Kate & Leopold

Kate & Leopold
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James Mangold
Written by	Steven Rogers James Mangold
Produced by	Cathy Konrad
Starring	Meg Ryan Hugh Jackman Liev Schreiber Breckin Meyer Natasha Lyonne Bradley Whitford Philip Bosco
Cinematography	Stuart Dryburgh
Edited by	David Brenner
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date	December 25, 2001 (2001-12-25)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$48 million
Box office	$76 million (worldwide)

Kate & Leopold is a 2001 American romantic-comedy fantasy film that tells a story of a physicist by the name of Stuart (Liev Schreiber) who accidentally pulls his great‑great‑grandfather, Leopold (Hugh Jackman), through a time portal from 19th‑century New York to the present, where Leopold falls in mutual love with Stuart's ex‑girlfriend, Kate (Meg Ryan).

Plot

On 28 April 1876, Leopold, His Grace the 3rd Duke of Albany, is a stifled dreamer. He has created a design for a primitive elevator, and has built a small model of this device. His strict Uncle Millard has no patience for what he sees as Leopold's frivolous interest in the sciences and new inventions, having brought him to New York City in order to marry a wealthy American heiress, as the Mountbatten family is heavily indebted.

While sketching the Brooklyn Bridge during a public meeting dedicated to the completion of its Manhattan tower, Leopold notices Stuart Besser taking photographs with an anachronistically small camera. Stuart is an amateur physicist (and great‑great‑grandson of Leopold) from 21st‑century New York who has discovered the existence of gravitational time portals. Later, Leopold catches Stuart in the Duke's study, photographing his schematic diagrams. When Stuart attempts to flee, Leopold follows and tries to save him from falling off the unfinished bridge, only to fall with him into the time portal.

Leopold awakens on a Wednesday morning in the year 2001 in Stuart's apartment at 88 White Street, Manhattan. Stuart explains that the portal they have travelled through has closed, but will reopen on the next Monday, until which time Leopold should stay in Stuart's apartment. As Stuart takes his dog out, he is injured by falling into the empty elevator shaft, and, after ranting about his scientific discovery in the hospital, is involuntarily committed to a mental institution. According to Stuart's concept, Leopold's unintentional time travel to the 21st century has caused a widespread "occlusion" of elevators, and may cause the disappearance of Stuart himself if Leopold doesn't go back on Monday.

Leopold is intrigued by the cynical and ambitious Kate McKay, Stuart's ex-girlfriend who lives downstairs. He observes that she is a "career woman" and that her field, market research, is a fine avocation for a woman. Kate dismisses him and demands that he take Stuart's dog for a walk. Back at the apartment, he befriends Charlie, Kate's brother and an aspiring actor, who believes him to be an actor as well, steadfast to his character.

On Thursday morning, Kate becomes impressed by Leopold's eloquent exposition of how important the tastiness of food is to the quality of human life. She takes him to an audition for a TV commercial pitching a fat-free butter, Farmer's Bounty, produced by the British company Jansen Foods, which is being taken over by Kate's company, Camden Research Group (CRG).

On Friday, Leopold hires a violinist and invites Kate to a rooftop dinner, which ends with a waltz and the first kiss. They become romantically entangled and spend Saturday touring New York. In the evening, he tries to propose to her, but she falls asleep on his lap.

On Monday, Leopold acts in a Farmer's Bounty commercial, but walks off the set upon finding the diet margarine disgusting. Leopold chastises Kate about integrity, to which she counters that he lacks connection with reality. Realizing that their time together is nearly over, both spend the evening in subdued contemplation.

On Tuesday morning, Stuart escapes from the asylum and sends Leopold to his own time, which makes the elevators work again. Charlie notices Kate in a photo taken at Leopold's ball on 28 April 1876, and shows the photo to Stuart, who realizes that Kate's future is in the past. That night, when Kate is about to accept her promotion at the merger banquet, Stuart and Charlie tell her that she has to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge within the next 23 minutes. Kate rejects their suggestion as absurd and goes to give her acceptance speech, during which she sees herself, wearing the same evening dress, in one of Stuart's pictures. She abruptly ends the speech, and the three of them rush to the bridge.

