In 1876, Leopold Alexis Elijah Walker Gareth Thomas Mountbatten, Duke of Albany and future inventor of the elevator, is a stifled dreamer. Strict Uncle Millard (Paxton Whitehead) has no patience for Leopold's disrespect for the monarchy, chastising him and telling him he must marry a rich American, as the Mountbatten family finances are depleted. His uncle has told him that on his "thirtieth birthday he had become a blemish to the family name".
The Duke finds Stuart Besser (Liev Schreiber), an amateur physicist (and descendant of Leopold, according to deleted scenes) perusing his schematic diagrams and taking photographs of them. He had seen him earlier at Roebling's speech about the Brooklyn Bridge. Leopold follows Stuart and tries to save him from what he thinks is a suicide, falling after him into the portal that brought the man there in the first place.
Leopold awakens in 21st century New York. He is at first confused and thinks that he has been kidnapped. Stuart says that he has created formulae to forecast portals in the temporal universe and that Leopold must stay inside his apartment until the portal opens again a week later. As Stuart takes his dog out, he is injured by falling into the elevator shaft, and is eventually institutionalized for speaking about his scientific discovery.
Leopold is intrigued by the cynical and ambitious Kate McKay (Meg Ryan), Stuart's ex-girlfriend, who comes to the apartment for her Palm Pilot stylus. He observes that she is a "career woman" and that her field, market research, is a fine avocation for a woman and states that he once dated a librarian from Sussex. Kate dismisses him and demands that he take Stuart's dog for a walk. Leopold is overwhelmed to see that Roebling's bridge is still standing. Back at the apartment, he befriends Charlie (Breckin Meyer), Kate's brother and an actor between gigs, who believes him to be an actor as well, steadfast to his character.
Kate and Leopold become romantically involved, as they dine and tour New York.
When shooting begins on the commercial in which Leopold has agreed to act, he finds the product, diet margarine, disgusting. He cannot understand how Kate would have him endorse a flawed item without qualms, and declares that "when someone is involved in something entirely without merit, one withdraws". Echoing his uncle, Kate says that sometimes one has to do things they don't want to. He chides her about integrity. She retorts, "I don't have time for pious speeches from two hundred year old men who have not worked a day in their life". Their dalliance seems at an end.
Stuart escapes from the mental hospital, and while Kate is accepting her promotion at a company banquet, he and Charlie are racing to meet her. Moments before she goes on stage, they arrive and produce pictures from Stuart's camera that show her in 1876. Stuart says that he had thought he disrupted the spacetime continuum, but actually "the whole thing is a beautiful 4-D pretzel of kismetic inevitability".
Kate chooses a life with Leopold over her career, and the three of them escape to the Brooklyn Bridge. There, catching the portal before it closes, Kate vanishes into 1876 where Leopold is himself about to announce Miss Tree as his bride. As he opens his mouth to speak, he sees Kate and announces her name, Kate McKay, as his bride.
In the closing scene, they kiss and the camera is drawn outward showing a wall clock depicting 12:15.
The Duke finds Stuart Besser (Liev Schreiber), an amateur physicist (and descendant of Leopold, according to deleted scenes) perusing his schematic diagrams and taking photographs of them. He had seen him earlier at Roebling's speech about the Brooklyn Bridge. Leopold follows Stuart and tries to save him from what he thinks is a suicide, falling after him into the portal that brought the man there in the first place.
Leopold awakens in 21st century New York. He is at first confused and thinks that he has been kidnapped. Stuart says that he has created formulae to forecast portals in the temporal universe and that Leopold must stay inside his apartment until the portal opens again a week later. As Stuart takes his dog out, he is injured by falling into the elevator shaft, and is eventually institutionalized for speaking about his scientific discovery.
