Review of One And Only, The

Introduction

We have a caricatured self-absorbed Italian footballer, his gorgeous English wife and her best friend along with kitchen installer Neil with whom the wife falls in love, Neil`s long-term partner Jenny, and Stan, Neil`s friend. Footballer and wife have a fiery relationship and he wants to make babies with her though she`s not that enamoured with the idea of getting fat.

Neil, the kitchen fitter, and his partner Jenny want to adopt a child but their relationship is fraying at the edges. He needs to tell her but can`t seem to do so. In the footballer`s new mansion, Neil comes along to fit the new kitchen and the moment he meets the wife it`s love at first sight. However, both are attached, so how do they sort this one out?

Let`s get on with this British romantic comedy…

Video

A 1.85:1 widescreen enhanced transfer is the order of the day and as you would expect for a recent film it looks good. Colours and detail come across very well and there are no glitches or dirt present that I could spot. If you look closer however you`ll notice very fine grain, but this is minor.

Audio

We get the benefit of a DD5.1 soundtrack and it sounds loud and clear. Being a dialogue driven film the spoken word comes clear from the front with music creating a wide sound stage from the front.

Features

Easy to navigate static menus with a few forgettable extras:

• Trailer (1:46) - a letterboxed trailer for what is essentially a television movie being `bigged up` by voiceover man, make that an American sounding voiceover man...it fails to excite.

• Deleted Scenes (9:16) - 11 deleted scenes and all pretty much yawn worthy. I had no idea Patsy Kensit played a karate instructor though...

• Through the Lens (6:40) - This is a short behind the scenes look at a few scenes played through a playback monitor where we see through the camera lens. Not bad as there are some outtakes here, but it`s nothing of interest and can be ignored altogether.

There are no subtitles so if you`ve missed something of the Geordie accent, you`ll have to wind it back.

Conclusion

Romantic comedies are pretty much standard in their approach to storytelling. Boy meets girl, love at first sight, a romantic triangle, boy/girl dislikes girl/boy yet is secretly attracted etc. The One and Only is pretty much standard and predictable in this way. It`s a remaking of the Danish film, "Den Eneste Ene", which has the same characters and situation. The Director/writer of that film is credited as Exec Producer here and while I`ve not seen the original film, if this English re-telling is anything like it, then it`s a very light film.

The One and Only takes its time in the first 30-minutes or so setting up characters and it feels slow. I stopped the film to go find something else to do and the thought of ploughing on with the film afterwards tired me. If I had to compare it to something it would be a television movie of the week. Made for TV in that you don`t pay money to see this contrived comedy.

I like the lead actors since they made me chuckle a few times and I smiled through a few good scenes, but these were more like set pieces loosely strung together. The little adopted child in the story adds a little light humour but it`s not enough of a story element to take on board and feels like an afterthought. The fact that she`s silent throughout the whole film with the utterance of one English profanity at the end was almost expected. The rest of the cast are okay with Stan (Michael Hodgson) providing some welcome comic relief as Neil`s best friend. He gets to sweep karate teaching Patsy Kensit off her feet while using pheromones and it`s an amusing moment.

This is a Brit film though which ultimately has nothing interesting in it. This tale of love at first sight simply doesn`t excite and has been seen countless times in other TV films. It lacks bite. There are nice shots of Newcastle and the film looks good along with some convincing Geordie accents but it`s still not enough.

If you like your romantic comedies on the lighter side and are after something to watch with him/her indoors, then it`s harmless enough to rent, but don`t raise your expectations above average.