Having made it through the portal, Kate appears in 1876. Just when Leopold is about to announce his bride of convenience, Kate storms into the ballroom, and he instead announces her name, styled as "Kate McKay, of the McKays of Massapequa". Among the shocked guests, Kate and Leopold reunite with a kiss and dance a bridal waltz. Thus Kate turns out to be Stuart's great‑great‑grandmother.

Cast

• Meg Ryan as Kate McKay
• Hugh Jackman as His Grace Leopold Alexis Elijah Walker Thomas Gareth Mountbatten, 3rd Duke of Albany
• Liev Schreiber as Stuart Besser
• Breckin Meyer as Charlie McKay
• Natasha Lyonne as Darci
• Bradley Whitford as J. J. Camden
• Paxton Whitehead as Millard Mountbatten
• Spalding Gray as Dr. Geisler
• Josh Stamberg as Bob
• Matthew Sussman as Phil
• Charlotte Ayanna as Patrice
• Philip Bosco as Otis
• Cole Hawkins as Hector
• Kristen Schaal as Miss Tree
• Stephanie Sanditz as Gretchen
• Viola Davis as Police Woman
• Andrew Jack as John A. Roebling

Alternative versions

The DVD edition contains two versions of the film: one, the original theatrical release, runs for 118 minutes while the director's cut version runs for 122. One scene in the director's cut shows Ryan's character in a test screening for a new film and also features a cameo by Mangold. An additional scene stresses the Duke's ancestry of Stuart, suggesting that Kate may be related to her ex-boyfriend.

Music

The soundtrack to Kate & Leopold was released on December 25, 2001.

Kate & Leopold (Music from the Miramax Motion Picture)

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"A Clock in New York"	Rolfe Kent	1:26
2.	"I Want Him Resplendent"	Rolfe Kent	1:25
3.	"Leopold Chases Stuart to Brooklyn"	Rolfe Kent	1:54
4.	"That Was Your Best?"	Rolfe Kent	1:17
5.	"Let's Go!"	Rolfe Kent	3:03
6.	"Leopold Sees the Completed Bridge"	Rolfe Kent	0:49
7.	"You Did So Great (Kate's Theme)"	Rolfe Kent	1:18
8.	"Galloping"	Rolfe Kent	1:21
9.	"Dearest Kate..."	Rolfe Kent	2:14
10.	"Prolixin / Leopold & Charlie Buy Flowers"	Rolfe Kent	2:20
11.	"Charlie Wins Patrice, Leopold Wins Kate"	Rolfe Kent	3:41
12.	"Secret Drawer"	Rolfe Kent	2:01
13.	"Time for Bed"	Rolfe Kent	2:14
14.	"Charlie Realizes Leopold Was for Real"	Rolfe Kent	1:31
15.	"Kate Goes to the Awards"	Rolfe Kent	2:24
16.	"Kate Sees the Pictures - "I Have to Go""	Rolfe Kent	2:54
17.	"You Have to Cross the Girder"	Rolfe Kent	1:51
18.	"Back in 1876 - Waltz"	Rolfe Kent	2:12
19.	"Back Where I Belong"	Jula Bell	2:49
20.	"Until..."	Sting	3:11
Total length:			41:55

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 50% rating based on reviews from 129 critics. The site's consensus is: "Though Hugh Jackman charms, Kate & Leopold is bland and predictable, and the time travel scenario lacks logic." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 44 based on 27 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "Meg Ryan does this sort of thing about as well as it can possibly be done, and after "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail," here is another ingenious plot that teases us with the possibility that true love will fail, while winking that, of course, it will prevail." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it "comfort food for bruised romantics."

Lael Loewenstein of Variety wrote: "A time-travel romantic comedy whose best elements -- Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman -- overcome distracting plot holes, loose threads and assorted contrivances to make for a mostly charming and diverting tale."

Accolades

Hugh Jackman was nominated in 2001 for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for the song "Until...", written and performed by Sting. The same song was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Sting performed the song during the ceremony.

External links

• Kate & Leopold at IMDb
• Kate & Leopold at AllMovie