One Fine Day (1996)

Review by All Movie Guide
An overdose of vanilla storytelling threatens to sink this lightweight romantic comedy but two likable leads with palpable chemistry work overtime to sell their parts and rescue the affair from total destruction. The device of using toddlers to bring a pair of harried, overworked parents together is just a little too precious and formulaic, the film overdosing on programmed sugary sweetness. Having the protagonists accidentally swap cell phones is a fine and inventive modern-day device; the filmmakers should have just stuck with that because the children complicate matters hopelessly and ultimately end up as nothing more than props. Despite a serious case of misguided cutes, annoyingly artificial complications, and two-dimensional supporting characters, the film does feature good performances from the tremendously likable George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer (who also produced). They seem to really like each other in spite of their constant digs and carping, the way Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy did, and it's not at all inconceivable that they could make a much better motion picture together as romantic leads. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have teamed up time and again, despite their first onscreen partnership, the underrated Joe vs. the Volcano (1990), having been an unmitigated disaster. There's no reason that Clooney and Pfeiffer shouldn't consider following their lead. One Fine Day (1996) isn't the memorable genre flick it should be, but in the hands of somebody who's actually good at this sort of thing, say Nora Ephron, the film's stars could be a powerful onscreen duo. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide