Today’s Prayer Focus
MOVIE REVIEW

One Fine Day

Reviewed by: Gerald R. Culley
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Average
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Teens Adults
Genre: Romance Comedy
Length: 1 hr. 48 min.
Year of Release: 1996
USA Release: December 20, 1996
Featuring Michelle Pfeiffer
George Clooney
Mae Whitman
Director Michael Hoffman
Producer Lynda Obst
Distributor
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Trademark logo.
20th Century Studios
, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company

“One Fine Day” puts two highly popular actors onto a romantic collision course, with results that, however predictable, are fun to watch.

Michelle Pfeiffer is Melanie, a divorcee with a son who loves toy cars, soccer, and shoving objects up his nose. George Clooney is Jack, also divorced, with a daughter who loves cats and tends to wonder off if not watched closely. One fine (rainy) Manhattan morning sees both children miss the bus to the school field trip and so become the concern of their harried single parents.

Melanie, an architect, has a crucial presentation to make that day; Jack, a newspaper columnist, must document the charges he made in a recent story or lose his job. The two, then, are forced into a frantic day of passing the children back and forth as they try to deal with their individual career crises. In the process they learn a bit about both parenthood and career.

Anyone who knows movies knows how a romantic comedy will end, but these are two very watchable stars, and the scriptwriters have given them some more-than-passable dialogue. Observing them, then, as they move from initial hostility to grudging acceptance and eventually to something more, will provide an engaging two hours for most viewers. The children are cute enough to make up for their occasionally trying behavior.

There is a sprinkling of expletives, but relatively few for a film of this type, and none of them are really strong ones. Sexual references are few. There is no nudity, though Pfeiffer does change her blouse a couple of times; but in a comic, not erotic, context. The language is the chief reason this rating was not higher.

Though this is fundamentally a comedy, it does manage to make some points about the relative importance of jobs and family, and Pfeiffer has one scene on this topic that you will want to applaud.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
…Two friends and myself walked out and got a refund after the first 15 minutes. There were at least 4 GD, in that short time. I will not support Hollywoods out and out disrespect of the Lord like that. I would like to encourage other believers to take a stand, against putting up with such trash!
Sherri, age 30
I loved one fine day, it showed just how chaotic single parenthood is. The profanity was mild and is nothing that would not be heard on the TV. This movie was delightfull and very funny. I recommend it to anyone who wants a comedy but can do without all the tasteless jokes found in most comedies today.
Mike, 20
No really strong expletives?! I want to know why a Christian reviewer (Mr. Culley) would lull his brothers and sisters into going to a movie where G** D*** is yelled gratuitously several times.
John Carnahan, age 43
I was very dissatisfied with this movie. It was predictable and lacking in humor. We did not find it funny, but exhausting in that characters consistently make poor (stupid) choices and deal with their consequences. After seeing this movie it makes me wonder who finances film projects like this… The only positive for us was that we saw this in a “budget theater” and didn’t pay full price! Neither my wife, nor my teenage daughter or her friend found this film enjoyable. Save your money (even at a budget theater) and skip this one.
Jon Purple, age 41
…the “sprinkling of expletives” mentioned by the reviewer includes numerous profanities, amounting to about a dozen total / the quick scenes changing the blouse is somewhat comedic, but it’s really there to tease all the husbands and boys in the audience (“Hello, this is my pretty underware. Look… but don’t touch.”) / Oh, and why this increasing trend toward showing little kids using the bathroom? Considering today’s climate against any form of “child pornography” I am surprised that some anti-kiddie-porn watchgroup hasn’t started taking the producers and distributors to task, or perhaps some Christian somewhere ought to be doing that. …A 3-star “good” film on the Christian scale? Hmmmm???
Karen, age 35
(This is) a standard love/hate kind of tale. …It was mildly entertaining with nothing too offensive (a few explitives). …generally uplifting but it offered nothing on a spiritual level. Bottom Line, if your interest is in love/hate, high stress life, kids driving you crazy kind of movie, then this is for you!
Mark Swanson
This movie portrays divorce as normal, acceptable and comical. There is nothing cute or comical about divorce. Divorce shatters lives and, except in certain cases of incest or abandonment, is against God’s Word. As a believer in Christ, I must give it a “thumbs down.”
David Johnston, age 36
I’m not a big fan of “chick flicks” but One Fine Day is one of those romantic movies that guys can enjoy as well. George Clooney does a good job at playing the typical guy while not being too cheesy in the end. I think it provides positive commentary on family issues and the importance of parent’s roles in their childrens lives, concepts that contemporary society often forgets in the rat race of careers. It’s good to see Hollywood come out with a reasonably clean film for a change.
Phil Layton, age 21
…the comedy of this movie did not really develop for teens and young adults. It was not very appealing to teens (like me) because of its basis in adult careers and parenting situations. …The kids in the movie were very bratty and always got their way, which is not a good Christian attitude, but the parents did take care of (love) the children.
Jonathan W. Jenkins, age 17