Leopold is intrigued by the cynical and ambitious Kate McKay (Meg Ryan), Stuart's ex-girlfriend, who comes to the apartment for her Palm Pilot stylus. He observes that she is a "career woman" and that her field, market research, is a fine avocation for a woman and states that he once dated a librarian from Sussex. Kate dismisses him and demands that he take Stuart's dog for a walk. Leopold is overwhelmed to see that Roebling's bridge is still standing. Back at the apartment, he befriends Charlie (Breckin Meyer), Kate's brother and an actor between gigs, who believes him to be an actor as well, steadfast to his character.
Kate and Leopold become romantically involved, as they dine and tour New York.
When shooting begins on the commercial in which Leopold has agreed to act, he finds the product, diet margarine, disgusting. He cannot understand how Kate would have him endorse a flawed item without qualms, and declares that "when someone is involved in something entirely without merit, one withdraws". Echoing his uncle, Kate says that sometimes one has to do things they don't want to. He chides her about integrity. She retorts, "I don't have time for pious speeches from two hundred year old men who have not worked a day in their life". Their dalliance seems at an end.
Stuart escapes from the mental hospital, and while Kate is accepting her promotion at a company banquet, he and Charlie are racing to meet her. Moments before she goes on stage, they arrive and produce pictures from Stuart's camera that show her in 1876. Stuart says that he had thought he disrupted the spacetime continuum, but actually "the whole thing is a beautiful 4-D pretzel of kismetic inevitability".
Kate chooses a life with Leopold over her career, and the three of them escape to the Brooklyn Bridge. There, catching the portal before it closes, Kate vanishes into 1876 where Leopold is himself about to announce Miss Tree as his bride. As he opens his mouth to speak, he sees Kate and announces her name, Kate McKay, as his bride.
In the closing scene, they kiss and the camera is drawn outward showing a wall clock depicting 12:15.
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Quotes from
Kate and Leopold
Roebling: Time.
Time, it has been proposed, is the fourth dimension. And yet, for mortal man,
time has no dimension at all. We are like horses with blinders, seeing only
what lies before us. Forever guessing the future and fabricating the past. How,
you ask, can we lift those shackles and live, not in the moment, but in the
glorious expanse of time’s continuum? Listen and I shall tell you. The secret
lies in the enduring power of our achievements, our creations.
Marriage is a promise of eternal
love. As a man of honor I cannot promise eternally what I have never felt
momentarily.
Leopold (to nearby sanitation
worker): That, my friend, is a miracle!
Sanitation Worker: What?
Leopold: It's a miracle, man!
Sanitation Worker: It's a bridge.
Sanitation Worker: What?
Leopold: It's a miracle, man!
Sanitation Worker: It's a bridge.
Leopold: Life is not solely
comprised of tasks but tastes.
Leopold: Where I come from, the meal is a result of reflection and study.
Leopold: Where I come from, the meal is a result of reflection and study.
Leopold (in TV commercial): Fresh
creamery butter. Is there anything more comforting? I say there is…
Leopold
(to Kate): You know it’s revolting, yet you have no qualms enlisting me to
endorse it?
Kate:
… What’s the problem?
Leopold:
The problem is that, for no reason beyond my affection for you, I find myself
peddling pond scum to an unsuspecting public.
Kate:
… Sometimes you have to do things you don’t like…. It’s a part of life.
Leopold:
You have every convenience, every comfort, yet no time for integrity.
Kate: … I've been paying
dues all of my life. And I'm tired, and I need a rest, and if I have to peddle
a little pond scum to get one, then so be it.
Kate:
Are you for real?
Leopold: I believe so.
Leopold: I believe so.
Kate: I don't want it to be Sunday. I
want more of this, more 1876.
Stuart: Maybe the reason I was your guy
was so I could help you find your guy.
Stuart: Theoretically, if you go to the past in the future, then your future lies in the past. This is a picture of you in the future - in the past.
Stuart: Theoretically, if you go to the past in the future, then your future lies in the past. This is a picture of you in the future - in the past.
