'Til There Was You

Jeanne Tripplehorn and Dylan McDermott play Los Angeles residents whose lives follow a twenty-year course of frequent intersections without a connection. Though the structure toys with the notion that the two main characters are destined to be together (like Sleepless in Seattle and its many clones), the film actually promotes a wonderfully practical sort of romanticism, suggesting that "fate" is really more of a tricky equation of personal growth and fortuitous timing. Unfortunately, the film is burdened by limp lead performances and self-absorbed emotionalism as it rambles through a parade of overwrought situations. The struggles of real-life relationships don't have to be this dreary, but when they are, the appeal of starry-eyed hokum like Sleepless in Seattle suddenly makes a lot more sense. Not recommended. (S. Renshaw)