Meet Cute 2022: Movie Review
The good news is that in the Peacock film "Meet Cute," screenwriter Noga Pnueli, director Alex Lehmann, and lead actors Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson have combined talents to deliver a clever, humorous, and occasionally incredibly moving story.
Yes, "SNL" funnyman and serial dating legend Pete Davidson is the lead in a romantic comedy, and when we consider Davidson's performances in "The King of Staten Island" and "Bodies Bodies Bodies" in addition to his work here: Hey, this guy can act. (We've long known Kaley Cuoco is a kinetic force.)
"Meet Cute" begins with a close-up of Cuoco's Sheila walking in Manhattan, with Lauren Spencer-version Smith's of the King-Goffin classic "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" on the soundtrack, providing an audio cue of the plot to come. Cut to a sports bar, where Sheila musters the courage to approach Davidson's Gary, the only person in the bar who is not watching the game on TV. ("What's your beef with televised sports? Did a football kill your grandfather or something?") Sheila will later inquire of Gary.) They have an awkward, flirty conversation until Sheila says, "I'm a time traveler from the future."
Of course, Gary thinks Sheila is joking, but he plays along with the joke as Sheila explains she's only 24 hours away. The thing is, Sheila is telling the truth, and she is constantly reliving the night she met Gary, when the possibilities seemed limitless. They meet at a bar. They take a walk. They eat at an Indian restaurant. More walking and conversing. It's ice cream. More walking and talking leads to more revelations about their lives. Sheila continues to talk about being from the future.
Gary, predictably, thinks Sheila is insane — but he's also drawn to her. The night ends, and they repeat the process, but Sheila realizes she can go back much further than just one day and make some serious changes to Gary's life in order to save him from long-term emotional trauma and improve his life. But here's the rub: Does Sheila have the RIGHT to attempt to change Gary's past without his knowledge? Isn't Gary's suffering to bear and overcome?
Cuoco and Davidson make an endearingly offbeat, magnetic couple; the two actors are up to the challenge of portraying different shades of their respective characters. The thing about "Meet Cute" is that the characters don't meet cute in the traditional rom-com way — getting into a car accident, reaching for the same item in a department store, someone spilling coffee, etc. She simply approaches him in a bar. Hundreds of times.
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