Stuart: Finding a crack in time…it is no
more crazy then a dog finding a rainbow. Dogs are colorblind Gretchen, they
don’t see color. Just like we can’t see time, we can feel it. We can feel it
passing but we can’t see it, it’s just a blur. It’s like we are riding in a
supersonic train and the world is just
blowing by. But imagine if we could stop that train, Gretchen. Imagine if we
could stop that train get out, look around, and see time for what it really is.
A universe, a world, a thing as unimagineable as color to dog. And as real and
tangible as that chair you are sitting in. Now, if we could see that, I mean
really look at it, then maybe we could see the flaws as well as the form.
Stuart:
All this time I thought that I had pretzeled fate and that it had to be
untwisted, but what I had never considered is that the whole thing is a pretzel. A beautiful 4D pretzel of
kismetic inevitability. I was supposed to go back. He was supposed to come
forward, then he was supposed to go back again… then so was she.
Kate: It’s wonderful to get what you want. It’s really a great thing… unless what you
thought you wanted wasn’t really what you wanted because what you really want,
you couldn’t imagine or didn’t think it was possible. What if someone came
along who knew exactly what you wanted without even asking? They just knew,
like they could hear your heart beating or listen to your thoughts… and what if
they were sure of themselves and didn’t need to take a poll… and they loved
you, and you hestitated?... and I… I have to go.
Charlie: Don't you think it's time you told me who you are. I mean, don't get me wrong, doing the Duke thing with you 24/7 is a blast, but really. Who are you?
Leopold: That thing is a damned hazard!
Kate: It's just a toaster!
Leopold: Well, insertion of bread into that so-called toaster produces no toast at all, merely warm bread! Inserting the bread twice produces charcoal. So, clearly, to make proper toast it requires one and a half insertions, which is something for which the apparatus doesn't begin to allow! One assumes that when the General of Electric built it, he might have tried using it. One assumes the General might take pride in his creations instead of just foisting them on an unsuspecting public.
Kate: You know something? Nobody gives a rat's ass that you have to push the toast down twice. You know why? Because everybody pushes their toast down twice!
Leopold: Not where I come from.
Kate: Oh, right. Where you come from, toast is the result of reflection and study!
Leopold: Ah yes, you mock me. But perhaps one day when you've awoken from a pleasant slumber to the scent of a warm brioche smothered in marmalade and fresh creamery butter, you'll understand that life is not solely composed of tasks, but tastes.
Kate: [mesmerized] Say that again.
Kate: It's just a toaster!
Leopold: Well, insertion of bread into that so-called toaster produces no toast at all, merely warm bread! Inserting the bread twice produces charcoal. So, clearly, to make proper toast it requires one and a half insertions, which is something for which the apparatus doesn't begin to allow! One assumes that when the General of Electric built it, he might have tried using it. One assumes the General might take pride in his creations instead of just foisting them on an unsuspecting public.
Kate: You know something? Nobody gives a rat's ass that you have to push the toast down twice. You know why? Because everybody pushes their toast down twice!
Leopold: Not where I come from.
Kate: Oh, right. Where you come from, toast is the result of reflection and study!
Leopold: Ah yes, you mock me. But perhaps one day when you've awoken from a pleasant slumber to the scent of a warm brioche smothered in marmalade and fresh creamery butter, you'll understand that life is not solely composed of tasks, but tastes.
Kate: [mesmerized] Say that again.
Kate: I'm not very good with men.
Leopold: Perhaps you haven't found the right one.
Kate: Maybe. Or, uh... maybe that whole love thing is just a grown-up version of Santa Claus; just a myth we've been fed since childhood. So, we keep buying magazines, joining clubs, and doing therapy and watching movies with hit pop songs played over love montages all in a pathetic attempt to explain why our love Santa keeps getting caught in the chimney.
Leopold: Perhaps you haven't found the right one.
Kate: Maybe. Or, uh... maybe that whole love thing is just a grown-up version of Santa Claus; just a myth we've been fed since childhood. So, we keep buying magazines, joining clubs, and doing therapy and watching movies with hit pop songs played over love montages all in a pathetic attempt to explain why our love Santa keeps getting caught in the chimney.
