One Day (12A) ****

Aug 28 2011 by Roz Laws, Sunday Mercury

DAVID Nicholls’ novel One Day has been read and cried over by millions, including me.

And I have to say that the vision I had in my head of its heroine, Emma Morley, looked nothing like Anne Hathaway.

She’s just too pretty and thin for the role, relying on the old trick of wearing oversized specs to make herself look dowdy when we first meet her.

The story covers more than 20 years in the lives of two people, working class Yorkshire girl Emma and posh Dexter Mayhew.

They meet properly on their final day at Edinburgh University – July 15, 1988 – and almost sleep together.

They stay friends and in touch, and we then see a snapshot of their lives, both separate and together, every July 15 from then on.

Emma moves into a crummy London flat, works as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant and then retrains as a teacher while dreaming of becoming a writer.

Handsome and clever, Dex leads more of a charmed life and becomes a famous TV presenter.

Although I have to say that I know most of this from the book, rather than the film, as the pair’s early years are rushed through far too quickly on screen. Blink and you miss a couple of the years.

We really don’t get much of an idea of character development or peripheral people in their lives – Jodie Whittaker is criminally wasted as Emma’s friend Tilly. The only supporting cast member who gets much to do – and who makes the most of it – is Rafe Spall as Emma’s wimpy boyfriend Ian.

Ken Stott and Patricia Clarkson gamely play Dex’s parents, trying to pull him out of the mess he gets himself into with drink and drugs (though his cocaine habit is glossed over).

Romola Garai, who’s in everything at the moment, looks very pretty but doesn’t have many lines either. She plays one of the women in Dex’s life who he dallies with when it’s obvious he should really be with his soulmate Emma.

The film, unlike the novel, focuses more on Dex than Emma, so whole chunks of her life and affairs are missing.

But the sentiment of the book remains and great performances draw you in, so I was much more emotionally involved by the second half of the movie.

Hathaway is a fairly convincing Brit, but her Yorkshire accent tends to come and go.

But the person who will benefit most from this film is Jim Sturgess as Dex. The Londoner has had success in other films like 21, Fifty Dead Men Walking and The Way Back, but One Day will propel him into the spotlight as a proper leading man.

The scene where Dex tries to get a baby to stop crying is adorable and will garner him a lot of new fans. He also ages particularly well, actually looking two decades older by the end of the film.

For all its flaws, this is an enjoyable and moving experience.

Anyone who finds themselves prone to shedding a tear in the cinema should go armed with tissues. I haven’t sobbed so much since Marley & Me.