This is the first theatrical movie I've seen in a couple of months, mostly because football and television have been taking up my Sundays, the only day of the week I have to myself. There also aren't any movies that I really want to see out there currently. I haven't been in a movie-watching mood lately, and even "Serendipity" was not something I was raring to go see last Sunday.

Still, I did see it and it's a fine movie. Not exactly what I would consider a good romantic comedy, because I want a romantic comedy to be about the two people getting to know each other. You can't really do that with this movie because these two people spend most of the movie apart, searching for each other. But it is a romantic movie with a good amount of comedy and that is the traditional definition for romantic comedy.

We start out in New York, a few years ago, during the Christmas season. Jonathan and Sara are two people looking for the perfect gift for their then current significant others, and that gift just happens to be the last pair of winter gloves on sale at Bloomingdales. Jonathan, being the nice guy that he is, lets Sara have the gloves. In repayment, she buys him ice cream at Serendipity, an eatery and general store.

That's where we find out that Sara is really into destiny and fate -- coincides are not random things but really part of a master plan. So it's too bad that they both have relationships, probably a sign that their growing attraction is not meant to be at this time. Still, they coincidentally meet again a little later and when asked if she wants to "go do something" she quickly agrees.

It's a magical night ice skating and Sara starts believing that maybe this is meant to be after all. But she has to be sure, so she has Jonathan put his name and number on a five-dollar bill, which she immediately uses to pay for some gum. Then she tells Jonathan that she'll write her name and number on her copy of "Romance in the Age of Cholera", then she'll sell her book to a used book store somewhere in New York. Now, if they're fated for each other, one or the other will find their respective item. Then there's one more scene and they part, not knowing their full names yet.

Skip to today. Jonathan is going to be married in three days to the lovely Halley. But he's been seeing these signs you see, everywhere he goes someone is talking to Sara or singing about Sara or is named Sara. He's going out of his mind. Jonathan's best friend Dean has heard this before and reminds Jonathan that they spent months looking for "Romance in the Age of Cholera" without success. How are they supposed to find a woman when they only have her first name?

As destiny would have it, Halley has a bunch of old stuff of Jonathan's that she's set aside for Goodwill. In that pile is a Bloomingdales bag which still has one of the black gloves from that fateful night (Sara has the other glove). Jonathan decides to put it on and finds a receipt. A receipt with Sara's account number at Bloomingdales! Well, that sets off a series of events as Jonathan and Dean follow the clues to find out Sara's full name.

Meanwhile, Sara (living in San Francisco) is also going to be married, to musician Lars who proposed just then, although this marriage will be a few months from now. Still, she also has been reminded of Jonathan, especially now that she is going to be married. So she takes a break and brings her best friend Eve to New York for one last look around and maybe fate will step in again.

Then there's a good part of the movie dealing with their searches as they criss-cross each other and constantly just miss each other. Will the two ever meet again? And even if they do, what about Halley and Lars (Lars by the way, follows Sara to New York)? It's actually quite clever how all these elements and items keep popping up for each of the two and it's not tied together until the very end.

John Cusack plays Jonathan. I've said before that he doesn't seem right to me in romantic movies, and he still doesn't after watching "Serendipity". Kate Beckinsale, after being in "Pearl Harbor", once again has the lead actress role playing Sara. Jeremy Piven is very good as Dean, he's a good actor who has done a lot of roles. Molly Shannon plays Eve. I'm not a fan of her comedic characters, but luckily she wasn't playing a comedic role in this movie. John Corbett ("Chris in the Morning") plays Lars. Bridget Moynahan (the tough girl in "Coyote Ugly") plays Halley. Eugene Levy seems to always play the same type of character as in "American Pie". In this movie he's hilarious as the Bloomingdales' salesperson who helps out Jonathan.

In the final analysis, this is a good movie.