The Accidental Husband (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

November 3, 2009 by Dennis Amith

Charming, entertaining and fun! Uma Thurman shines in her first major romantic comedy “The Accidental Husband”. A refreshing take on love triangle storyline with the inclusion of South Asian pop culture mixed in. Also, featuring a solid performance from Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. If you enjoy romantic comedies, give this film a chance!

TITLE: The Accidental Husband

DURATION: 90Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Anamorphic Widescreen 1:85:1, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

RATED: PG-13 (Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13)

RELEASED: November 10, 2009

Directed by Griffin Dunne

Written by Mimi Hare, Clare Naylor and Bonnie Sikowitz

Executive Producer: Bradley Jenkel, Neil Kadisha, Anthony Katagas, Kam Mateen

Producer: Jason Blum, Uma Thurman, Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd, Bob Yari

Music by Andrea Guerra

Cinematography by William Rexer

Edited by Sheila Jaffe

Production Design by Mark Ricker

Art Direction by Ben Barraud

Set Decoration by Rena De Angelo

Costume Design by David C. Robinson

Starring:

Uma Thurman as Dr. Emma Lloyd

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Patrick Sullivan

Colin Firth as Richard Bratton

Sam Shepard as Wilder Lloyd

Lindsay Sloane as Marcy

Justina Machado as Sofia

Ajay Naidu as Deep

Jeffrey Tedmori as Ajay

Nick Sandow as Larry

Michael Mosley as Declin

Brooke Adams as Carolyn

Lindsey Kraft as Lauren

Sarita Choudhury as Sunny

Isabella Rossellini as Greta Bollenbecker

Keir Dullea as Karl Bollenbecker

Firefighter Patrick Sullivan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) finds his life turned upside-down when his fiancée suddenly calls off their pending nuptials per the recommendation of radio love guru Dr. Emma Lloyd (Uma Thurman). Determined to get back at this “love doctor,” Sullivan forges a fake marriage license, “accidentally” marrying him to Emma,who’s already engaged to Richard (Colin Firth). But as Patrick’s charms begin to wear Emma down, she must decide which of these bachelors is her “Mr. Right.” Also starring Sam Shepard, Justina Machado and Isabella Rossellini in this romantic comedy that proves even the experts need to learn a few love lessons now and then.

“The Accidental Husband”, the romantic comedy directed by actor Griffin Dunne (“Frasier”, “After Hours”, “Duke of Groove”) and features a screenplay by Mimi Hare, Clare Naylor and Bonnie Sikowitz (“Spin City, “Scrubs”), music by composer Andrea Gurrera (“Dada’s Dance”, “Birdwatchers”, “A Perfect Day”) and cinematographer William Rexer (“The Devil Came On Horseback”, “I Think I Love My Wife”, “Fierce People”).

The film that had so much potential but unfortunately, similar to the film “The Maiden Heist”, was shelved indefinitely after the bankruptcy of the distributor Yari Film Group before it was set to premiere in the United States. The film did manage to get a theatrical debut in the UK.

The film would be the first to showcase Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill”, “The Avengers”, “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”) in her first romantic comedy and star along with Colin Firth (“Easy Virtue”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “Bridget Jones”), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“Grey’s Anatomy”, “Supernatural”), Sam Shepard (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”, “Stealth”, “Swordfish”) and Isabella Rossellini (“Napoleon”, “Infamous”, “Alias”).

The film revolves around Dr. Emma Lloyd (played by Uma Thurman). A well-known radio talk show host in New York City who talks about love and relationships in her program. She’s dating Richard Bratton (played by Colin Firth) who is a publisher and the two are planning to get married.

Meanwhile, Patrick Sullivan (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is set to get married to his fiance…until his fiance has second feelings about the marriage after listening to Dr. Lloyd’s radio program and realizes from calling into the show that she is not in love with him and breaks up the relationship.

Patrick hears the program while driving home with his friends after a game of soccer and is shocked that his (ex) fiance really listened to Dr. Lloyd that when he get home. So, depressed and in anger, Patrick talks to friend/young hacker to cause problems for Emma Lloyd and give her a taste of her medicine by creating a marriage certificate which says that she is married to him.

