REVIEW: Hope Floats By Luke Buckmaster (bucky@alphalink.com.au)
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick Jr., Gena Rowlands, Mae Whitman, Michael Pare, Cameron Finley Director: Forest Whitaker Screenplay: Steven Rogers Australian distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Australian theatrical release date: October 8, 1998
>From 0 stars (bomb), to 5 stars (a masterpiece): 1 and a half stars
I'll admit my prejudice against modern dramas the day that Sandra Bullock chooses a decent role. I'll tell you about hundreds of these awful films that have come and gone, the minute I block them out of my memory. And I'll write a write a better screenplay than that of Hope Floats the second someone puts pen and paper in my hands.
As if A Thousand Acres and How Stella Got Her Groove Back weren't bad enough, here is yet another film which tries to please everyone, and ultimately pleases very few. The screenplay by Steven Rogers is harmless and innocent - and has good intentions - but is far too harmless, and far too innocent. At its worst, it is so afraid to insult anyone that it ended up insulting me for sitting through it.
On a national TV talk show, Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock) is humiliated when her best friend reveals that she is having an affair with Birdee's husband. Birdee runs away from her problems with her young daughter Bernice (Mae Whitman), and starts over in the town where she grew up, located somewhere in Texas. There she lands a job at the local photo development shop, and awkwardly reunites with an old flame (Harry Connick Jr.).
Sandra Bullock's last three films are proof that she is terrible at choosing her roles - In Love and War, Two if by Sea and Speed 2: Cruise Control were all box office flops. Now with Hope Floats added to the list of disasters, this promising young actress is definitely having a hard time lifting her feet off the ground. As for Harry Connick Jr., well, he looks a little out of place in a sissy film, as he has previously left a vivid mark from Independence Day and Copycat.
At the risk of labeling Hope Floats as simply a "chick flick," lets just say that only a small crowd would like it. Whatever opportunity the film has to jump into an engaging moment is avoided - sometimes narrowly - but avoided none the less. Give me pen and paper any day.
Email bucky@alphalink.com.au to subscribe to my newsletter (unless, of course, you already have) or lukebuckmaster@hotmail.com.for any inquiries or feedback
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews