frothy romantic comedies have become so commonplace at the cinema that filmmakers now generally resort to gimmicks to set their films apart . two romantic comedies currently in release , the object of my affection and sliding doors , each employ a twist that gives its film a certain uniqueness , but in both cases the gimmicks work . the object of my affection roughly fits the romantic comedy mold . it has its share of humorous moments and a romantic issue at its heart , which is where its twist lies . after being jilted by his lover dr . robert joley ( tim daly ) , gay elementary school teacher george hanson ( paul rudd ) moves in and instantly becomes best friends with social worker nina borowski ( jennifer aniston ) . when nina discovers that she is pregnant by her less-than-reliable boyfriend lawyer vince mcbride ( john pankow ) , she asks george to be the child's acting father . his acceptance , not surprisingly , leads to some emotional complications for the both of them . more of a surprise is that these complications don't necessarily come dressed in laugh-ready packages . director nicholas hytner and writer wendy wasserstein , working from the novel by stephen mccauley , while frequently throwing in a comic zinger or situation or two , deal rather seriously with the relationship issues being raised . while this approach will certainly disappoint those looking for a lark like aniston's picture perfect , it was perhaps the best way to go . to go for cheap laughs would have been to cheapen the characters , in particular nina , whose ever-growing but hopeless love for george achieves true poignancy . adding to the poignancy is the terrific , natural chemistry between aniston and rudd ; even though one knows a romance is impossible , they are such a perfect screen match that one cannot help but develop a rooting interest for their coupledom . i just wish that the character of vince was better written . one minute he's a jerk , the next he's surprisingly gentle ; he doesn't quite make sense , and as such , nina's initial devotion to him doesn't quite either . on paper , the twist of sliding doors appears too high-concept for its own good . helen ( gwyneth paltrow , sporting the flawless british accent she adopted in emma ) , freshly fired from her job at a pr agency , rushes to catch the next train home . the doors on the train car close just as she reaches them . but wait--the film rewinds , and suddenly helen manages to squeeze her way into the train as the doors close . from here on out , sliding doors intercuts between the parallel tales of the two helens : helen " a , " who misses the train , and helen " b , " who makes the train . helen " b , " having made the train , arrives home in time to find her live-in boyfriend gerry ( john lynch ) in bed with sultry , slightly unhinged former flame lydia ( jeanne tripplehorn ) . in a tiff , helen leaves him , gets a makeover , and starts a relationship with james ( john hannah ) , a friendly scottish gent she met on the train . helen " a " not only misses the train ; she is also mugged , which makes her arrive home long after gerry and lydia's tryst , of which she remains not-so-blissfully unaware . in following the two helens , writer-director peter howitt shows how one simple , chance occurrence can alter the course of a person's life . or does he ? what makes sliding doors so unique and rather thought-provoking is how howitt holds true to the idea of chance while at the same time subscribing to that of destiny . the two stories are distinctly different , but howitt comes up with clever " intersections " between the plots , with certain touchstone events occurring in both stories ( albeit in slightly altered ways ) , believably showing how , no matter what happens , the hand of fate is inescapable . also inescapable is the type of person one is , and this is best exemplified by gerry , who is a cheating lout in both stories--which is the film's one problem . although he appears to have some genuine fondness for helen , he is on the whole an unappealing character , making the story of helen " a " less vibrant and involving than the " b " tale , which is highlighted by hannah's delightfully witty james . ultimately , however , the effectiveness of the object of my affection and sliding doors is not due to the gimmicks themselves but the filmmakers who use them with care , intelligence , and style . if it weren't for their talent and savvy , the two films could have easily fallen into the gimmicky romantic comedy scrap heap , an undistinguished group that includes the execrable likes of made in america and mrs . winterbourne . and for that , every moviegoer in the world owes a debt of gratitude . 
