Sliding Doors review

certificate_15

SLIDING DOORS

Targeted on its theatrical release at an audience unimpressed with a certain football competition in France, this amiable romantic comedy is a measure of what a former Bread cast member can achieve when he grows his highlights out.

Midway through a miserable day, Helen's (Gwyneth Paltrow) life splits two ways. Having seen her just miss a tube and subsequently mugged hailing a cab, we watch the action replayed, and this Helen just squeezes through those - hey! - sliding doors.

Due to her stint in casualty, version one remains unaware that treacherous novelist boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch) is rumpling bedsheets with his ex-, Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn); the other Helen springs the adulterous couple, walks out and later sparks a winning, if tentative relationship with chatty and improbably nice bloke-on-tube James (John Hannah).

Director Peter Howitt deftly handles his own neat premise without causing confusion or losing much momentum, and he's considerable aided by Paltrow's consistency with each of her characters, and a warm, agreeable turn from Hannah.

And while London takes on a fairytale sheen, it's forgivable in a carefully-produced, feelgood movie that makes you fuzzy in all the right places.