Leopold, Duke of Albany (Hugh Jackman) is a man of science and learning. He’s always thinking about ways to improve life around him, including a marvelous invention shaped like a closet that will take people to a different floor than the one they’re on. He’s the toast of the town and definitely the catch of the nineteenth century.
He needs to marry a wealthy young woman in order to supply the funds he needs to maintain his title. His uncle is throwing him a ball at which he will meet several ladies and there make up his mind. While dancing with one such hopeful, he notices a young man in the back of the room, taking pictures with a tiny camera. Intrigued, he follows the man out the door and to the Brooklyn Bridge, where they tumble off the side and into a crack in the time continuum.
Suddenly, Leopold, man from 1870, is in present day New York. Everything astonishes him from the time he wakes up in the man’s apartment. The man, incidentally, is named Stuart, and he’s a scientist in his own right. He’s been studying the Duke of Albany and has the highest regard for him, and that’s why he chose to crash the Duke’s party on his little trip back through time.
Stuart’s ex-girlfriend Kate (Meg Ryan) isn’t buying any of this time travel nonsense. When Stuart is injured in a freak accident and asks Kate to help him with Leopold, she doesn’t see the need at all. The more time they spend together, though, the more she believes him until time to make the fateful decision – should she stay in her own time, or go back with him to his?
I enjoyed this film. I did think their courtship was rushed – they hadn’t known each other long enough to be able to make a decision of that magnitude. I also thought it was a shame that Meg Ryan didn’t look cute in this movie – she’s a darling actress but the costumers went out of their way to make her look unattractive, which is a shame.
This movie is rated PG-13 for some language.
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