Imagine Me & You

Imagine Me & You
Directed by: Ol Parker
(20th Century Fox)
In our L Word age, this sweet romantic comedy—about a girl who falls for another girl just as she marries her longtime (male) sweetheart—is almost lamely tame. Maybe it’s the British accents, but Imagine Me & You is still a quietly compelling, heartwarming watch, exactly the kind of thing people have in mind when they say, “It’s a renter.” American Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) puts on a serviceable accent as Rachel, a young professional about to marry Heck (Matthew Goode, not the singer). Lena Headey is cool, easygoing Luce, who runs the flower shop hired for the wedding and looks distractingly like Perabo. She and Rachel meet, cutely, at the wedding, and when Rachel finds out later that her new friend Luce is a lesbian, she starts to reevaluate her safe life. The movie plays it smart by making Heck so damn likable—romcom conventions dictate that the spouse of the lead’s crush is always a raging harpy, arrogant asshole or bumbling douche, but Goode’s sensitive performance puts you in the position of not knowing any more than Rachel does who she should be with. The ridiculous ending, complete with a predictable soundtrack by the Turtles, nearly derails the whole thing, but you probably won’t notice through your begrudging tears.
Tara Thorne