One Fine Day (film)

One Fine Day
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Hoffman
Produced by	Lynda Obst
Written by	Terrel Seltzer Ellen Simon
Starring	Michelle Pfeiffer George Clooney Alex D. Linz Mae Whitman
Cinematography	Oliver Stapleton
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	December 20, 1996
Running time	108 min.
Language	English
Box office	$97,529,550 (worldwide)

One Fine Day (1996) is an American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Hoffman, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney as two single working parents, with Alex D. Linz and Mae Whitman as their children. The title comes from the 1963 song "One Fine Day" by The Chiffons.

Michelle Pfeiffer served as an executive producer on this film,^[1] which was made in association with her company Via Rosa Productions.^[2]

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song ("For the First Time").

Plot

Melanie Parker (Michelle Pfeiffer) is an architect and divorced single mother to son Sammy (Alex D. Linz). Her day gets off to a bad start when she is late to drop Sammy off at school, due to the forgetfulness of fellow single parent Jack Taylor (George Clooney), a New York Daily News reporter whose daughter Maggie (Mae Whitman) is thrust into his care that morning by his ex-wife.

The children arrive seconds too late to go on a school field trip. Their parents are forced to accept that, on top of hectically busy schedules, they must work together to supervise each other's children.

Melanie must make an architectural design presentation to an important client. Jack has to find a source for a scoop on the New York mayor's mob connections. Sammy causes havoc at Melanie's office with toy cars, causing her to trip and break her scale model display.

In frustration, Melanie takes Sammy to a child daycare centre (which is having a "Superhero Day"), where she comes across Jack trying to convince Maggie to stay and behave herself. They create impromptu costumes for the children, utilising Jack's imagination and Melanie's resourcefulness.

Having left for a meeting, Melanie panics when she receives a phone call from Sammy regarding other children and drugs. She phones Jack in desperation to ask him to pick up both kids. He agrees on the condition that she take them at 3:15 while he chases down a potential source.

While in Melanie's care, Maggie goes missing. Melanie breaks down in despair at the police station, files a missing child report and goes to a mayoral press conference to find Jack. He is notified by the police that Maggie has been found and makes it to the press conference just in time to confront the mayor with his scoop.

Although the two have been antagonistic, Melanie and Jack work together to get both Sammy and Maggie to a soccer game. Melanie insists that she will have time to do her presentation to the new clients, despite Jack protesting that it will make them late for the game. Melanie begins her pitch, but upon seeing Sammy in high spirits, she realises that she cares more about her son than her job. Bravely insisting that she must leave immediately to be with her son, she fully expects to be fired, yet the clients are impressed.

At the game, Melanie meets her ex-husband, who admits that he has lied to Sammy and that he is going on tour as a drummer with Bruce Springsteen. That evening, Jack wants a reason to visit Melanie's apartment, so he takes Maggie to buy goldfish to replace the ones that were eaten earlier in the day by a cat.

At Melanie's apartment, the children watch TV while Jack and Melanie share an awkward first kiss. Melanie goes to the bathroom to freshen up; when she returns, an exhausted Jack is asleep on the sofa. Melanie joins him and they fall asleep together.

Cast

• Michelle Pfeiffer as Melanie Parker
• George Clooney as Jack Taylor
• Mae Whitman as Maggie Taylor
• Alex D. Linz as Sammy Parker
• Charles Durning as Lew
• Jon Robin Baitz as Mr. Yates Jr.
• Ellen Greene as Mrs. Elaine Lieberman
• Joe Grifasi as Manny Feldstein
• Pete Hamill as Frank Burroughs
• Anna Maria Horsford as Evelyn
• Gregory Jbara as Freddy
• Sheila Kelley as Kristen
• Barry Kivel as Mr. Yates Sr.
• Robert Klein as Dr. Martin
• George Martin as Mr. Smith Leland
• Michael Massee as Eddie Parker
• Amanda Peet as Celia
• Holland Taylor as Rita
• Rachel York as Liza
• Marianne Muellerleile as Ruta
• Sidney Armus as Mayor Sidney Aikens

Reception

One Fine Day currently^[when?] holds a rating of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating a mixed critical reception.^[3] It was considered a commercial disappointment by Twentieth Century Fox.^[4]

Janet Maslin in the New York Times wrote:^[5] "A 50's romp with a few glaring 90's touches (dueling cellular phones, frazzled single parents), One Fine Day makes for sunny, pleasant fluff. Both stars are enjoyably breezy, and there's enough chemistry to deflect attention from the story's endless contrivances... he's [Clooney] such a natural as a movie star that he hardly needs false flattery. Ms. Pfeiffer, meanwhile, shows a flair for physical comedy."

Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times wrote:^[6] "'Cinema is the history of boys photographing girls.' Or so Jean-Luc Godard is claimed to have said. I thought of his words while watching One Fine Day, an uninspired formula movie with another fine performance by Michelle Pfeiffer. She does everything in this movie that a much better movie would have required from her, but the screenplay lets her down... Pfeiffer looks, acts and sounds wonderful throughout all of this, and George Clooney is perfectly serviceable as a romantic lead, sort of a Mel Gibson lite. I liked them. I wanted them to get together. I wanted them to live happily ever after. The sooner the better."

