About Fate Review

Love needs meaning, and key to that is About Fate, the happenstance conclusions of two people who are attracted to one another and unsure as to why. Is that not the case for every upbeat piece of the rom-com genre? Yes, but the horrifying momentum of About Fate bases itself on the loneliness of two strangers, finding unity in that and eventually giving in to their mediocrity and accepting their isolation together. Haunting stuff considering the positive opening. Jolly and upbeat as its generic opening riffs may be, the soundtrack to this Emma Roberts and Thomas Mann-led rom-com do at least mask the haunting iPhone alarm tones. Those are rent-free in the mind the same way McDonald’s fryer beeps are lodged in like a sixth sense for greasy foods.  

Identical lives, cats, juice and everything in between shows a real love for the independence of mediocrity in the lives of cat people. Even their clothes are the same. But those nice touches between Margot Hayes (Roberts) and Griffin Reed (Mann) are nice enough. Those similarities are eerie though, the “best damn day of my life,” continuation as the camera pans in and out of the Vivarium-like residential living is disturbing. Coffee runs, small talk with employees, distant living from the real world that at least deploys its leading characters with charm loaded in suffocating supply. It is hard to dislike a film as nicely pieced together as About Fate despite how simple its momentum is.  

What is not simple though is its writing, which goes from varied strength to strength. Jokes about I Am Sam, office relationships and fumbled fears of love. About Fate has those moments of will-they won’t-they but does so with a fade to black and a strange explanation of why Griffin must cover up who he is at a wedding he finds himself shoehorned into. Love, too, is shoehorned into this. Griffin and Margot are destined, inevitably, to find themselves with one another, but About Fate wants to spend its entire running time teasing that out as though it were some day-long rendition of When Harry Met Sally. There is satisfaction found at the end of that though, the sighting that is linked, very clearly, to a character and their desire. About Fate portrays that relationship well and gives it that satisfying closure. 

But in doing so it sidelines interesting pieces, and gives in to the inevitable backlash of a sudden idea bubbling up to the surface. Rugged and rough around the edges of its incessantly joyous positioning, sporadic moments of sudden twists and turns feel unconvincing and a bit like director Marius Weisberg is padding for time. His direction is as solid as it needs to be for About Fate but gives him little room to inflict any of his personality. Staged bits and pieces, obvious contrasts and the safe hand-holding ways of the rom-com formula are assured, direct and competent. That is all that is really needed for About Fate, a forgettable piece but one that has enough charm to mount its feature-length qualities.