Return to Me

Everybody has their guilty pleasures, and mine’s probably among the guiltiest of them all: romantic comedies. Every so often, I let go of my high-and-mighty ways when it comes to film, and I forget about all the grandiose notions I have about what a movie should be and how it should be done. At the same time, I let my sentimentality, optimism and romanticism get the better of me, for just a little while. It was in one of these moments that I watched Return to Me, and I’m glad those moments come up from time to time, because if they didn’t, I probably would have let slip by a movie that I wouldn’t have enjoyed otherwise.

Return to Me is a pretty simple movie without all the bells and whistles of big blockbusters, but instead has all the trimmings and trappings of rom-coms. I can hear WLC groaning even as I type this, but it was actually a pretty fun and likable movie, one that didn’t fall into the normal pitfalls rom-coms can fall into. WLC and DW are working on a theory that romantic comedies are responsible for this country’s astronomical divorce rate, for a variety of reasons. I agree with their reasoning for the most part, but Return to Me is unique among its stock. It doesn’t have any of the malignant tendencies that Serendipity, Forces of Nature, or Sleepless in Seattle have in spades, being that if you are unhappy at all in your relationship, it’s because you’re with the wrong person, and you should be with your “true love”. In Return to Me, the main character actually gets to be with his true love twice.

Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) is a mild-mannered and happy architect, with a lovely wife named Elizabeth (Joely Richardson) who works with gorillas at the local zoo, teaching one of them sign language. The night of a banquet where they announce the building of a new wing of the zoo, there is a car accident, and Elizabeth is tragically killed, and Bob is devastated. At the same exact time, Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver) is close to death and eagerly awaiting a new heart, and finds the godsend she needs in Elizabeth’s death. One year later, Grace is working as a waitress at the Italian/Irish restaurant run by her grandfather (the hilarious Carroll O’Connor), and is self-conscious about the ten-inch scar down the center of her chest. Meanwhile, Bob is being prodded by his friend Charlie (David Alan Grier) to start dating again, but is reluctant, as the specter of Elizabeth is not completely gone. Through a series of coincidences, Grace and Bob meet each other, like each other, and indeed start dating each other. The conflict enters from the fact that Bob feels as though he’s betraying Elizabeth’s memory, and Grace is nervous about telling him she’s had a heart transplant, wearing scarves and high-necked sweaters to hide her scar.

Things get very interesting when the characters learn that when Elizabeth died, her heart was transplanted into Grace’s body, saving her life. The fact that Grace ended up with Bob, and Bob found the last living piece of his wife in Grace, says very intriguing things about love and destiny, and also about our inability as humans to derail fate or God’s plan or whatever. In addition, it suggests that the heart contains a piece of the true self (as, presumably, does any organ), and even if it’s put into another body, the self will remain. This has special resonance with me, because I am a transplant survivor. As such, I already knew that a small piece of my donor lived inside of me, and Return to Me confirmed it.

The movie itself is a little over-done, and will no doubt induce the girly-girls to reach for the tissue box, and make manly-men gag on their pork rinds. But writer/director/supporting cast member Bonnie Hunt appears to know her way around a good romantic comedy, despite that this is her first film. I call this a good romantic comedy because it contains none of what I consider to be the two biggest killers of rom-coms: the protagonist ditching their fiancé to be with their “true love,” and the central couple lying to each other for no reason. Return to Me deftly avoids those pit traps.

The rest of the movie is okay, but what makes it worth it is the ridiculously endearing supporting cast, especially the four Italian/Irish old men discussing the singing and acting chops of the Rat Pack. But in general, Return to Me is just a harmless, inoffensive and safe movie that will not push you in any way, though it may make you see love in a slightly different light. It really connects with me, as does the character of Grace, because of the transplant thing. But it wasn’t an earth-shaking movie for me, even having that connection, so I imagine it won’t be for you.

Iconic Lines:
“Pray in Rome; God can hear you better.”
“Elizabeth and I were married by the time we were twenty, and we'd been going out since we were fifteen, so this may sound a bit juvenile, but... can I hold your hand?”
“All the times I prayed that Gracie would have a second chance at life, I always knew that if God blessed us, the heart she got would have to be from a very special person, if it were going to be at home in Grace. When she met you, her heart beat truly for the first time. Perhaps it was meant to be with you always.”

22 Rating: 6

Particle Man