Stuart: Theoretically, if you go to the past in the future, then your future lies in the past. This is a picture of you in the future - in the past.
Stuart: It is no more crazy than a dog finding a rainbow. Dogs are colourblind, Gretchen. They don't see colour. Just like we don't see time. We can feel it, we can feel it passing, but we can't see it. It's just like a blur. It's like we're riding in a supersonic train and the world is just blowing by, but imagine if we could stop that train, eh, Gretchen? Imagine if we could stop that train, get out, look around, and see time for what it really is? A universe, a world, a thing as unimaginable as colour to a dog, and as real, as tangible as that chair you're sitting in. Now if we could see it like that, really look at it, then maybe we could see the flaws as well as the form. And that's it; it's that simple. That's all I discovered. I'm just a... a guy who saw a crack in a chair that no one else could see. I'm that dog who saw a rainbow, only none of the other dogs believed me.
Gretchen: I believe you.
Gretchen: I believe you.
[Leopold and Charlie leave the club. Charlie is fuming because Leopold has enthralled Patrice, Charlie's love interest]
Charlie: And I would have gotten her number if you hadn't turned the evening into a guided tour of the Louvre!
Leopold: My apologies.
Charlie: Let's get one thing straight. Patrice, she thought you were cute - probably gay, and cute - and cute, Leo, that's just the kiss of death.
Leopold: Perhaps.
Charlie: Perhaps? Certainly!
Leopold: [produces a napkin] I believe this is her number.
[Charlie takes it from him in disbelief]
Leopold: As I see it, Patrice has not an inkling of your affections, and it's no wonder. You, Charles, are a merry-andrew.
Charlie: A what?
Leopold: Everything plays a farce to you. Women respond to sincerity. No-one wants to be romanced by a buffoon. Now, that number rings her.
Charlie: Yes?
Leopold: So ring her tomorrow.
Charlie: I can't. She gave the number to you.
Leopold: Only because I told her of your affections.
Charlie: [taken aback] Wha - what did you say?
Leopold: Merely that you admired her, but you were hesitant to make an overture, as you'd been told she was courting another.
Charlie: Shit... that's good! Well, what did she say?
Leopold: She handed me the napkin.
[Charlie rushes under a lit store window to read the napkin, and starts dialing his cell phone]
Leopold: Charles, it's quite late.
Charlie: No, no, she won't be home yet. I get her machine and leave a message, ball's in her court.
Leopold: You're ladling calculation upon comedy. The point is, to keep the ball in *your* court.
Charlie: [slaps his phone shut] You're right! You're right!
Charlie: And I would have gotten her number if you hadn't turned the evening into a guided tour of the Louvre!
Leopold: My apologies.
Charlie: Let's get one thing straight. Patrice, she thought you were cute - probably gay, and cute - and cute, Leo, that's just the kiss of death.
Leopold: Perhaps.
Charlie: Perhaps? Certainly!
Leopold: [produces a napkin] I believe this is her number.
[Charlie takes it from him in disbelief]
Leopold: As I see it, Patrice has not an inkling of your affections, and it's no wonder. You, Charles, are a merry-andrew.
Charlie: A what?
Leopold: Everything plays a farce to you. Women respond to sincerity. No-one wants to be romanced by a buffoon. Now, that number rings her.
Charlie: Yes?
Leopold: So ring her tomorrow.
Charlie: I can't. She gave the number to you.
Leopold: Only because I told her of your affections.
Charlie: [taken aback] Wha - what did you say?
Leopold: Merely that you admired her, but you were hesitant to make an overture, as you'd been told she was courting another.
Charlie: Shit... that's good! Well, what did she say?
Leopold: She handed me the napkin.
[Charlie rushes under a lit store window to read the napkin, and starts dialing his cell phone]
Leopold: Charles, it's quite late.
Charlie: No, no, she won't be home yet. I get her machine and leave a message, ball's in her court.
