A ‘One Day’ Extravaganza

One Day (2009) by David Nicholls (writer of mediocre, middle class romance) is not my usual read (I prefer Atwood myself) but it was only 99p and it had recently been made into a film so why not?

The story follows the lives of Emma Morely and Dexter Mayhew on the 15^th July for twenty years in a will-they-wont-they rom-com set from their graduation in 1988 to 2008.

The book is well written and has some genuinely funny moments, which comes mostly from the banter between to two main characters. Emma in particular is funny, dry and very British so you warm to her quite easily.

Having the structure of the book focus on one day of each year felt a little laboured when the characters had to oddly refer to previous events that didn’t happen on St Swithin’s Day.

There was not much in the way of description of the surroundings or the atmospheres; this made the book feel flat.

The connivances within the story were irritating and the play on the ‘alpha male’ was old and outdated (yes, the book is largely based in the 90s but this is the 21^st Century).

Although the interaction between Em and Dex was funny to begin with it soon degrades as the book goes on and takes with it the enjoyment of the story.

Ultimately, it is a popular fiction book that’s easy to read and digest, even if the only character worth his salt is the luckless comedian Ian Whitehead, who appears to have more depth then all the characters put together.

If the book is not sounding like your kind of page-turner then do not even bother watching the film. It will be a complete waste of time.

Whatever warmth felt for Emma in the book is completely destroyed by Anne Hathaway, how has been widely criticised for her accent in this film.

The set and costumes of One Day (2011) are wonderful, the production team have done a really good job making the film look 90s. The hair and make-up department should be highly praised for their considerable efforts to make the actor’s hair as real as possible and succeeded.

But that is as far as the praise can go. Unfortunately, the script ruins what little silver lining this cloud has and it is nowhere near as funny as the book.

You could be forgiven for expecting great things from director, Lone Scherfig, after her beautiful direction of ‘An Education’ (highly recommended) but she fails trying to translate the endless year hopping story.

If you like romantic comedy then you may find the book a good, light, read one quite afternoon, but no good will come of seeing the film.