Kate & Leopold is a 2001 American romantic-comedyfantasy film that tells a story of a physicist by the name of Stuart who accidentally pulls his great‑great‑grandfather, Leopold, through a time portal from 19th‑century New York to the present, where Leopold falls in mutual love with Stuart's ex‑girlfriend, Kate.
Plot
On 28 April 1876, Leopold, His Grace the 3rd Duke of Albany, is a stifled dreamer. He has created a design for a primitive elevator, and has built a small model of this device. His strict Uncle Millard has no patience for what he sees as Leopold's frivolous interest in the sciences and new inventions, having brought him to New York City in order to marry a wealthy American heiress, as the Mountbatten family is heavily indebted. While sketching the Brooklyn Bridge during a public meeting dedicated to the completion of its Manhattan tower, Leopold notices Stuart Besser taking photographs with an anachronistically small camera. Stuart is an amateur physicist from 21st‑century New York who has discovered the existence of gravitational time portals. Later, Leopold catches Stuart in the Duke's study, photographing his schematic diagrams. When Stuart attempts to flee, Leopold follows and tries to save him from falling off the unfinished bridge, only to fall with him into the time portal. Leopold awakens on a Wednesday morning in the year 2001 in Stuart's apartment at 88 White Street, Manhattan. Stuart explains that the portal they have travelled through has closed, but will reopen on the next Monday, until which time Leopold should stay in Stuart's apartment. As Stuart takes his dog out, he is injured by falling into the empty elevator shaft, and, after ranting about his scientific discovery in the hospital, is involuntarily committed to a mental institution. According to Stuart's concept, Leopold's unintentional time travel to the 21st century has caused a widespread "occlusion" of elevators, and may cause the disappearance of Stuart himself if Leopold doesn't go back on Monday. Leopold is intrigued by the cynical and ambitious Kate McKay, Stuart's ex-girlfriend who lives downstairs. He observes that she is a "career woman" and that her field, market research, is a fine avocation for a woman. Kate dismisses him and demands that he take Stuart's dog for a walk. Back at the apartment, he befriends Charlie, Kate's brother and an aspiring actor, who believes him to be an actor as well, steadfast to his character. On Thursday morning, Kate becomes impressed by Leopold's eloquent exposition of how important the tastiness of food is to the quality of human life. She takes him to an audition for a TV commercial pitching a fat-free butter, Farmer's Bounty, produced by the British company Jansen Foods, which is being taken over by Kate's company, Camden Research Group. On Friday, Leopold hires a violinist and invites Kate to a rooftop dinner, which ends with a waltz and the first kiss. They become romantically entangled and spend Saturday touring New York. In the evening, he tries to propose to her, but she falls asleep on his lap. On Monday, Leopold acts in a Farmer's Bounty commercial, but walks off the set upon finding the diet margarine disgusting. Leopold chastises Kate about integrity, to which she counters that he lacks connection with reality. Realizing that their time together is nearly over, both spend the evening in subdued contemplation. On Tuesday morning, Stuart escapes from the asylum and sends Leopold to his own time, which makes the elevators work again. Charlie notices Kate in a photo taken at Leopold's ball on 28 April 1876, and shows the photo to Stuart, who realizes that Kate's future is in the past. That night, when Kate is about to accept her promotion at the merger banquet, Stuart and Charlie tell her that she has to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge within the next 23 minutes. Kate rejects their suggestion as absurd and goes to give her acceptance speech, during which she sees herself, wearing the same evening dress, in one of Stuart's pictures. She abruptly ends the speech, and the three of them rush to the bridge. Having made it through the portal, Kate appears in 1876. Just when Leopold is about to announce his bride of convenience, Kate storms into the ballroom, and he instead announces her name, styled as "Kate McKay, of the McKays of Massapequa". Among the shocked guests, Kate and Leopold reunite with a kiss and dance a bridal waltz. Thus Kate turns out to be Stuart's great‑great‑grandmother.
Cast
Alternative versions
The DVD edition contains two versions of the film: one, the original theatrical release, runs for 118 minutes while the director's cut version runs for 122. One scene in the director's cut shows Ryan's character in a test screening for a new film and also features a cameo by Mangold. An additional scene stresses the Duke's ancestry of Stuart, suggesting that Kate may be related to her ex-boyfriend.
Film score
The soundtrack to Kate & Leopold was released on December 25, 2001.
Reception
Kate & Leopold received mixed reviews from critics, as the film holds a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 126 reviews with the consensus: "Though Hugh Jackman charms, Kate & Leopold is bland and predictable, and the time travel scenario lacks logic." Metacritic gave film a score of 44 based on 27 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
