Serendipity: just an unfortunate accident

After the unholy disaster that was Town And Country, some fool studio has given director Peter Chelsom another shot. The result is Serendipity (opening Dec 26), so with luck they won't do that again.

The story follows Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale), who fall in love one evening and then part, consigning their fate to luck via his phone number on a banknote, hers in a second-hand book.

This is already a pretty silly idea, as it entails keeping the lead characters apart until the (predictable) end and dispenses with any sympathy with Sara that had survived Beckinsale's ludicrously posh English accent.

It doesn't help that almost all the characters are deeply unpleasant: Jonathan gets engaged despite his infatuation; Sara, in turn, tricks her offputtingly cynical best friend into accompanying her to New York to search for Jonathan.

Oh, and guess what? Sara, too, has a fiancé. Cusack seems tired, Beckinsale stilted; there are no laughs here and no magic. By the end, the only feeling inspired by their toying with fate is relief that it's all over.

Serendipity
Cert: certPG