ultimatum
Brooklyn Rules
Death at a Funeral
Evening
The Ex
Fido
Georgia Rule
Grindhouse
Hairspray
Harry Potter - Phoenix
The Hoax
Hot Rod
I Know Who Killed Me
La Vie en Rose
License to Wed
Live Free or Die Hard
Mr. Brooks
Next
No Reservatons
Ocean's Thirteen
Perfect Stranger
Pirates of Caribbean
Ratatouille
Rescue Dawn
Rush Hour 3
Severance
Sicko
Simpsons Movie
Slow Burn
Snow Cake
Spider-Man 3
Stardust

DVDs on Sale:
300
Alice in Wonderland
Batman Begins
Bambi
Beauty and the Beast
Blade Runner
Bridge to Terabithia
Charlie + Chocolate Factory
Cinderella
E.T.
Fantastic Four
Forrest Gump
Gone With the Wind
Harry Potter yrs 1-3 set
Harry Potter Azkaban
The Incredibles
Indiana Jones trilogy
The Lion King
Lord of Rings 12 discs
Mary Poppins 40th LE
Ultimate Matrix set
Miss Potter
Monty Python - Grail
Napoleon Dynamite
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean 2
Shrek
Shrek 2
Sin City
Sleeping Beauty
South Park Movie
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Star Wars Ep. 1
Star Wars Ep. 2
Star Wars 3 Full Screen
Star Wars 3 l'box
Star Wars Trilogy (4-6)
The Island
War of the Worlds
X-Men
X-Men 2

The Cranky Critic® is a Registered Trademark of, and his website is Copyright © 1995 - 2012 by Chuck Schwartz. Articles by Paul Fischer are Copyright © 1999 - 2006 Paul Fischer. All images, unless otherwise noted, are property of,©, ®, ™ their respective studios and are used by permission. All Rights Reserved. Not to be used or copied for any commercial purpose. Academy Award™(s) and Oscar®(s) are registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.