The First Time- "Only You" (1994)

You never forget your first time...

You're a little nervous, unsure of what is going to happen. You've heard people talking about it. Some say it's great. Some say it's terrible. But you decide to do it anyway. You swallow that knot at the back of your throat. You wipe off your sweaty hands on your jeans. And you press play.

Watching a movie for the first time can be a little nerve-racking. Especially if you've never heard about it before. For me, I like going into a movie where I basically know the genre, the characters, and the basic story line. I know what to expect. I know what kinds of things I will see. But watching a movie I have never heard of before... now that deserves it's own segment on my blog.

"Only You" (1994)

The best time in the world to watch movies on cable is 9am and 1am. This is when no one is awake to steal my remote and change it to some cartoon or Project Runway DVR recording. Everyone is out or asleep. Also, the cable company chooses to show those movies you have never heard of before or you remember watching years and years ago. During the day and prime-movie-time (6-9pm), you will see the same 3 movies on the same 5 channels for about two weeks until you can't watch Rachel McAdams run into Ryan Gosling's arms in the pouring rain anymore. This is when people learn to hate certain movies for no reason. You just have seen it too many times during prime-movie-time.

This 9am and 1am movie watching was a huge part of my past spring break. This is when I had my first experience with "Only You" starring the young Robert Downey Jr. and the Academy Award winning ("My Cousin Vinny"- AWESOME MOVIE!!) Marisa Tomei.

The Plot

(The "Meet Cute" Scene) See "The Holiday" (2006) if you don't know what that means

The story is your classic rom-com. Ironically-named main character Faith (Tomei) finds out through a Ouija board and a fortune teller that the name of her true love will be Damon Bradley. She finds herself in a predicament when she is engaged to a Dwayne. She is cool with this until she receives a call from a friend of Dwayne's calling from Italy to say he is trying to make the wedding. The friend's name is Damon Bradley. Faith darts to Italy with her best friend Kate (Bonnie Hunt, always the BEST best friend) combing the city to find her true love. She finally finds him in a Cinderella-like scenario. They embrace. They exchange poetry verses. They passionately kiss, and then... he tells her his name is Peter Wright.

The Stars

The cast here is truly a knockout. Personally, I wish Robert Downey Jr. would have stuck with rom-coms. He has so much charm and charisma that you can fall in love with him even if he is lying to your face. Of course, he was a lot cuter back then (thank you cocaine, heroin, and marijuana). By this point in time, Downey had already appeared on Saturday Night Live and starred in "Chaplin" (1992) which nominated him for the best actor Oscar. His career was in full swing, and it really hasn't stopped since (hence the drugs). Marisa Tomei is simply adorable. She has been in some real stinkers since the 90s ("The Guru" and "Wild Hogs"). This film was after her award winner "Vinny" (1992) and must have extended her streak. BTW- Tomei and Downey had worked together before in "Chaplin". Bonnie Hunt is also her wonderful, lovable self. She had been in "Rain Man" (1988) before this and some TV shows, but nothing that clearly defined her many years later as "the best friend" in some of our favorite rom-coms ("Jerry McGuire" 1996, "Kissing A Fool" 1998, and my favorite "Return to Me" 2000).

Reality vs. Fantasy

I am a hopeless romantic. I better be honest about it now. I love rom-coms. I know they are cheesy and over the top and ridiculous and many times have some of the worst acting ever. But I love them. Anything that can make me get butterflies in my stomach is totally worth watching to me.

That being said, this movie is good, but not awesome. There is a major issue. Peter lied to Faith. He ends up lying to her more then once in the end, and yet he is seen as her true love (I know that's not a spoiler. You guys saw that coming a mile away). But isn't love based on trust? If I can't trust you then I'm in love with the image of who and what I want you to be. As a hopeless romantic, I believe in destiny, true love, soul mates, and all that stuff. People disagree with me because of things like this movie. You should be able to have true love and a realistic relationship at the same time. True love should be something tangible to everyone, but through glossing over the truth in movies like this one, people think it is just fairytale.

In any case, I cried while watching this movie. I cried because of the purity of longing for true love. It's the stuff we read about when we were little kids dreaming of our prince charming coming to rescue us from the tower. That belief that things will work out alright in the end because somethings are meant to be. I think we need to be reminded of these things in our crazy lives. And if that takes sitting down and watching a cheesy rom-com every once in a while then so be it.

2.5 out of 4 Warm and Fuzzies