That was an excellent one.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I understood this right, for 4 years Stuart was in sexual relationship with his own great-grandmother. I wonder if authors did this intentionally, or they didn't even notice this implication.8/10

The great license sci-fi or fantasy films have is that they don't have to make sense. And, the fictitious aspects of the film can be as preposterous or outrageous as the movie makers want them to be. The idea of time travel has fascinated movie makes almost since the beginning of films. Yet, no more than a couple early scientists gave it any serious thought or attention. It's one of the goofiest of scientific possibilities, yet audiences still enjoy the occasional time travel movie out of Hollywood. Time travel fantasy has lived for decades on TV with the original BBC series of "Dr. Who" (1963-89), and since 2005 in the new "Dr. Who series. This 2001 flick, "Kate & Leopold," is a fair comedy romance that takes place all in New York City. But it moves through a time crack between 1876 and about 2000. The players all are OK, but nothing special. Most viewers would be interested just in seeing the romance develop between the two stars. Meg Ryan is Kate McKay and Hugh Jackman is the Duke Leopold of Albany. Methinks that the Miramax folks trifled considerably with the history of New York in 1876. I doubt very much that there was that much of a society with royalty yet from England. Of course, it's fantasy and sci-fi, so anything goes. The story is very predictable as it goes along, and it's slow. It's OK for a rainy afternoon if one can't find something better. But not a film worth going out of one's way for, or to buy.

As many do, in fantasy, one must suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the unfolding of the story. But, when there is an essence of Science Fiction - ie - time travel, then there also needs to be a careful use of fact to validate the fiction.In this case, three failures occur - the first is the insistence of a 200 year gap between the time of Leopold and that of Kate - - when, at most, we are dealing with about 125 years. The second, and more troubling in that it is unnecessary, is the plot point concerning the discussion of music. "La Boheme:" While the script did, before the end of the scene catch the import of the language of the opera being in Italian, though set in France, it did not take into account that the opera was not written until 20 years after (1896) Leopold's journey into the future. In addition, there was a discussion of "Pirates of Penzance" as well - - with Leopold familiar enough to play the accompaniment on piano while he and Charlie are singing "Model Major General." Leopold is supposed to have jumped in 1876 - - and Penzance did not premiere until 1879.Finally, the perfection of the modern elevator by Elijah Otis was in 1852 - not sometime after 1876 as implied in the movie - - and by that time, the concept would have been well known.

In 1970, Jack Finney ("The Body Snatchers") published the classic time-travel novel "Time and Again". It's a basically serious story about politicians using time travel to change the present world. It has never been filmed, probably because it would require creating the illusion of 19th-century Manhattan on a fairly large scale (including the arm of the Statue of Liberty)."Kate & Leopold" appears to have been "inspired" by "Time and Again". The opening scenes are not merely spectacular, but exciting, showing Brooklyn as it appeared in 1876, and introducing a "What's going on here?" situation that immediately pulls in the viewer. There's also some magnificent dialog that any screenwriter would be proud to have penned.Unfortunately... Once Stuart and Leopold return to the present, the film lands with a loud, //stupid// thump. Kate is a seemingly shallow marketing researcher who is immediately off-putting. We //know// what's going to happen -- and we couldn't care less.This isn't an interesting weak film -- it's an irritating one. You can't just throw characters together and think something interesting & engaging is going to happen.I'll be honest. I was so annoyed by everything (except Leopold's occasionally smart conversation) that I gave up after 45 minutes.