Rita Kempley in the Washington Post wrote:^[7] "Director Michael Hoffman, whose idiosyncratic portfolio includes the period comedy Restoration and the spoof Soapdish, sets a mellow pace and alternates old-fashioned split screen with crosscutting to enliven the many phone scenes. If the stars don't click, of course, nothing else matters. Happily, Pfeiffer and Clooney, now officially a movie star, not only click, they send off sparks."

Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times wrote:^[8] "One Fine Day is fortunate in its casting. Not only does it have Michelle Pfeiffer, whose gift for this kind of business was visible as far back as Married to the Mob and The Fabulous Baker Boys, but it marks the emergence of George Clooney as a major romantic star... Still, despite feeling like its moments have been micro-managed for maximum audience response, One Fine Day often passes for a pleasant diversion. But with actors so suited to each other, it's too bad the film didn't give them more original material to work with."

Edward Guthmann in the San Francisco Chronicle wrote:^[9] "We've seen it before, but Pfeiffer and Clooney do everything in their power to make it seem fresh and delightful. That's ultimately not enough, and even though the stars have some chemistry and Pfeiffer delivers her usual spotless performance, One Fine Day never manages to be more than a harmless, forgettable time-filler."

Rob Nelson in the Boston Phoenix wrote:^[10] "Privilege and coincidence have always been central to screwball comedy, but the speed of crosstown travel here rivals Die Hard 3 for plausibility. And it's these convenient shortcuts that waylay the film from examining the condition it purports to critique: that is, the '90s compulsion to drive at full throttle."

Awards and nominations

The featured song 'For the First Time', written by James Newton Howard, Jud Friedman and Allan Dennis Rich, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television.^[11]

Michelle Pfeiffer won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress - Comedy/Romance, and was nominated for a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress.^[11]

Mae Whitman and Alex D. Linz were both nominated for Young Artist Awards in the categories of Best Performance in a Feature Film - Actress/Actor Age Ten or Under. Whitman won.^[11]

Soundtrack

One Fine Day: Music From The Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	December 10, 1996
Genre	soundtrack
Label	Sony Records
Professional reviews
The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space. Allmusic link

One Fine Day: Music From The Motion Picture is the soundtrack for the film. The album peaked at # 57 on The Billboard 200 in 1997.

Track listing

1. "One Fine Day" - Natalie Merchant
2. "The Boy from New York City" - The Ad Libs
3. "For the First Time" - Kenny Loggins
4. "Mama Said" - The Shirelles
5. "Someone Like You" - Shawn Colvin
6. "Love's Funny That Way" - Tina Arena
7. "Have I Told You Lately" - Van Morrison
8. "The Glory of Love" - Keb' Mo'
9. "What a Diff'rence a Day Made" - Tony Bennett
10. "Isn't It Romantic?" - Ella Fitzgerald
11. "This Guy's in Love with You" - Harry Connick, Jr.
12. "Just like You" - Keb' Mo'
13. "One Fine Day" - The Chiffons
14. "Suite From One Fine Day" - James Newton Howard

References

1. ^ "One Fine Day (1996) - Full cast and crew". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117247/fullcredits. Retrieved 2009-12-23. 
2. ^ "One Fine Day (1996) - Company credits". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117247/companycredits. Retrieved 2009-12-23. 
3. ^ "One Fine Day", Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2009-01-13.
4. ^ Shaw, Jessica. "Pop Culture News: Christmas Wrap-Up", Entertainment Weekly, 1997-01-10. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
5. ^ Maslin, Janet (December 20, 1996). "Movie Review - One Fine Day - Meet. Fight. Fall in Love. What a Day!". movies.nytimes.com. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=990CE4D61731F933A15751C1A960958260&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes. 
6. ^ Ebert, Roger (December 20, 1996). "One Fine Day :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". rogerebert.suntimes.com. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19961220/REVIEWS/612200305/1023. 
7. ^ Kempley, Rita (December 20, 1996). "A Sweet 'One Fine Day'". washingtonpost.com. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/review96/onefinedaykemp.htm. 
8. ^ Turan, Kenneth (December 20, 1996). "One Fine Day - MOVIE REVIEW - Los Angeles Times". calendarlive.com. http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie961220-5,0,3843449.story. 
9. ^ Guthmann, Edward (December 20, 1996). "'One Fine Day' Is Forgettable Fun". sfgate.com. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1996/12/20/DD35269.DTL. 
10. ^ Nelson, Rob (December 19, 1996). "Archives 1996". bostonphoenix.com. http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archives/1996/documents/00443540.htm. 
11. ^ ^{a b c} "One Fine Day (1996) - Awards". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117247/awards. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 

External links

• One Fine Day at the Internet Movie Database