Fireman Causes Spark in Fake Marriage
Fireman Patrick (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is due to marry Sofia (Justina Machado), that is until she calls Emma Lloyd (Uma Thurman), a radio show host who hands out relationship advice and causes Sofia to not only call of the wedding but to end it with Patrick. Infuriated by how this woman on the end of a phone can ruin his life Patrick decides he wants payback and discovering that Emma is due to marry her book publisher boyfriend Richard (Colin Firth) gets a young friend to hack the marriages website and register Emma as his wife, which inevitably comes as a shock to Emma and Richard when they go to apply for a marriage licence. But things don't go as Patrick plans as when Emma tracks him down to sort out this mess he finds himself falling for her and her for him.
You may never have watched "The Accidental Husband" before but the chances are you will have seen it. Sounds rather a daft statement but the simple fact is that "The Accidental Husband" despite some dressing up is a cliche romantic comedy which sees a woman about to be married falling for another man and you can guess not only the outcome but many of the scenes before it finally gets there. But "The Accidental Husband" is dressed up nicely and whilst offering nothing which is really new manages to charm and entertain thanks to the pleasantness which is Uma Thurman and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
So technically "The Accidental Husband" is a romantic comedy but as such you need to add fantasy because whilst set in the real world the plot is full of contrivances which you just have to accept none more so than the set up. Now as for that set up well it is kind of amusing as Patrick, so infuriated by Emma's advice to his bride to be, sets out to give her a taste of her own medicine with the fake marriage. As I said we are talking fantasy and everything is done so easily but it is fun especially as we watch Patrick enjoy making Emma squirm when she discovers they are married and tries to get him to sign the annulment papers.
But the thing is that whilst we get this sort of amusing set up the minute Emma walks into the bar and meets Patrick you know what is to follow; actually you can guess before we even get to this point. We basically have Patrick growing fond of Emma whilst teaching her a lesson, Emma growing fond of Patrick leading to confusion as to whether she still loves Richard and of course at some point Emma discovering that Patrick was trying to get payback for ruining his relationship to Sofia. It is all that obvious and along the way we have cliche elements of people mistaking them for a couple leading to confusion and issues between Emma and Richard.
The thing which "The Accidental Husband" has going in its favour is that it is very easy to warm to Emma and Patrick and that is thanks to Uma Thurman and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. You wouldn't necessarily believe there is any real romantic spark between them but they both exude a warmth and a playfulness which makes watching them deal with their feelings good fun. They are not alone and Colin Firth is his usual reliable self in the role of Richard but this is very much a movie which works because of the likeability of the movies two lead stars.
What this all boils down to is that "The Accidental Witness" is a fun romantic comedy and one which entertains because of the likeability of Uma Thurman and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. But get beyond that and we have a rather obvious romantic comedy which uses the same ideas that a lot of romantic comedies use.
