Frequently, and often with merit, romantic comedies (also known as romcoms or “chick flicks”) are viewed by most critics and some civilians as the ugly stepsister of all movie genres, and it’s easy to understand why.
By and large, these films rarely stray from an age-old, time-tested formula: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back. This is also the blueprint for some romantic dramas, which sometimes add in elements of tragedy which, for some reason, makes them less pedestrian and more artistically resonant.
“Kate & Leopold” (K&L) is an outlier romcom as it also performs as a drama and fantasy piece, and not the “Cinderella” strain of fantasy, but more of a science-fiction-based fantasy. This is key as it stretches beyond typical romcom claptrap and into something, for lack of a better word, metaphysical.
Vague=Clearer
Director James Mangold and his co-writer Stephen Rogers (“I, Tonya”) make the wise choice of not including finely defined particulars of the science-fiction aspects of the film, which makes it harder to contradict said particulars later in the film to fix gaping plot holes in the screenplay. There’s no such thing as “impossible to believe” or “outlandish” components to science fiction as long as storytellers stick to the parameters they themselves establish at the onset.
The movie opens in 1876 with Leopold, the third Duke of Albany (Hugh Jackman), noticing the out-of-place Stuart (Liev Schreiber) snapping photos of him with a futuristic camera slightly resembling a Pez dispenser. On the night of the same day, Leopold sees Stuart again at a party, confronts him, and, after a chase, follows him by jumping off a bridge and landing in modern-day Manhattan.
Stuart’s obsession with time travel is only one of the factors that led to his romantic break-up with Kate (Meg Ryan), a focused yet cynical ad executive who lives in an apartment below him.
Sgt. Pepper
An accident directly related to one of Leopold’s inventions takes Stuart out of the picture, at least for a while, leaving Leopold to interact with Kate and her visiting, aspiring actor brother Charlie (Breckin Meyer). While Kate brushes off Leopold as a joke (“Who are you, Sgt. Pepper?”), Charlie is in awe as he perceives him as a fellow actor going full-on method while never breaking character.Not out of attraction or possible romantic interest, but rather professional necessity, Kate grudgingly appeals to Leopold’s ego to be a commercial TV spokesman for a butter substitute product. Initially, this works in her favor as it pleases her boss J.J. Camden (Bradley Whitford), who has more than hinted he wants to be romantically involved with her.
Mr. Mangold and Mr. Rogers enter the third act of K&L juggling a half-dozen or so sub-plots, and while not all of them pan out, most of them do. The filmmakers’ greatest achievement is in allowing the two lead characters the opportunity to remain true to their initial traits while also giving them considerable arcs. Kate remains a cynic until it becomes clear she can’t fight her instincts, while Leopold never succumbs to modern-day modifications of gentlemanly behavior.
Not Dead Yet
Chivalry isn’t dead, but it is on life-support, and it would behoove anyone under the age of 35 to watch K&L to get an idea of what romantic courting, common decency, and mutual respect look like. K&L was just Mr. Jackman’s sixth film, and his first as a lead, and it arguably was his career breakout performance. For Ms. Ryan, K&P was perhaps her last truly memorable leading role. She was great (meaning well cast) in “When Harry Met Sally …” and was passable in the mostly vacuous “You’ve Got Mail.” For my money, Ryan has never been better (or more believable) than she was as Kate in K&L.
