Product Details

• Actors: Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Breckin Meyer, Natasha Lyonne
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Buena Vista Home Ent
• VHS Release Date: November 5, 2002
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (319 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000066796
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,388 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly enjoyable - Possible breakout for Hugh Jackman, December 17, 2001

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This is not Meg Ryan's best film, but it is yet another highly enjoyable romantic comedy in the career of one of the most successful light comedy actresses of the past decade. But this could be a breakout film for Hugh Jackman, who is easily one of the most likable and charismatic new actors on the scene today. Easily the best thing about X-MEN was Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine. He has also appeared in SWORDFISH and SOMEONE LIKE YOU, but after seeing this film, he is clearly a very versatile and talented actor, who deserves a lot of chances in a lot of different kinds of films.

The film is enhanced by an excellent supporting cast. Both Liev Schreiber as Meg Ryan's ex-boyfriend and Breckin Meyer as her brother are extremely appealing. But the film either falls or stands on the performances of Ryan and Jackman. This is not, as I mentioned earlier, her best role, but even Meg Ryan at less than her very best is still quite good, and Hugh Jackman is enormously enjoyable. Natasha Lyonne, who I love a lot, was pretty much wasted in her role as Ryan's secretary.

The movie will invariably be compared to other time travel movies. It is a genre that has been more successful in the past than one might imagine, thanks to the BACK TO FUTURE series and the superb TIME AFTER TIME. There are a couple of gigantic holes in the plot (one involves when a particular photograph could have been taken), but overall the film isn't hard to take as sci-fi. I will say that the scenes set in 19th century New York are my favorite parts of the movie. The initial scene takes place at a ceremony in which Washington Roeblings, the engineer who built the Brooklyn Bridge and son of the man who designed it, is dedicating (I think) the completion of the second tower of the bridge. The look and feel is remarkable. Looking at the masts of the ships in the water, I kept thinking of Walt Whitman's poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," which ferry the bridge superseded. Most of the imagery was surely computer generated, but the whole scene was nevertheless remarkable to look at.

All in all, this movie was a lot of fun. It won't be the greatest movie you have ever seen, but it certainly won't be the worst, and I think the vast majority of viewers will be convinced that they will have had a lot of fun. And a message to Hollywood: get Hugh Jackman in more movies!

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ...AND THE WINNER IS...HUGH JACKMAN!, January 3, 2003

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kate and Leopold (Bonus Edition) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Hands down, this romantic comedy is a Hugh Jackman vehicle, as he totally steals the show from Meg Ryan. Jackman plays the role of the Duke of Albany, Leopold Mountbatten, an English nobleman visiting his uncle in New York in 1876. At his uncle's behest, Leopold is to find a rich socialite to marry, so that he may replenish the family's depleted coffers.

While at a ball in his uncle's New York house, awash with rich and eager heiresses, he notices a stranger who had earlier caught his attention. He follows the stranger and finds himself in the year 2001, as he falls through a portal in time. Landing in the apartment of Stuart Besser (Liev Schreiber), the stranger whom he had followed, he soon meets Kate McKay (Meg Ryan), Stuart's former girlfriend of four years and a modern day everywoman. Let the games begin.

What follows is nothing earth shattering. In fact, it is pretty predictable. Leopold and Kate fall in love, though the big question is why, as there is nothing to suggest why they should. Meg Ryan does her usual Meg Ryan thing, though she is starting to get a bit little long in the tooth to be playing the brash, cutesy ingenue. She is, in fact, getting to be quite tiresome in these sorts of roles, as she plays them all exactly the same, making them virtually indistinguishable one from the other. She needs to extend her range, before her adoring public stops adoring her.

Jackman, however, does a star turn with his gently effective and ingratiating portrayal of Leopold. He is simply sensational. Charming, handsome, and warm, with a light British accent that rings true, he is totally believable as a chivalrous gent from another time. Jackman totally upstages Ryan without meaning to do so. It is a good thing that he does. Were he not to have done so, the film would most likely have totally tanked. Clearly, Hugh Jackman is big time, leading man material.

Liev Schreiber is unappealing as the film's erstwhile time traveler and Kate's ex-lover, Stuart Besser, who, it turns out, is the great, great grandson of the Duke. Moreover, it is not believable that Stuart and Kate would ever have dated, much less have been lovers for four years, as there is no chemistry between them. Still, it is more believable than the relationship which blossoms between Leopold and Kate. The happy ending also makes Stuart's and Kate's former relationship somewhat distasteful, if not downright incestuous, in retrospect.

The rest of the supporting cast is fine with an excellent performance by Breckin Meyer in the role of Charlie McKay, Kate's somewhat goofy, but lovable, cute, younger brother. Bradley Whitford of West Wing fame also gives a winning performance as J.J. Camden, Kate's smarmy boss, who ultimately has second thoughts about what constitutes professional behavior and lets the cream rise to the top, so to speak.

All in all, this is a moderately entertaining film, all but forgettable, but for the memorable performance of Hugh Jackman.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kate & Leopold, March 26, 2008

By 

Kelly "Reviewer for The Sinfully Sensuous" (Littleton, Colorado) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kate & Leopold (DVD)

What a charming pair Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman make! This romantic comedy is about the Duke of Albany, and while hosting a party in 1876 he notices someone that doesn't belong at his party. When he follows him, he literally like "Alice" falls into the rabbit hole and travels through time to the year 2001. Stuart Besser found this hole thru time making time travel possible, and he takes it upon himself to introduce the Duke to the future while trying to find a way to get him back where he belongs. When Leopold meets former Besser girlfriend Kate, they can't help but fall in love.

Yes, this is a completely predictable movie, but so what! It is the ultimate in romance, and we all need to dream a little bit.