hile attending a ceremony commemorating the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1876, Leopold (Jackman), the impoverished third Duke of Albany, notices a man using a strange clicking device for the eyes. Intrigued, he attempts to follow the stranger, only to lose him in a crowd.
Later that night, at a ball hosted by his uncle to help him obtain a wealthy bride, Leopold once again notices the mysterious stranger using the device to examine documents in a study. Leopold demands to know the stranger's name and intentions. But the man flees. Mounting a horse, Leopold pursues him through cobblestone streets. The chase climaxes with a scuffle atop the Brooklyn Bridge. Both men plummet off the scaffolding into what appears to be a vortex just above the water.
In modern-day New York, Kate McKay (Ryan), a marketing executive, complains to her assistant (Natasha Lyonne) about her four-year relationship to her ex-boyfriend. That night, she spies her ex, Stuart (Schrieber), with another person in the apartment above hers. Back in her place, Kate phones Stuart, demanding to know what is going on. Stuart explains that he has discovered a rip in the time continuum over the Brooklyn Bridge. The mysterious person is Leopold, Stuart's great-great-grandfather, the Duke of Albany, who has inadvertently followed him back to the future. [Note: Since screening Kate & Leopold for critics, Miramax has altered this part of the film's storyline.] Stuart tells Kate that he must get Leopold back to 1876, or the fabric of space-time may be forever ripped asunder.
At first disbelieving, Kate meets Leopold, figuring him to be a "Sergeant Pepper" knock-off. After a series of mishaps that land Stuart in the hospital, Kate and her ne'er-do-well actor brother, Charlie (Meyer), find themselves entertaining Leopold as he discovers the wonders of 21st-century New York. With his 19th-century outlook, Leopold touches both of their lives with his concepts and standards of life. But with time running out to get Leopold home, embittered Kate finds herself wondering if chivalrous men can exist and if fairy tales really can come true.
Chivalry—and common sense—are dead
Attempting to tackle chivalry, civility, romance, comedy and time travel from a modern-day standpoint, James Mangold has constructed a movie vastly different from his previous films (Cop Land, Girl, Interrupted). Kate & Leopold, whose release date was pushed forward so as to not conflict with the upcoming Time Machine, takes a variety of genres and tries to connect them all together to make audiences wonder if the standards our ancestors adhered to are gone forever, or just misplaced. The result is somewhat bland, with none of the parts fully reaching their potential.
Meg Ryan plays Kate like many of her previous characters. While we are led to believe Kate is a hardened, serious woman, Ryan infuses the role with quirky business—clumsiness and doing a strange little victory dance—that seem to contradict the character.
Jackman, while embodying the gentility and grace of a 19th-century nobleman, doesn't completely convince as the fish out of water. Several bits, including a tussle with a toaster and a speech about the shame that "General" Electric must feel over such a poor invention, are amusing, but Leopold otherwise doesn't seem particularly overwhelmed or even perturbed at suddenly finding himself 125 years in the future.
The time-travel story is merely the backdrop for the relationships. But both characters have little depth, and even with the transformations love supposedly bestows upon them, they do not show much growth over the course of the movie. As the movie is character-driven, this is a disappointment.
The costuming is aptly symbolic, with Leopold's finery an ironic contrast to Kate's stark Manhattan garb. Indeed, Kate and Leopold are opposites of movie stereotypes—Kate is the hardworking breadwinner, while Leopold struts around in pretty things, eating fancy foods and working very hard at very little.
Perhaps the best roles are Schreiber and Meyer's, who have much of the best dialogue and character development. One soliloquy has Schreiber comparing his discovery of time travel to dogs who chase rainbows, only to be disbelieved and ridiculed because dogs are colorblind. Another amusing scene has Meyer attempting to woo a woman with Victorian-inspired flowery words, and finding they work.
