Movie Review: BOUNCE (2000)
Bounce (2000)–***
Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck) thought he had it all. He just brought a big client into his ad agency, and he could get any woman he wanted. His life seemed to be getting better every minute. While waiting for his flight in an airport bar, Buddy meets a writer named Greg (Tony Goldwyn). Greg had just learned he wasn’t going to make it home in time for one his son’s Cub Scout events. Buddy, still high on life, decides to give his ticket to Greg so he can make it home. However, the plane that Greg boards crashes. Buddy begins to drink heavily and slip into depression as he grieves over killing a man with a family.
After Buddy makes it through a rehab, he decides to start the Twelve Steps. First up is receiving forgiveness from Greg’s family. When he meets Greg’s wife, Abby (Gwyneth Paltrow), he doesn’t get forgiveness. Instead he falls in love.
Bounce is an attractive and delightful romance. The trading tickets idea had the potential for being as hokey as the heart transplant plot in Return to Me, but was overshadowed by a brilliantly scribed movie. Ben Affleck gives his best performance to date. His struggle with alcoholism and depression, along with his desperation for closure, are perfectly executed. Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t in best form, but her performance as a struggling widow was notable. When it came to comic relief, Johnny Galecki, who played Buddy’s assistant, was a great break from the sometimes over sentimentality of the film.
Affleck and Paltrow, not surprisingly make the perfect duo. Their prior off-screen relationship may have fueled their dazzling onscreen chemistry. Even through the intelligent dialogue, spectacular chemistry, and overall excellent acting, the movie get some of the wind knocked out of it with an anticlimactic ending.
Bounce is certainly a worthwhile break from the normality of everyday life, but may leave you hanging in the end.
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