Running time: 106 minutes
Starring: Ben Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tony Goldwyn, Alex D. Linz, David Dorfman, Natasha Henstridge, Johnny Galecki, Jennifer Grey
Rating 5 out of 10
One of the fundamental problems with any romantic film is overcoming the audience's assumption that the couple will inevitably end up together. It's never a question of if, just how. The trick is to come up with new and original ways of delaying the inevitable and Bounce has certainly done that. Unfortunately the device writer and director Don Roos has employed is one of the film's biggest problems. The whole relationship between high flying advertising executive Buddy Amaral (Affleck) and fledgling real estate agent Abby Janello (Paltrow) is founded on a lie arising from a tragedy; two elements that overshadow everything else.
Buddy gives up his seat on a packed flight to Greg Janello (Goldwyn), a man he befriends at the airport who's anxious to get home to his wife and two kids. Even this gesture wasn't completely altruistic on Buddy's part as he hoped to take a different type of 'flight' with Mimi (Henstridge), a girl he'd also just met. When the plane crashes, killing all those on board, Buddy seeks solace in the bottle while trying to overcome a crippling sense of guilt.
Finally, after emerging from rehab, Buddy seeks out the widow of the man who'd taken his seat. Instead of explaining who he is though, he goes through an elaborate charade of using her services to find new office space for his Venice, California-based company. For her part, Abby inexplicably claims to be divorced rather than a widow and then proceeds to regale Buddy with endless stories of how wonderful her ex-husband was, stories that would provoke most normal people into asking if he was so wonderful why did they ever get divorced. Inevitably their relationship develops beyond friendship with Buddy winning over her two children, all the while harbouring his guilty secret.
Roos, who was responsible for the engaging independent The Opposite Of Sex, deliberately set out to make a mainstream Hollywood film. Unfortunately he succeeded. Bounce lacks the bite of his previous film and is just too contrived with the plot getting in the way of what everybody had come to see: Affleck and Paltrow together. Instead of being able to enjoy the chemistry between the two, their time together is shrouded by the spectre of her late husband.
Some much welcome comic relief comes in the guise of Seth (Galecki), Buddy's gay assistant, but even this distraction is clichéd. Ultimately a romantic story succeeds or founders on the appeal of its central characters and with Buddy being depicted as an egocentric, womanising drunk, it makes it difficult to warm towards him despite Affleck's engaging smile. Ultimately there are no surprises and I already knew the ending before the opening credits rolled. I'd have settled for rooting for two lost souls in the hope they'd find love, but instead I found I'd lost interest. Overall, it wasn't so much bounce, more a dull thud.
Buddy gives up his seat on a packed flight to Greg Janello (Goldwyn), a man he befriends at the airport who's anxious to get home to his wife and two kids. Even this gesture wasn't completely altruistic on Buddy's part as he hoped to take a different type of 'flight' with Mimi (Henstridge), a girl he'd also just met. When the plane crashes, killing all those on board, Buddy seeks solace in the bottle while trying to overcome a crippling sense of guilt.
Finally, after emerging from rehab, Buddy seeks out the widow of the man who'd taken his seat. Instead of explaining who he is though, he goes through an elaborate charade of using her services to find new office space for his Venice, California-based company. For her part, Abby inexplicably claims to be divorced rather than a widow and then proceeds to regale Buddy with endless stories of how wonderful her ex-husband was, stories that would provoke most normal people into asking if he was so wonderful why did they ever get divorced. Inevitably their relationship develops beyond friendship with Buddy winning over her two children, all the while harbouring his guilty secret.
Roos, who was responsible for the engaging independent The Opposite Of Sex, deliberately set out to make a mainstream Hollywood film. Unfortunately he succeeded. Bounce lacks the bite of his previous film and is just too contrived with the plot getting in the way of what everybody had come to see: Affleck and Paltrow together. Instead of being able to enjoy the chemistry between the two, their time together is shrouded by the spectre of her late husband.
Some much welcome comic relief comes in the guise of Seth (Galecki), Buddy's gay assistant, but even this distraction is clichéd. Ultimately a romantic story succeeds or founders on the appeal of its central characters and with Buddy being depicted as an egocentric, womanising drunk, it makes it difficult to warm towards him despite Affleck's engaging smile. Ultimately there are no surprises and I already knew the ending before the opening credits rolled. I'd have settled for rooting for two lost souls in the hope they'd find love, but instead I found I'd lost interest. Overall, it wasn't so much bounce, more a dull thud.
