Unpredictable And Quirky || Review Of She Came To Me (2023)

Seeing Steven's frustration about his writer's block, Patricia persuades him to walk their dog, 'get lost, meander and interact with a stranger'. He does this and ends up in an empty bar. While ordering a drink and chatting with the bartender, a woman joins him. They end up in her tug boat and they sleep together. Fast forward, Steven's new show at the opera is a retelling of his tryst with the boat captain.

Steven's family is happy that the creative block phase is over but the boat captain, Katrina (played by Marisa Tomei), starts to stalk Steven while he hides from her to save his marriage. Will Patricia find out about her husband's new muse?

Review

The film is beautifully performed and authentic but it's not perfect. The plot is brilliant—a popular opera composer suffers from writer's block and at the persuasion of his wife, goes out, speaks to a stranger (and more) and gets inspired for his next piece! This is compelling but the subplots thrown in somehow derail the audience's attention from the main plot. It's like being thrown around in an unsteady boat on a tumultuous sea. Multiple significant things are happening at once and they are all geared towards the subject of love.

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Themes of love, romance, and authenticity are explored in this film. A wife doubts her interest in marriage and opts to become a nun, two teenagers in love decide whether or not to tie the knot to evade criminal charges, and a husband fights his feelings for another even though it sparks his creativity. These subplots engage the attention of every viewer and we are thrown in all directions, fighting to hold onto something. Thankfully, the director, Rebecca Miller, resolves them satisfactorily.

The only part I would fault this movie for is the impression that mental illness is normal. Anne Hathaway in recent years has been portraying characters that suffer from mental illness. I miss her lively self in films like Ella Enchanted, The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, Ocean 8 and more. Her performance in this film is good but it includes a depiction of a woman who doubts herself, her life, and her marriage and eventually loses it (strips naked) in front of her patient. I think I'm getting tired of seeing her in these kinds of roles.

Peter Dinklage's acting as the shy celebrity opera composer is charismatic and he impressively embodies his character. His chemistry with Marisa Tomei is a little shaky but it's not bad.

The cinematography is great and the pacing is good. The scenes featuring the opera productions are amazing to watch.

Overall, She Came To Me is a fine weekend watch. It's different and quirky in an interesting way but very relatable. I'll give it 3.3 stars out of 5.

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^{Other images are screenshots from the movie}