So, on the day that Emma and Richard are to get their marriage license, they find out that she is married to man she has never met. Due to the rules, the only way to take care of this is by meeting up with Patrick Sullivan and getting him to sign off on paperwork to end their “marriage” and then get the papers notarized.

Seems simple enough but with Patrick wanting his revenge on Emma, he’s determined to get close to this beautiful blonde by going to her workplace, meanwhile Emma knows she needs these papers sign and notarized so she tries to be nice with him which includes allowing him to go with her to a cake tasting for her wedding and by doing that, both Emma and Patrick must pretend that they are a couple and that is when things start to go awry. Especially when they discover that they may have feelings for each other.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“The Accidental Husband” is a beautiful film shot in New York City. Really beautiful shots above the New York City skyline and various areas in the city. The film continues Yari Film Group’s incorporation of Indian culture in the film and thus we see Patrick living with an Indian family, his good friend is Indian and we see the culture showcased at an Indian party that the characters attend.

It was very interesting to see New York but that South Asian flair in the film and for the most part William Rexer did a fine job in getting really beautiful shots of the city. Picture quality was nice and vibrant on DVD and is presneted in 1:85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen.

As for audio, the film is presented in English 5.1 (Dolby Digital). For the most part, the film is dialogue and music driven. Front and center channels are clear and understandable and music plays a big part in this film. Especially Indian music. Overall, not a film that showcases action, so the soundtrack is quite satisfactory for the film.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Accidental Husband” comes with the following special feature:

Matters of the Heart: Making-Of Featurette - (20:40) Interviews with the the cast and crew in regards to the making of the film. Uma Thurman talks about getting the opportunity to play a comedic role and working with Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Griffin Dunne talks about the cast and why he cast some of the main talent and more.

“The Accidental Husband” is a charming, fun and enjoyable romantic comedy. Granted, it’s not the best romantic comedy ever made but the fact that it tries to be different in showcasing the typical storyline of woman is to marry a man #1, woman meets new man #2 and finds magic with man #2 but yet knows she is getting married to man #1. Sure, we have seen these type of films done many times before but “The Accidental Husband” tries to be different as it incorporates that Indian culture into the film.

In a way this was quite unexpected because this is not a Bollywood film but the addition of Ajay Naidu playing the part of Deep, Patrick’s best friend and Patrick living at his family’s building, there is a good amount of Indian culture featured in the film and also music, despite the main characters being Caucasian.

So, in some ways, there is a taste of Bollywood in this film. Subtle but yet it gives a refreshing take to a often-used relationship storyline seen in previous romantic comedies and I enjoyed that. Some may find it disruptive but I found it quite refreshing for a change.

As for the talents in the film, Uma Thurman did a great job of playing Dr. Emma Lloyd. She mentions in the special features that she’s never given romantic comedy scripts. Comedy in general and now with this film, she’s given a chance, especially being one of the Executive Producers on the film. And interesting enough, where she is known for her action-based films such as “Kill Bill” and “The Avengers”, in this film…she actually got hurt (as well as Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and broke her hand. But despite those injuries, she did a great job and I found her performance to be quite enjoyable but its such a shame that the film didn’t get the opportunity for a theatrical release in the US.

As for her leading men, Colin Firth is always an actor that is enjoyable to watch onscreen. Such an amazing talent and deadpan humor, although not a tremendous role in the film, his moments in the film are quite hilarious and entertaining. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a surprise. Many of us have seen him playing the patient on “Grey’s Anatomy” but “The Accidental Husband” is his first major role to play a major character lead along with Uma Thurman and Colin Firth. But overall, solid performances from both men.

Overall, “The Accidental Husband” was a good film and does things much differently than other films similar to it. The inclusion of South Asian cultural themes definitely gives the film a refreshing spin and for the most part, I enjoyed the talent and definitely seeing Uma Thurman take on a romantic comedy which she did very well. Romantic comedy fans, give this film a chance!