Only You – Norman Jewison Blogathon

Although my articles primarily feature pre-70’s films, I do occasionally make exceptions and there may be more. The film Only You is 30 years old this year (and it also has a very direct classic film reference within it, which I’ll talk about later)!

I’m a huge Robert Downey Jr fan, so when the opportunity to write about a movie I’ve loved forever came up, I jumped on in. I first discovered him in 1989’s Chances Are and fell in love. Heart and Souls (1993), Chaplin (1992), and this one are great examples of his talent. Despite that he was deep in his problems during this era, he still churned out such amazing performances which don’t reflect what he was going through. Don’t get mad, but I’m going to compare that to my admiration of actors and actresses (Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, anyone?) who were under the influence during their performances as well as still pulled through.

All that addressed, I find it amazing that RDJ was able to overcome to have the comeback of a lifetime later on, but let’s examine Only You and why it holds a special place in my heart.

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Synopsis

Before RDJ was Ironman and Marisa Tomei was Aunt May, they were in this film about destiny and true love! We open our tale with Faith and her brother Larry consulting an Ouija Board, which gives Faith the name of a man to change her destiny, which is then confirmed by a fortune teller. She believes this means she is destined to be with this man.

We fast forward to Faith as an adult, teaching a class where she describes the philosophy that we were once punished because we strived to be like the gods and so were cut in two.This other half are who were are destined to be with. Although Faith fixates on fate and the name Damon Bradley from her childhood, she is considering accepting a wedding proposal from her podiatrist boyfriend. She tells her friends that he’s “as good as gold,” but yet told him that she needed to reflect (and keeps the ring in the box) before saying yes. This screams red flags, but there’s an engagement party where she agrees to wear her fiance’s grandmother’s wedding dress.

Her friend (and sister-in-law) Kate comes over and sees her try on this monstrosity, insisting that she can pin it and it’ll be fine. When the phone rings, there’s so much ambient noise that Faith has a hard time understanding what the man on the line is saying, so she asks him to spell his name, which she writes down.

DAMON BRADLEY

Holy crap! So she drops the phone in surprise before finding out that he’s at the airport on the way to Venice.

A run through the airport ensues (still in the wedding dress), where the people at the gate (remember the days when you could go right up to the gate?) tell her they can’t let her on the plane. She and Kate then embark on an adventure to Italy to find Mr. Bradley after Faith calls around to find out which hotel he’s staying at. Unfortunately, when they get there, he has already checked out, but their snooping does reward them with a phone number leading to a flower shop. The woman there confirms she was supposed to meet him at a certain restaurant, but is unable to make it.

The ladies then get all dolled up and head over to the restaurant.

After confirming which one he is (where they can only see his elbow from their table), Faith heads over but he escapes, leading to her running through the streets and losing her shoe, which is picked up by RDJ (finally! It takes him a while to appear at about 43 minutes in). As she is about to get into the cab after the return of her shoe, he convinces her to tell him the name of the man she was chasing.

He tells her that he’s Damon Bradley (!), so she faints and then they go off on a walk/date and venture to La Boca della Verita, which classic movie fans will recognize also from a scene in Roman Holiday. In an adorable scene, they both play the part of Gregory Peck and pretend to have their hands bitten off while doing a Peck accent. RDJ is especially good at the accent, although Marisa isn’t without charm.

Then, they are both thoroughly convinced they are meant to be, so they go back to the hotel to make out when “Damon” can’t keep lying to her anymore, revealing that his name is Peter Wright before things go any further. Faith freaks out since he lied to her and storms out of the room, determined to go back home and marry her podiatrist instead. Peter appeals to Kate, telling her that he only lied because he felt something for Faith he’d never felt before and needed to stop her from getting in the cab.. just look at this face <3

Just as Faith and Kate are pulling away in their cab for the airport, Peter comes running in and hilariously bounces off the car while telling them that he found Damon Bradley. So the four of them (because they picked up a super forward Italian dude who wants to seduce Kate) head to the next hotel, finding Damon by the pool, played by Billy Zane.