Leopold: You're ladling calculation upon comedy. The point is, to keep the ball in *your* court.
Charlie: [slaps his phone shut] You're right! You're right!
Charlie: You want to vex my sister!
Leopold: Some feel that to court a woman in one's employ is nothing more than a serpentine effort to transform a lady into a whore.
Leopold: I feel as though we've met on a previous occasion.
Kate: Well Lionel, seeing as how I've never met any of Stuart's friends, not even sure he has any, I don't think that's possible.
Kate: Well Lionel, seeing as how I've never met any of Stuart's friends, not even sure he has any, I don't think that's possible.
Roebling: Behold, rising before you, the greatest erection on the continent... the greatest erection of the age... the greatest erection on the planet!
Kate: People might think I'm brave, but I'm not.
Leopold: [quoting Thucydides] "The brave are simply those with the clearest vision of what is before them - glory and danger alike - and, notwithstanding, go out to meet it."
Leopold: [quoting Thucydides] "The brave are simply those with the clearest vision of what is before them - glory and danger alike - and, notwithstanding, go out to meet it."
Kate: And... it's a great thing to get what you want. It's a really good thing unless what you thought you wanted wasn't really what you wanted... because what you really wanted you couldn't imagine or you didn't think it was possible but what if someone came along who knew exactly what you wanted without asking they just knew... like they could hear your heart beating or listen to your thoughts and what if they were sure of themselves and they didn't have to take a poll and they loved you... but you hesitated and I... uh... I have to go... I'm sorry but... I have to go!
Leopold: You require a chaperone. His intentions are obvious.
Kate: I'm alone with you, do I need a chaperone?
Leopold: We are not courting, Kate. If we were, as a man of honour, I would have informed you of my intentions in writing.
[first lines]
Roebling: Time. Time, it has been proposed, is the fourth dimension. And yet, for mortal man, time has no dimension at all. We are like horses with blinders, seeing only what lies before us. Forever guessing the future and fabricating the past.
Roebling: Time. Time, it has been proposed, is the fourth dimension. And yet, for mortal man, time has no dimension at all. We are like horses with blinders, seeing only what lies before us. Forever guessing the future and fabricating the past.
[last lines]
Leopold: Well, let us proceed. Please raise your glasses so we may toast to my bride-to-be, the woman whose welfare and happiness shall be my solemn duty to maintain. The future Duchess of Albany...
[Kate catches his eye]
Leopold: Kate McKay. Of the McKays of...?
Kate: Massapequa.
Leopold: Massapequa.
[to his uncle's confusion, Leopold goes to Kate]
Kate: I love you.
Leopold: I love you.
Leopold: Well, let us proceed. Please raise your glasses so we may toast to my bride-to-be, the woman whose welfare and happiness shall be my solemn duty to maintain. The future Duchess of Albany...
[Kate catches his eye]
Leopold: Kate McKay. Of the McKays of...?
Kate: Massapequa.
Leopold: Massapequa.
[to his uncle's confusion, Leopold goes to Kate]
Kate: I love you.
Leopold: I love you.
Kate: Can you go away? Can you just go away? Can you go away?
Leopold: [Leopold writes an apology letter to Kate] Dearest Katherine... I behaved as an imbecile last night,I animated in part by drink, in part by your beauty,and in part by my own foolish pride and for that I am profoundly sorry. Please accept as a gesture of apology, a private dinner on the roof top tonight at 8 O'Clock .
Leopold: Where I come from the meal is the result of reflection and study. Menus are prepared in advance, timed to perfection. It is said that without the culinary arts, the crudeness of reality would be unbearable.
Kate: She was a real romantic, my mom. When, when Prince Charles and Lady Di got married, she had a party, she made crumpets and jam. It was like a Super Bowl party, but for moms. She cried for a week.
Leopold: I don't know the story of Prince Charles and Lady Di.
Kate: Oh, you don't want to. It's a cautionary tale, further proof.
Leopold: Of what?
Kate: You can't live a fairy tale.
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