May 18, 2000 -- "Sliding Doors" (which was released in 1998) is similar to "Me, Myself and I" which came out last month. It is a fantasy which shows us what might have happened in a sort of alternate universe if a woman, Helen Quilley (played by Gwyneth Paltrow of "Shakespeare in Love") had gotten to those sliding doors a little quicker. The plot is also similar to another fantasy, "Peggy Sue Got Married."

Helen is having a very bad day. She gets to work to find she has been fired for no good reason. On her way back home, she misses the subway and takes a cab instead. She is mugged before getting into the cab and has to go to the hospital. Things are not working out at all. But we also see an alternate version of the same morning. One in which she does get to the subway on time.

In this universe, she meets a charming man on the subway, James Hammerton (played by John Hannah of "The Mummy"). When she gets home, she finds her boyfriend, Gerry (John Lynch of "Moll Flanders" having sex with Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn of "Micky Blue Eyes"). Humiliated, she leaves him and goes to live with a friend. She begins to see more of James Hammerton.

In the other universe, the one where she misses the subway and gets mugged, she doesn't find out until later about Gerry's infidelity. She takes up a series of jobs to keep Gerry in money (he's supposed to be writing a novel), but she gets suspicious and her life feels empty.

The question the film askes is, in which life is she happier and why? At first it seems she is happier not knowing, but after a while it appears she was better off finding out about Gerry sooner, rather than later. There always seems to be a tenuous thread that connects the two universes, too, which makes the story a little more interesting than it otherwise might be. Essentially, it is a soap opera, with hospital scenes, pregnencies, infidelities, secret marriages, car accidents and other standard setups.

One of the more interesting characters in the film is Gerry, who seems to be truly in love with Helen, but can't keep his hands off Lydia. He desperately tries to juggle the two women, while knowing he's not nearly smart enough to keep up the charade. There are some very funny scenes between him and a friend at a tavern in which his friend tells him exactly what he is doing wrong and why. He never listens, making his friend's keen observations all the funnier.

Helen, in the meantime, seems to deserve a lot better than Gerry. She thrives only when not around him. His love for her stifles her and his use of her as a source of money drains her of energy and creativity. James, on the other hand, supports her emotionally, enabling her to realize her potential. The movie, however, doesn't realize its full potential. It raises some interesting possibilities, but explores them only in a very limited way. The romances and relationships are pretty thin and the plot seems more haphazzard than character-driven.

While the direction by Peter Howitt ("In the Name of the Father") and the performances of the actors are adequate, the film as a whole did not seem to have much to say other than it is a lot better to be in love with a nice rich man than with a lying, cheating, lazy one. This film rates a C+.

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