Sliding Doors stars the beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow as Helen, a public relations agent trying to succeed in her career and find true love at the same time.  Fired from her job at a London ad agency (for stealing some vodka - Gigi definitely objects to this as a reason for dismissal - I mean she did replace them after her weekend party!), the film traces her next steps.  In one version, Helen catches a train; in the other version, she misses it.  Sliding Doors ingeniously lets both paths play out simultaneously in the movie, and it works wonderfully.

    If Helen catches the train, she meets her soul mate, John (played by the funny and cute Scottish actor John Hannah, most notably seen in Four Weddings and A Funeral) then, gets home in time to catch her live-in boyfriend, Gerry (John Lynch), in bed with his former girlfriend (Jeanne Tripplehorn).  If Helen misses the train, she gets mugged, arrives home after her boyfriend's lover leaves (his affair remains undetected at that point), and takes up a job waitressing.

    Director Peter Howitt is able to pull off the two strands of this film in quiet way - no cheesy split screens or other special effects - though Helen does get a very different haircut in one of the scenarios.  The film seems more like a quiet rumination on the paths we take or don't take in our lives and how frequently we can be at life altering crossroads without any awareness of their significance.

    I definitely recommend this romantic film - it's not overly sugary sweet and is definitely a good date movie.  Sliding Doors also offers a nice surprise in how the film gets to its rather predictable ending.