Kate and Leopold

Kate and Leopold is not going to be an enjoyable film watching experience for some people. Of course, what you get out of a film depends on what you want out of it: if you want a sweet romance and a diversion for an evening, this is your film; if you want to impress on your girlfriend that you're a sensitive, selfless individual - and you think you can stand a film without guns, guts, swearing, sex, and all the other things that make movie watching worthwhile - this is your film. (Disclaimer: in the latter case, Warwick Student Cinema can take no responsibility for comas induced by watching any film; neither does the Cinema guarantee that the film will persuade any female anything about your character and can therefore not guarantee that you won't get slapped if you try anything on.)

Confronted with such a silly, soppy plot, you can't really be anything but sexist when talking about Kate and Leopold. It's a chick flick. Kate's boyfriend discovers a scientific 'thingy' under the Brooklyn Bridge that leads to 1886. He's eccentric (as are all the best scientists) enough to bring back Leopold Alexis Elijah Walker Gareth Thomas Mountbatten, who is a duke (and the delicious Hugh Jackman to boot). Kate (Meg Ryan) is a top-flight executive in a PR firm, and as we all know, female top-flight executives are always disillusioned about love and wishing they'd found happiness with their true love. As this is Hollywood (and a Meg Ryan film), she can, and in the most unlikely way possible. She is impressed with Leopold's gallant manners and falls in love with him - but doesn't realise until he's gone back to 1886. She despairs of what to do, until she sees herself in an old photograph and realises that she has to follow him back in time.

Kate and Leopold is a film that demands a Bridget Jones-style viewing: half drunk on chardonnay with lots of chocolate close to hand. It's sweet, it's silly, and if you're male it might make you feel ill. Like I said, it's a chick flick, and dammit, who said chicks can't enjoy chick flicks?

Olympia Wingfield