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76
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60
9
17
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37
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53
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66
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45
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61
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55
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43
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66
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29
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23
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80
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61
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39
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30
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34
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60
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32
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27
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41
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39
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46
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73
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78
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55
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66
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69
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58
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47
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66
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34
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33
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54
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67
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51
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42
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28
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63
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86
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35
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48
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30
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53
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24
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83
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33
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45
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55
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47
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96
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35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
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88
Up![]()
71
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67
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28
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73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
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72
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39
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78
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61
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66
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xx
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58
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72
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48
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73
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62
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55
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76
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86
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13
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70
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35
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71
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66
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51
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xx
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76
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35
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26
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57
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45
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81
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70
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45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
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57
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62
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65
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69
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59
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82
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75
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82
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67
Departures
xx
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71
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70
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24
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85
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55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
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28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
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63
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73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
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41
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41
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66
Liverpool
34
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80
Lorna's Silence
83
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xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
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66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Happy Accidents

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 12 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Romance
Written by: Brad Anderson
Directed by: Brad Anderson
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 24, 2001
DVD: December 17, 2002
Running Time: 105 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language
Starring Marisa Tomei, Vincent D'Onofrio, Nadia Dajani, Tovah Feldshuh, and Holland Taylor
A tale of love and time travel set in contemporary New York.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Next Stop Wonderland Session 9 The Machinist
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Seattle Post-Intelligencer 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 >Chicago Reader Staff (Not Credited)
Best of all, and unusual for a screenwriter, Anderson handles the science consistently (maybe even scientifically).
Read Full Review >LA Weekly 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 >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Fresh and flip and enjoyable, it's a sci-fi-tinged romantic comedy that I urge you to seek out.
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Happy Accidents is romantic perversity in reverse.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
The actors have enough appeal to keep it moving over the speed bumps.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe 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.
Baltimore Sun 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.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Essentially silliness crossed with science fiction. The actors make it fun to watch.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Frank 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 >Variety 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 >Austin Chronicle 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 >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Doesn't have the negative qualities of many big-studio romantic comedies, but it doesn't quite take flight.
Village Voice 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 >Washington Post 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 >New York Post Lou Lumenick
This is an overlong film interesting chiefly for its performances.
New York Daily News 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."
Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
If you're willing to suspend a barrel or two of disbelief, then Happy Accidents has its moments.
Read Full Review >The New York Times 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 >Miami Herald 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 >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
All guts, no glory and, worse, bad story.
Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
It's a warped kind of romantic comedy in which the whole is substantially less than the sum of the parts.
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jenn gave it a10:
I enjoyed the middle of the movie the most dreading the moment when something would ruin it for me and I'd end up hating the movie, but that never happened. for now, this is my favorite movie, i cant get sick of watching this. don't expect sex, drugs or violence. just cuteness. you have to watch it a few times to catch everything. like who the "father" on the phone really is, etc.
Jesse R. gave it a 10:
I saw this movie unintentionally, and it has since become one of my happy accidents. this is an absolutely outstanding. :)
Otilia C. gave it a 10:
This is a quirky romantic movie and little far fetched but adorable. It was refreshing to see a movie that makes you laugh and your heart pitter-patter at the same time. Simply marvelous!
Fay P. gave it a 9:
Any film that has Vincent D'Onofrio in it is sure to be entertaining. He is a wonderful actor and chooses unusual stories to connect with. Very very good film.
Elias C. gave it a 9:
Not just a sublime love story, but also a meditation on the power of storytelling. Suspend your disbelief, and cry at the end like I did. This is what audiences worldwide should be shown as an exemplar of literate, character-driven American film-making at its finest.
Giselle C. gave it a 9:
Took a big chance on this one. It turned out to be witty, orginal and the acting was great!
[Anonymous] gave it a 9:
Extremely believeable characters and relationships override any plot holes. Original writing succeeds where many have failed with the time-travel theme. Individual performances excel.
