A 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Michael Hoffman, that has two strangers (Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney) meeting each other on one of the most stressful days of their lives.
The movie also Alex D. Linz, Mae Whitman, Charles Durning, Jon Robin Baitz, Ellen Greene, Joe Grifasi, Pete Hamill, Anna Maria Horsford, Gregory Jbara, Sheila Kelley, Barry Kivel, Robert Klein, and George N Martin.
It was released on December 20, 1996.
Tropes for the film:
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Jack and Melanie have this throughout the movie, until they kiss each other at the end of the movie.
- Big Applesauce: Takes place in New York City.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The movie takes place over the period of a single day.
- Heroic BSoD: Melanie has this when she loses Maggie temporarily, yelling at the police officer how she was horrible to Jack even though he took care of Sammy without any problems (at that point, she doesn't know how Sammy got something stuck up his nose under Jack's watch).
- Improvisational Ingenuity: When Maggie and Sammy need costumes in order to go into the drop in center, Melanie goes through her purse and manages to put together two costumes on the spot.Jack: Do...do you have anything else in your purse?
- Intrepid Reporter: When he's not taking care of Maggie and Sammy, Jack spends the day trying to convince his source on his story on corruption in the mayor's office not to back out, and also chasing down the ex-wife of a man close to the mayor, convinced she can be his backup source.
- Ironic Echo: When Jack and Melanie first meet up and start arguing with each other, Sammy tells Maggie, "My mom hates your dad," to which Maggie replies, "So what? My dad hates your mom." Near the end of the movie, when they're all at Melanie's apartment, Maggie says, "I think my dad likes your mom," to which Sammy replies, "I think maybe my mom likes him back."
- Manchild: Melanie accuses Jack of having a Peter Pan complex. Jack in turn accuses Melanie of having a Captain Hook complex.
- Married to the Job: Both Jack and Melanie are like this, as they both have important issues to deal with at work - Jack finds out a story he thought was secure isn't, while Melanie has to make a presentation to a major client - and one of the plots of the movie is how they have to learn to balance that with being a parent to their children. Sammy's father is also like this, which is one of the reasons why he and Melanie are estranged.
- Maybe Ever After: Melanie and Jack don't even make it as far as dinner together. Instead, they fall asleep on the couch at the end of a tiring day.
- On Second Thought: When Sammy calls Melanie to tell her he and Maggie don't want to be at the drop in center anymore:Melanie: Sammy, you're just gonna have to be big and brave and-Sammy: What's LSD?Melanie:...Don't move! Stay right where you are! You both will be picked up in 10 minutes!
- Rom Com Job: She's an architect. He works for a newspaper.
- Shipper on Deck: Melanie's mother thinks Jack is positively delightful and thinks he and Melanie should get together.
- Tagline: "She was having a perfectly bad day... Then he came along and spoiled it."
- Titled After the Song: Comes from the 1963 hit by The Chiffons.
- Unusual Euphemism: Jack does this in order to discuss romance with his psychiatrist in front of his young daughter, leading to lines like, "I just want to find a fish who isn't afraid of my dark chocolate layer... and of course she'd have to love my cookie too".
- Perhaps lampshaded when it doesn't work. When talking about a woman in whom he is not really interested, the daughter later explains to Melanie that "He wants a fish who'll love his cookie, and she's not the type".
- Woman Scorned: Elaine Lieberman ("L-I-E-B-E-R-M-A-N") is the wife of a campaign contributor to the mayor (responsible for an illegal contribution). When her husband leaves her for a younger woman and takes her down to the Bahamas, Elaine responds by eagerly becoming Jack's source for his story.
