The reason rom-coms are as popular as they are not just because there are two people falling in love. It’s because they instill a certain faith in the viewer that there is someone out there just for them, who they will meet against all odds, and then, life will be what they have always wanted it to be. Of course, it is a little fairytale-ish, but that is what the genre is meant to be—a respite from the tiresome reality of meeting frogs after frogs. Rom-coms are the starting point of finding the magic in the cinema, and that is exactly why it is a cause of universal heartbreak that they seem to be losing their charm. “About Fate” seems to have understood the memo, but its greatest fallacy is that it just tries too hard and, in the process, loses its entire charm. It was not a movie without potential, or originality, for that matter. But it overdoes it all. Just a few tiny changes, and it could have been as flawless as it set out to be. Let us take a look at what happens in it.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Does Margot Take Griffin To Her Sister’s Wedding?
“About Fate” starts with an old-school montage of both of our leads getting ready for the day. Margot expects to be proposed to, and Griffin expects to propose to someone. Griffin is a sweet guy who is somewhat forgetful (thank God this is important to the plot) and is in love with his girlfriend, Clementine. Margot is a straight-up manic pixie who her sister blames for ruining everything. It is never explained how that is. Margot has been dating a guy for three months, and nobody has seen him yet. Her sister is getting married the next day, and they don’t believe that she has a boyfriend. The thing is, in romantic novels or movies, when the girl’s friends and family won’t believe that she has a boyfriend, it is usually because she has a past that has made her hesitant to date or because she is just unlucky with her love life. Neither is the case here, so what is the reason for this disbelief?
As for Griffin, he definitely has the better personality of the two. A sweet, unassuming guy who is just trying to figure out what is the right thing to do. Coming back to the plot, contrary to the first ten minutes, Griffin and Margot are actually with different people. Margot is with Kip, who is trying to break up with her. She is furious as this is happening before New Year’s Eve and right before her sister’s wedding. Griffin, on the other hand, is with his girlfriend Clementine, who is a social media influencer. When Griffin proposes to her, she is happy but asks him to do it again at the New Year’s party, so that she can get some social media milieu out of it. Both Griffin and Margot leave the pub dejected and run into each other for a brief second. The next day, Griffin goes to hang out with his friends and gets a little too drunk. While going back, the driver drops him off at ’15 Maple Drive’, which he has given as his address. But as fate would have it, this is the ’15 maple Drive’ of Westwood, not Norwood, which is where Margot lives. Let’s just say that it is an uncomfortable situation to discover a strange man in your house. And in a tale as old as time, Kip arrives there just in time to see an unclothed Griffin. Margot, in a completely petty mood, tells him that Griffin is her date at the wedding. The latter agrees to the ruse, after some initial hesitation. While getting to know each other, both of them discover that they have similar tastes in movies and lifestyles. But can we just take a moment to say that we support Clementine in not wanting to share a toothbrush? Margot is mad for letting a stranger use her toothbrush, and Griffin’s standards of hygiene are questionable since he was okay with it. There is a montage of them breaking into a shop to get Carrie’s veil and another scene where they split a carriage with an old couple who are celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary. As a parting gift, the old woman gives Margot her pink carnation coat and tells her that it will bring her luck in her love life.
The pair finally reach the wedding venue. Margot introduces Griffin as Kip, and everyone takes a liking to him. Only two people know his real identity- Margot’s friend and the groom’s aunt Veronica, but this doesn’t really have any bearing on the plot. In a turn of events, the real Kip shows up at the wedding, and he is furious that Griffin is wearing his tuxedo. Both of them get into a fight, which ends with Carrie getting mad at her sister for ruining things. Margot is upset, and Griffin rushes to comfort her. He is about to tell her that he likes her, but she tells him to go forward with his proposal to Clementine. Heartbroken and confused, he leaves the place. Both of them are confused and trying to make sense of what has happened. Carrie tells Margot that the difference between them is that she goes after what she wants, and Margot doesn’t. She encourages her to be more true to herself. Following that, Margot tells Kip that she has felt more connected to Griffin in 24 hours than she felt with him in 3 months. Both of them decided to end it amicably.
Elsewhere, right when Griffin was supposed to propose to Clementine, he tells her that he cannot marry her. Hollywood really loves to hate on influencers. It’s almost like if it’s an influencer, they must be shallow. Can we please have some content that covers their characters in a more intelligent way? Coming back to the story, both our leads are single. They only have to meet each other now.
‘About Fate’ Ending Explained: Do Griffin and Margot Reconcile?
For a movie that is trying so hard to be “magical,” of course they do. Margot shows up at Griffin’s house to give him his bag back and to tell him that she knows that he did not propose, which means he is available. And since it is all about ‘fate’ and ‘connection,’ it turns out that Margot has a tattoo of a half man, half bird, aka a Griffin, on her back which she had gotten on an impulse long ago. The couple were meant to be. But their moment is interrupted by Clementine, who has come back for her Sonicare since she had paid money for it, and it was not a freebie. What did we say about Hollywood hating influencers? And also, which self-respecting cat person is okay with people coming into their house all the time, completely unannounced? Griffin and Margot, apparently. Their cats would be ashamed of them.
While Griffin is getting Clementine’s things, she takes the opportunity to tell Margot that she hopes it works out for them for real instead of it being just a New Year’s fantasy. That is enough for Margot to start having doubts about their relationship. She tells Griffin that she cannot ruin another life (whose life has she ruined before?) and that maybe it’s just a coincidence and not really fate. Griffin is heartbroken and doesn’t understand what to do. The next day, he is meeting his parents for lunch at a restaurant when he sees the pink carnation coat that was gifted to Margot. He feels someone tap on his back, and that brings a big smile to his face. He turns around to find Margot. It is fate, after all, and both of them reconcile for their own happy ending.
Final Thoughts: What Doesn’t Work For ‘About Fate’?
First of all, the leads are not very likable. Margot is constantly told that she ruins everything, but we are not given an explanation as to why. And she was definitely naive if she expected to be proposed to after 3 months of dating. Clementine is not a nice guy, either. Who falls out of love in one day? And knowing what Clementine’s public image meant to her, he still chose to break up with her in front of everyone instead of doing it privately. That was completely inexcusable. On an unrelated note, red tracksuits seem to be having a moment on the silver screen. The fact with most love stories is that you see that love is earned. Margot and Griffin just seemed desperate to escape the doubts and failures of their past relationships, using fate as a crutch. “About Fate” was a fever dream of serendipity with none of its magic. We can tell that the makers had great intentions, but it just did not translate into a good product. Hopefully, that won’t be the case with their future projects. We will keep an eye out for that because we are suckers for punishment and will never stop looking for a good rom-com.
“About Fate” is a 2022 Drama Romance film directed by Marius Vaysberg.
