Happy Accidents

IFC Films | Release Date: August 24, 2001

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

60	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews

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Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

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Sean Axmaker

Anderson is a hopeless romantic in a cynical world, and for a brief moment he makes the case that true love is the only power that can crack time and space. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Best of all, and unusual for a screenwriter, Anderson handles the science consistently (maybe even scientifically). Read full review

Chuck Wilson

Looks drab and doesn't take very good advantage of its New York locations, but the neurotic intensity and emotional honesty of its two leads more than make up for it. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

Fresh and flip and enjoyable, it's a sci-fi-tinged romantic comedy that I urge you to seek out.

Michael Sragow

"Happy Accidents" should retire Tomei's status as part of a show-biz urban legend and establish her once and for all as one of our most versatile and engaging performers.

Roger Ebert

Essentially silliness crossed with science fiction. The actors make it fun to watch. Read full review

Joan Anderman

D'Onofrio's affably wide-eyed weirdness generates not only pleasure, but a genuinely authentic conundrum, bouncing forward and backward toward the truth.

Bob Graham

The actors have enough appeal to keep it moving over the speed bumps. Read full review

Carrie Rickey

Happy Accidents is romantic perversity in reverse. Read full review

Todd McCarthy

A lighthearted yarn designed to stand out by virtue of its intricate structure and trippy time-travel element. But the fanciful material wears thin pretty quickly, the air leaking out of the balloon long before party's over. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineFrank Lovece

This sweet, lovingly passionate story is nonetheless a charmer. Anderson's technique -- jaggy, product-testimonial close-ups; eerie still-image insertions -- is arresting, but this is an actors' showcase. Read full review

Marc Savlov

Gleefully silly fun, with a few core concepts on the nature of time, space, and la-la-la-love thrown in for good measure. And who can resist a puffin, anyway? Read full review

Michael Wilmington

Doesn't have the negative qualities of many big-studio romantic comedies, but it doesn't quite take flight.

Ed Park

The leads smooth over the plot holes endemic to all 4D fables, making the movie more than mere déjà vu. Read full review

Lou Lumenick

This is an overlong film interesting chiefly for its performances.

Jami Bernard

D'Onofrio is a natural for the role of a romantic who just may be a freak. A highly physical actor, he ranges between sweetly awkward and a candidate for the kind of mental hospital shown in "Session 9."

Megan Rosenfeld

The actors make a good team in this film, and they're playing well-defined characters, but the script is so repetitive that we get mighty impatient for the mystery to be resolved. Read full review

Jan Stuart

If you're willing to suspend a barrel or two of disbelief, then Happy Accidents has its moments. Read full review

Stephen Holden

As impressive as it is in the abstract, all the detail ultimately drags the movie down and lengthens it unnecessarily. Read full review

Connie Ogle

Put in such an uncomfortable position, the audience needs something to fall back on, like chemistry between its stars. Here that's half-hearted at best. Read full review

Kim Morgan

All guts, no glory and, worse, bad story.

Mr. ShowbizMichael Atkinson

It's a warped kind of romantic comedy in which the whole is substantially less than the sum of the parts.