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“Contrived Love Story”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

One Day is a gimmicky love story starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess as two British friends who eventually become lovers.

The gimmick is in the construction of the story, which begins on July 15, 2006, and then suddenly flashes back to July 15, 1988, and then shows us what these two people are doing on that day every year from then until now.

The reason that date is significant is that it is known as St. Smithin’s day in Great Britain, and British folklore says that whatever the weather is on that day will continue for the next 40 days.

And the reason that the first date in 1988 is significant is that that is the date that Emma and Dexter became involved after graduation from college and a night out of celebration with mutual friends and fellow graduates.

At the end of the evening, Dexter walks Emma home, and although Dexter thinks they have never met before, Emma says that they have met several times.

One thing leads to another, but then they change their minds about sleeping together and they exchange “Sorry, I’m not good at this” and “That’s fine, maybe we can just be friends.”

And so the story skips to each year on that date of July 15 to show us what they are doing, how their lives have changed, and how their relationship with each other is developing.

Emma wants to be a poet and take London by storm, but London swallows her up, and she ends up working in a Mexican restaurant.

Dexter goes to India and becomes a teacher, but they exchange long letters with each other while he is away.

In 1992 they go on holiday together, but Emma establishes some rules for them, which include separate bedrooms, no flirting, no skinny-dipping, and no playing Scrabble.  Some of those rules are broken, and with comic results.

Dexter becomes famous with a television show that he hosts, but audiences love to hate him, which isn’t satisfying.

Both of them get involved with someone else, but they stay in touch and even see each other when Emma moves to Paris, which, of course, is the City of Romance.

One Day is a contrived love story, and maybe you will guess the ending and maybe you won’t, but you will be surprised.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”