The women drool over him (although his long hair is pretty goofy) and Faith sets up a date with him where he gets grabby on deck, leading her to push him away. Peter goes nuts, punching Damon (who is really Harry who Peter convinced to play the part of Damon). While that’s pretty sketch the lengths he went to, he’s also endearing in his belief in destiny. He just goes about it the wrong way.

Faith is even more pissed now and they all go to the airport to go home when WHAT.. Damon Bradley gets paged. Faith and Peter both rush through the airport, stopping in front of each other and behind the real Damon. Peter tells him that he’s in luck because Faith thinks they’re destined to be (poor confused Damon) because he has the right name. Peter pours his heart out about how he loves her, but she’ll never know and that Damon is in luck since he has the right name.

Then, we get a mirror of the beginning and Faith begging to be let on the plane Peter has already boarded before she could reach him again. But apparently, the Italians are more understanding about love and let her on to find Peter.. and kiss and credits! Destiny complete!

The Players

Robert Downey Jr

Does this character make a couple of mistakes? Sure, but it’s all in the name of love. RDJ plays Peter brilliantly. He’s handsome, funny, and a lot of fun to watch. This is one of my favorite roles of his because he’s so passionate and makes you believe that he really did lie to her because he fell that hard and fast for her. He’s terrified of losing her and that makes him do some questionable things.

If you look at it from his side though, it really is ludicrous that Faith is chasing a name… and she obviously isn’t in love with the podiatrist if she goes to the other side of the world to chase this name. There are already plenty of problems with that and she wouldn’t be doing this if she was in love with him. Her falling for Peter is about more than the name. He might use the name to get her attention, but she wouldn’t have stuck around just because of the matching name (as we see later in the airport scene).

Marisa Tomei

Marisa is also super funny in this role. I’ll never forget the way she spins to get out of the phone cord! We can’t do a scene like that anymore, but it’s hilarious. The passion of the character also comes through her very well and she and RDJ have brilliant chemistry. They great together and it sells the whole thing even though both characters have some issues.

Bonnie Hunt, Joaquim de Almeida, Fisher Stevens and Billy Zane

We also get a great supporting cast in Bonnie Hunt (Kate), Joaquim (Giovanni), Larry (Faith’s brother and Kate’s hubby), and Billy Zane as the fake Damon Bradley.

Bonnie and Marisa work great together as best friends on this whirlwind adventure. Kate goes even though she knows the entire thing about chasing a name is insane, but she’s bored. She doesn’t have the romantic idolization that Faith does. Kate doesn’t believe in fate anymore or that romance is what they say it is in the movies. Even though she loves Larry (Fisher), she needs the escape as much as Faith and becomes intrigued by Giovanni, who just seems to be looking to sleep with her really (but she turns him down). And in the end, she realizes how much Larry does love her when he finds her in Italy.

Billy Zane is pretty hilarious as fake Damon Bradley. He’s handsome, but a huge dork with his vocabulary and snorting when he laughs.

Norman Jewison’s Influence

I have to say that all of the chase scenes in this film are super well done and I’m sure that’s due to Jewison’s directing. The racing through the airport scenes and the scene where Marisa and RDJ are running through Italy are compelling and the backgrounds are interesting. I especially like how RDJ stops and applauded for a stage performance in his peripheral vision when he loses Faith for a moment.

Background Trivia

They didn’t actually film at the real Bocca..

They planned on it, but unfortunately, it was the target of a terrorist bomb not long before they began shooting. For the sake of safety, they built a replica to use for the scene, but it looks pretty convincing! Good job, production designer!

What if…?

Bridget Fonda had played Faith?

She was the original choice, but I’m not sure I know enough about her to weigh in accurately on this one. It is interesting that the role she played in It Should Happen to You, also in 1994, was turned down by Marisa Tomei!

If you like alternative history or biographical/historical fiction, I write that as well under the pen name Dottie Fray.

If you choose to buy this film, I may earn a commission as an Amazon affiliate, check out the Bluray, DVD or on streaming!

This article was originally posted as part of the Norman Jewison Blogathon!