Hathaway struggles with accent in ‘One Day’
One Day
(Cert 12, 103 mins, Romance/Drama)
Bookish Yorkshire lass Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) and charming ladies’ man Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) have a drunken encounter on St Swithin’s Day in 1988 and make a pact to remain friends.
True to their words, Emma and Dexter stay in touch throughout the years as he travels around the world while she slaves away in a Mexican restaurant in London.
The friendship is tested when Emma and Dexter decide on a spontaneous whim to go away on holiday together, breaking a number of her golden rules.
While Dexter channels a young Jonathan Ross as his TV career hits a peak, Emma trains as a teacher and dates stand-up comic Ian (Rafe Spall) before discovering her calling as a writer.
Based on the best-selling book by David Nicholls, One Day is a disappointing adaptation that races through 20 years of the characters’ topsy-turvy lives as they deal with joy and heartbreak. Lone Scherfig’s film hinges on the chemistry between Hathaway and Sturgess.
It simmers but never quite boils, largely because Hathaway is concentrating too hard on her Yorkshire accent.
Alas, she loses the battle, roving geographically between the north of England, London and native New York, sometimes in the same scene.
Spall steals the show as the everyman always vying for Emma’s attention but other supporting characters don’t fare so well. Romola Garai is poorly served as Dexter’s wife Sylvie and Patricia Clarkson is squandered as his mother, providing scant distraction from Hathaway’s faltering verbal gymnastics.
Rating: 3/5.
