Only You

Directed by Norman Jewison, Only You follows Marisa Tomei’s Faith Corvatch as she travels to Italy in the hopes of meeting the man she’s long believed to be her soulmate. It’s an appealingly romantic premise that’s employed to rather hit-and-miss effect by Jewison, as the filmmaker, working from a screenplay by Diane Drake, delivers a watchable yet erratic drama that suffers from an excessively deliberate execution and palpably overlong running time – which does, in turn, pave the way for a middling midsection that’s rarely as compelling and captivating as one might’ve hoped. And although Tomei is certainly quite charming here, Only You’s less-than-memorable atmosphere is compounded by a curious lack of chemistry between Tomei and her primary love interest, Robert Downey Jr’s Peter Wright – with the bond between their respective characters more akin to a sibling relationship than a potential coupling. There’s nevertheless little doubt that Only You benefits substantially from its raft of affable performances and smattering of standout, hilarious sequences, while the thoroughly romantic finale ensures that the whole thing concludes on a decidedly (and firmly) uplifting note – which does, in the end, confirm the picture’s place as an agreeable-enough throwback that could (and should) have been so much better.

**1/2 out of ****