A Sunday to Remember
Three years ago Gus (Zachary Levi - Tangled) was the rock star of the astrophysics world with a huge career ahead of him. That was until out of nowhere he suffered a brain aneurysm causing a loss of short term memory. It means every day Gus wakes up and reads the contents of a folder his sister Lucy (Merritt Wever) put together so he can make sense of who he is and what he does each day, which is to work in a jewellers and make notes so he can try and make sense of things in the morning when he will have forgotten them. Enter Molly (Alexis Bledel - Post Grad), a cute waitress with a few problems who finds Gus charming but sometimes curiously annoying when each day he seems vacant about having seen her before and even going out on a date with her.
So let me get the plainly obvious out of the way with and mention the Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore comedy "50 First Dates" as of course it is likely to spring to some people's minds with "Remember Sunday" featuring a romantic drama about someone falling for a person suffering from short term memory loss. But in truth the similarities end there because "Remember Sunday" is in a completely different league as it oozes with charm, tenderness and a joy which makes you glad you watched even if you tend not to be a fan of Hallmark movies. Oh didn't I mention that, yes "Remember Sunday" is a Hallmark movie, in fact a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie and one which is so much more than you get from a typical Hallmark movie.
Now I am going to disappoint you as I was so charmed and frankly blown away by "Remember Sunday" that I am not going to go in to too much detail about the movie other than to say that on one hand we have Gus who not only doesn't tell Molly why he appears to be absent minded but every day tries to work out how Molly fits in to his life. And of course you have Molly who is oblivious to Gus's short term memory loss yet finds herself falling deeply in love with him which of course leads to big decisions when she learns about his memory loss. Just trust me on this when I say that "Remember Sunday" is so charming and touching that you can't but help being captivated.
Now there are a lot of reasons why "Remember Sunday" works, Jeff Bleckner's direction is perfectly paced and the cinematography is gorgeously romantic but not overly contrived whilst Alexis Bledel brings loads of charm to the role of Molly. But for me it is Zachary Levi who makes the movie with those moments of heart wrenching honesty be it in a scene where he begs for a brain surgeon to fix him to a scene where he asks a friend whether you can fall in love with someone every single day, wouldn't meeting that person be amazing. Levi's conviction behind the words and the way he mildly plays the quirks of Gus and also the frustration he suffers by having to rely on a system to remember the recent past will have you captivated.
What this all boils down to is that "Remember Sunday" is a Hallmark movie but it is special, it is above the standard of their usual efforts and above the standard set by many a big screen movie. And trust me on this; if you enjoy romantic, charming movies then you are going to fall in love with "Remember Sunday".