There's really not much to remember about "Sliding Doors," which proves to be one of the most mediocre films of the year. Some of the performances are good, and the premise is pretty interesting, but in the end who cares about anything that happens in this movie?
Gwyneth Paltrow stars as Helen, a British public relations worker who, after being fired, sadly makes her way to the subway. Unfortunately, a little girl gets in her way, and the train doors close before she can get in. There's a flash of light, and suddenly the film rewinds. Helen is making her way to the subway again, and this time she catches it.
The film then follows these two scenarios and basically asks how Helen's life is affected by the sliding doors of the train. That's a novel premise and surely many people have probably wondered how their lives would be different if only one thing had changed. Unfortunately, instead of exploring that question, the film merely uses it as a gimmick to set into action what is supposed to be a romantic comedy.
The unstimulating result of this twist of fate is that either Helen takes the subway, meets a wonderful man named James (John Hannah) and discovers her boyfriend, Gerry (John Lynch) having an affair with the evil Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Or she misses the train, gets mugged, is in the dark about her boyfriend's affair and never meets the wonderful James.
There's a lot of potential in this premise that is simply lost in the hands of writer and director Peter Howitt. Why not be bold and really exaggerate what would happen to Helen's life?
The only thing that Howitt really deserves credit for is skillfully establishing the premise as mentioned before and then cleverly distinguishing the two Helens. He does the latter by first giving her a little band-aid after being mugged and then later changes her hairstyle. This way we don't get confused, although there were times when I had to remind myself which Helen was on the screen.
The problem with this romantic comedy is that it isn't very romantic, and it isn't very funny either. The tone of the film is fairly bleak. The London backdrop is not milked for all its romantic possibilities. Instead we get rainy scenes and dark pubs.
As for the acting, the women are good and the men are bad. Paltrow is always engaging and charming, but her male leads are completely lackluster. Hannah is smarmy and annoyingly jokey while Lynch is just downright weak as the sleazoid boyfriend. You have to ask why Helen would ever waste her time with James who can't stop making stupid comments. Gerry on the other hand is simply not vile enough to stir up any real audience anger. I just wanted him to go away.
Tripplehorn however has fun with her role. She is appropriately venomous and rightly frustrated with the other flimsy characters. Her performance is really the only standout of the film. Everything else just sort of blends together.
Still, the humdrum series of events that occurs in each scenario lack enough wit and originality to overpower any good points. Neither situation is very compelling, and the stories seem to be recycled romantic material.
At one point, Helen compares Gerry to Woody Allen. It is supposed to be a sharp one-liner but instead serves as a sad reminder about how good this movie could have been. In the hands of Allen, "Sliding Doors" could have been much fresher and, if nothing else, funnier.
