BOUNCE
by Lovell Mahan-Moutaw

Buddy (Ben Affleck) is in advertising. You get the clue real quickly that this wasn't exactly his childhood dream (he is that cliche of the "wanted to be a writer" ad man) but he's good at it. He's a salesman. He lives in LA - on the beach. He wears Armani. He drinks a lot.

He is stranded at O'Hare one night and in favor of bonking some traveling fundraiser, he hands off his plane ticket to Greg, a man who is now what Buddy possibly wanted to be, a writer (not exactly a screamingly successful one but not one who sold out) with pictures of his wife and kids in his pocket.

The plane goes down and Greg goes down with it. After this accident, Buddy's guilt takes his borderline alcoholism to another level. He hits bottom. After a stint in rehab, he comes out and faces a gay AA/NA assistant (the hilarious Johnny Galecki) at work who gives him some tough love. He checks out the twelve steps, one of which is going to those you hurt and making amends.

Buddy then decides to semi-stalk Abbie (Gwyneth Paltrow), wife of Greg and mother to Greg's children. He does her a good turn and thinks he can then be done with it. But she is attracted to him and he's attracted to her and with a little help from his AA/NA assistant, and a piece of toilet paper, they strike up a relationship. He does not tell her, however, who he is and why he came into her life. I guess if he did, this movie would be kind of boring.

As it is, the movie is anything but boring. It is nicely paced and has an unusual, well-told story. Strangely, since they were real-life lovers, Gwyn and Ben have no chemistry. Even so, they are both likeable and interesting, and you, as an audience member, want the best for them.

However, Ben, who is growing on me (I believe because he has a trainer and his shoulders are getting broader - I cannot imagine why else this would happen), is not a very good actor, or perhaps doesn't look like one in the face of Gwyneth's effortless performance. He has a cute grin and pulls off a difficult scene with more aplomb than the rest of his performance would lead you to believe he has. This role may have required too much from him emotionally. Maybe the Armageddon-type roles are more his style

As for Paltrow, she seems to inhabit Abbie in a way that makes you realize that Oscar wasn't really thrown away when she got it wearing that horrendous pink dress. She's an actress and her performance here proves it. She is fantastic as a grieving widow trying to put her life together. There is one caveat, and it is a big one - she didn't convince me she was a Mom. Anything that had to do with motherhood seemed unfamiliar to her and she was unconvincing in her portrayal of it. This seems like it should be a bigger problem, but it wasn't, as this wasn't about her as a mother but more as a romantic object of affection.

There were little touches that I appreciated. The quick character definitions (Abbie's saving the prom date-esque girl from embarrassment by pulling the toilet paper off her shoe - Buddy's quick and interesting conversation with Janice, the flight attendant) were wonderful. I love it when a writer (Don Roos, who also directs) can pull something off like that - give you an indication of just what this person is like in ten seconds or less - a look, a word, a conversation, an action, a glance and the reaction from the people around them. Abbie is anything but glamorous,
but she isn't dowdy either. She also isn't a victim, from the minute she finds out about her husband's death and throughout the movie. She is brave, and her pursuit of Buddy is refreshing. She is easily a character you can like and respect.

Overall, though, this movie is a hard sell. I recently broke up with my fiancé and I still have his cat. I like that cat but every time I look at her, she reminds me of him. It doesn't make me want to wring her neck, but I don't exactly want her around either. I can imagine that Buddy and Abbie have a much, much harder obstacle to face than an ex-boyfriend's cat, and I just cannot believe that any kind of love can overcome that.

And perhaps that is why this movie eventually fails for me. Ben Affleck is a good-looking but ultimately unconvincing actor and regardless if the script is well-written and Paltrow's performance well-executed, it is just too sad to provide any fulfillment in the end. Everyone involved in the picture tries so hard to make you believe that Abbie and Buddy would be happy in the end...but you just know they can't be.

After Greg died, Abbie's mother told her to just "bounce." I don't think this is what she meant.

Recipe for Fun: Charlie's Angels

Ingredients: One 70s TV Show that was adored by boys and girls and men and perhaps even some women, which has endured over the years to have a cult following and to be so mired in 70s nostalgia as to be hilarious and touching all at the same time. ("Oh, remember when Farrah...")

Two semi-popular-to-popular movie actresses.

One up-and-coming actress.

One proven comedic talent.

A pinch of John Forsythe's voice.

A whopping dose of a fucking great soundtrack

One director with practically nothing but MTV on his resume.

A healthy dash of the Matrix mentality.

Massive amounts of cleavage.

Stir together and then liberally pepper with humor and tongue-in-cheekedness throughout.

Charlie's Angels was a blast - from the silly to not-so-silly cars they drove to the silly to not-so-silly clothes they wore to the silly to not-so-silly fights they fought. This movie doesn't take itself seriously for an instant (except in keeping to the camp theme and using kick-ass music as often as possible).

I was completely charmed by the whole thing and laughed my butt off. I loved that the girls did most of their own stunts, and Bill Murray was hilarious.

I really hope this is some kind of franchise (I cannot believe I am saying this) because I'd like to see how the Angels were chosen and how Bosley fits in and I think they could take this a long way - my sister believes it could be Bond-esque (not surprising as it stole many Bond themes as well). Very fun.

CineScene, 2000