HOPE FLOATS
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
RATING: ** OUT OF ****
United States, 1998 U.S. Release Date: 5/29/98 (wide) Running Length: 1:55 MPAA Classification: PG (Mature themes) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick Jr., Gena Rowlands, Mae Whitman,
Michael Pare, Cameron Finley
Director: Forest Whitaker
Producer: Linda Obst
Screenplay: Steven Rogers
Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel
Music: Dave Grusin
U.S. Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Have you ever felt that you should be sobbing uncontrollably during a movie, but can't find the motivation or energy to shed a single tear? That's the way it is with HOPE FLOATS, an insipid, stillborn drama that drags its viewers through a ghetto of despair before finally, unexpectedly plopping them down in the midst of a happy ending. This isn't just a tearjerker, it's an inept tearjerker, and only the most undiscriminating audience members will be suckered in by its obviously manipulative methods, which include the breakup of a marriage, tension between mothers and daughters, and a death that brings everyone together.
For my part, I sat dry-eyed through all 115 minutes of HOPE FLOATS, since its calculated, by-the-numbers methods of plot development failed to generate any kind of emotional response. But that's not the film's worst failing, because, beyond all the attempts to sell Kleenexes, HOPE FLOATS is boring. This is typical of a motion picture that favors stock melodramatic situations over genuine character-building moments. Despite the presence of a clear protagonist, it's hard to connect with anyone, because there's so little substance to grab onto. Throughout HOPE FLOATS, I found the situations to be predictable and the people to be lifeless.
The story centers around Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock), the one- time Corn Queen of Smithville, Texas, who, after marrying her high- school sweetheart, Bill (Michael Pare), moved to Chicago where she had a daughter, Bernice (Mae Whitman), and spent her days keeping house. One day, Birdee agrees to appear on the Toni Post Show, a TV talkshow in the Jerry Springer mold. There, in front of a national audience, Birdee's best friend tells the unsuspecting housewife that she has been having an affair with Bill and that the two of them love each other. Days later, Birdee leaves her husband, and, with Bernice in tow, returns to the small town where she grew up. She moves back in with her mother, Ramona (Gena Rowlands), and kindles a romance with Justin (Harry Connick Jr.), a one-time schoolmate who used to have a crush on her. During the course of the proceedings, we are treated to numerous cliches of the genre, including a depressed person who shows the depth of her despondency by walking around aimlessly in a downpour and an elderly lady who cures all of her granddaughter's woes with one wise bedtime story.
Despite the generic plot, HOPE FLOATS actually allows a few worthwhile ideas to bob to the surface, although it never does much with them. The first, and most prominent, is the concept that people who pursue what they love to do for a living often make so many compromises that they end up hating their career choice (this is why Justin gave up a lucrative job designing houses and now does it only as a hobby). Then there's the issue of how a person who changes to please someone else often loses himself or herself (and the things the other person loved about them) in the process. Had HOPE FLOATS paid more than token lip service to these story elements, the script might have offered something more memorable.
Sandra Bullock's stay on the A-list of actresses lasted about two years and four films. Following her disastrous cruise into money with SPEED 2, she has been largely forgotten about. HOPE FLOATS isn't likely to help her regain lost ground. As she already proved in Richard Attenborough's IN LOVE AND WAR, her dramatic range is limited, and it shows here, where she's required to play a drab, depressed woman who has lost all self-respect. To give her credit, Bullock is actually better in this role than I expected, but she's still miscast. Part of the problem is that her undisputed strength lies in a blend of light drama and comedy, but this overwrought production doesn't offer her much opportunity to play to that. To make matters worse, she isn't abetted by the supporting cast. Harry Connick Jr. may be pleasing to the eye and ear, but his emoting is wooden. Gena Rowlands, who has given countless memorable performances in past outings, is strangely muted. And young Mae Whitman is unappealingly strident.
Based on his admittedly-limited resume behind the camera, actor- turned-film maker Forest Whitaker seems to prefer this kinds of manipulative tale -- his directorial debut, 1995's surprise hit, WAITING TO EXHALE, displays many of the same traits. HOPE FLOATS is rambling, uneven, and inexcusably long for a motion picture that develops such a poor emotional connection with the lead character. After a while, the film, which offers an occasional worthwhile moment to keep it from becoming unwatchable, turns into something of an endurance contest. In the end, HOPE FLOATS sinks.
Copyright 1998 James Berardinelli
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@mail.cybernex.net
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