Film Review: Bounce (2000)
“No good deed goes unpunished” is popular saying that describes situations like the one that puts in motion plot of Bounce, 2000 romantic drama written and directed by Don Roos. Shortly before Christmas at Chicago O’Hare Airport bad disrupts air traffic and leaves plenty of passengers stranded. One of the few passengers whose flight isn’t cancelled is successful advertising executive Buddy Amaral (played by Ben Affleck). While drinking at bar he meets television executive Greg Janello (played by Tony Goldwyn) whose flight was cancelled and who laments over not being able to spend Christmas with his family. Partly due to his kind heart and partly as an excuse to stay in Chicago and spend the night with attractive Mimi Prager (played by Natasha Henstridge), Buddy decides to switch tickets with Greg. This good deed turns into nightmare when Greg’s plane crashes killing every passenger onboard, including Greg. Buddy is so troubled with the feeling of guilt that he turns to drinking which would lead to attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Determined to make amends, he decides to financially assist Abby (played by Gwyneth Paltrow), Greg’s attractive widow who is now forced to make ends meet as real estate agent. Buddy helps her secure lucrative deal, becomes her friend and inevitably romance starts to blossom between the two. But he fails to mention that he knew her husband and played role in his demise, and this is the terrible secret that is threatening their happiness.
Bounce gained some publicity due to its main stars – Affleck and Paltrow – having romantic relationship in real life. And that publicity was indeed needed, because Bounce wouldn’t be that interesting on its own merit. Don Roos, writer and director who few years earlier caught attention with slightly unconventional romantic comedy The Opposite of Sex here succumbs to all the most annoying Hollywod cliches. The cause of the film wasn’t helped by Miramax and its advertising campaign, which had advertised Bounce as “dramedy”, a word that is usually used as an excuse for comedies whose authors lost sense of humour. The film indeed lacks humour and instead is drenched in cheap melodrama and corniness. While Paltrow at least tries to convincingly portray grief-stricken single mother, Affleck is irritatingly bland. All the hopes for Bounce are destroyed near the end, with pathetic courtroom scene which looks terrible in comparisons with other such scenes in recent Hollywood films. Miramax, studio that in 1990s used to be champion of low budget independent cinema, here, like Roos, succumbed to all the worst things associated with Hollywood mainstream.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
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