Review of Imagine Me and You

Introduction

Lesbians, eh?

Men like them, some women love them and for the past couple of years they`ve been a bit of a hot property in film and television. So it was only a matter of time before the attentions of touching, feel good comedies were finally focused on them.

A product of BBC films, `Imagine Me and You` is the story of Rachel and Luce. After tying the knot, bride Rachel strikes up a friendship with Luce, the florist from her wedding, with the intent of setting her up with her new groom`s best mate. But when Luce reveals that she`s gay, Rachel finds herself obsessed with her new friend, and begins to question her sexuality. Meanwhile, her poor neglected hubby Heck wanders around wondering what he`s done to distance his new wife from him, and what he can do get her back. Will Rachel come to the conclusion she`s gay? Will Heck regain the attention of the woman he loves? Will it all work out in the end?

Of course it will. It always works out in the end. `Bound` or `The L Word` this ain`t.

Video

Presented in anamorphic widescreen with a 1.85:1 theatrical ratio, `Imagine Me and You` is a good looking film. Nice colours, deep blacks, and an overall good composition present well the fairytale London fans of Brit-rom-coms will be familiar with.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0

With the surround mix, it seems to be a case of 5.1 for 5.1`s sake, with the dialogue driven audio and occasional scene scoring not making any great use of the channels at its disposal. Despite this, DVD fans tend to expect a surround mix on their discs, and they`ve got one, and good equipment will deliver the fullness of sound the track has going in its favour.

There are occasions where the dialogue comes over a little too heavy, a slight balance issue that overpowers any spot effects, but the instances where this occurs are negligible.

Features

A trailer.

Conclusion

True love is a rocky road, but nothing will get in the way of it - at least according to `Imagine Me and You`, which is essentially a formulaic rom-com spiced up with lashings of same-sex, star-crossed lovers syndrome. It`s all perfectly pleasant, inoffensive stuff, played out to get you all gooey inside (watch it!) as a couple of gorgeous English chippies struggle through circumstance to see if what they have is that magical thing called lurve. It`s easy to look at, easy to soak up, but the film certainly wouldn`t have the same appeal if Kathy Burke and Dawn French played the leads, showing up `Imagine Me and You` as purely style over substance, forgettable popcorn filmmaking.

It`s a British production, but in keeping up with the best Richard Curtis fluff, there`s little of that snappy British humour. By its very nature as being heavy on the rom in the rom-com, the best it has to offer it that familiar, gentle, reserved brand of Brit-wit American audiences seem to warm well to: awkward cross-purposes, bumbling men-folk, the horny best mate, the not-quite-all-there dad (played by Buffy`s Anthony Head with more than a whiff of Tom Conti`s drunkard in `Friends`) and of course, and opportunity or two to poke fun at man`s eternal obsession with Lesbians. Yes, there are a few chuckles to be had, but it`s all completely innocent stuff, with impeccable manners and mission not to offend anyone.

It`s a fairly competent cast. `Coyote Ugly``s Piper Perabo and Lena Heady (`The Cave`, `The Brothers Grimm`) play the best looking on-screen lesbian pairing this side of a XXX feature, and deliver the goods just fine. Anthony Head makes an attempt to steal every scene he`s in and there`s even a small role for Brookie`s Sue Johnston as Luce`s mother. It`s just a shame the film has settled for being rather pedestrian, despite its twist on convention - never more so than during the cheeseball, clichéd-up-the-backside ending that you can smell coming a mile away.

Originally written as heterosexual love story, tweaked to be unique, `Imagine Me and You` is far from bad, but you`ve probably seen what it has to offer dozens of times before.