ONLY YOU

Director Norman Jewison makes a valiant attempt to recreate the screen magic of his award-winning MOONSTRUCK but misses the mark in ONLY YOU, a frothy romantic comedy about a hopeful romantic who travels the globe to find the soulmate promised by a Ouiji board and instead finds a man who seeks to convince her that he is the right guy. Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei stars as Faith, who is set to marry a boring podiatrist when she inadvertently intercepts a phone call from a friend of her fiance’s with the very same name promised by her Ouiji board fourteen years earlier. Tearing off to Italy with her best friend, she finally tracks him down, they fall madly in love and only then does he confess he is not her mystery man at all. Convinced, however, that he is her soulmate, he sets out to win her back and fulfill her lifelong quest.

Not a very romantic comedy, ONLY YOU cannot seem to rise above its weak script and disappointing performances by both Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey, Jr., who both appear to overact. Mostly set in beautiful Italy with terrific music, the mood is simply never achieved. The standout performance is Bonnie Hunt as the pragmatic best friend, tempted for a moment by the amorous advances of a smooth yet sincere Italian. The overriding message — amid a mishmash of all forms of religion — is that we make our own destiny.