Kate and Leopold *** (2002, Hugh Jackman, Meg Ryan) – Classic Movie Review 1686

Co-writer/director James Mangold’s 2002 romantic comedy pairs Hugh Jackman and Meg Ryan, poignantly he on the way up, and she on the way down.

The 19th-century nobleman Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (Hugh Jackman) is accidentally transported by a scientist through a time portal to modern-day New York, where businesswoman Kate McKay (Meg Ryan) falls for him.

Kate and her actor brother Charlie (Breckin Meyer) live in New York with her ex-boyfriend Stuart (Liev Schreiber) in the apartment above. Stuart finds a gap in time near the Brooklyn Bridge, goes back to the 19th-century with his camera  and a puzzled Leopold follows him back through the gap. Old-fashioned chivalry and love ensue.

While it’s not the best-ever movie of its familiar kind, with its feel of being a fabricated confection, it is still a genially written and handled time-travelling fantasy, amiably played by the two pleasing stars.

To survive on screen, Steven Rogers’s contrived original story and screenplay (written with Mangold) has to rely heavily on the stars’ well-known charms, hers cute and his brooding. But, thanks to them, survive it does and it’s quite sweet.

Natasha Lyonne, Bradley Whitford, Paxton Whitehead, Spaulding Gray, Josh Stamberg, Matthew Sussman, Charlotte Ayanna and Philip Bosco co-star.

It runs a plenty long 118 minutes but the director’s cut runs 123 minutes.

Jackman and Schreiber starred as mortal enemies Wolverine and Sabretooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).  Jackman also plays a time traveller in  X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1686

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