Message in a Bottle (1999) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, Paul Newman and John Savage.
Theresa Osborne is a woman with a hole in her life. She is divorced and devotes her time between her job as a researcher at the Chicago Tribune and caring for her son, Jason.
But underneath this seemingly dependable, confident woman is an unfulfilled soul yearning for that special someone to help her reconnect.
Sounds like a romance novel, doesn't it?
Well, Message in a Bottle is a glossy love story, a star-studded date movie that's not as soapy as it sounds.
Strong performances, crisp directing and first-rate photography have meshed to create a compelling story, based on Nicholas Sparks' best-selling novel, that while a bit long at two hours and 15 minutes, maintains your involvement with the protagonists.
While jogging on the beach, Theresa finds a bottle containing a letter. Her soul reaches out to its author for his words are filled with pain and regret. The writer has lost his wife, his "true north" and his letter deals with his sorrow.
Theresa's boss publishes the letter, which leads to the discovery of a second and a third. Theresa makes it her mission to find the writer. Her sleuthing leads her to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and to sailboat builder Garret Blake (Kevin Costner).
She convinces the paper to send her to North Carolina, where she contrives to meet Garret.
Of course, a romance blooms. But Garret is still grieving for his lost Catherine. He finds it difficult to extinguish the past, even as his salty old dad, Dodge (Paul Newman), pushes him to get on with his life.
The two best aspects of Message in a Bottle are Newman's performance and the cinematography of the legendary Caleb Deschanel.
Newman's Dodge is an alcoholic who has given up the bottle. He limits himself to two beers a day. Newman adds heft and complexity to Dodge that surprasses what could have been a one-dimensional, cliched character.
The sequence is which he confronts Garret, who has brushed him off, telling him that what Garret does is none of his concern, is one of the strongest in the film. Newman shows the pain a child's errant word can cause.
Deschanel, whose credits include The Right Stuff, The Natural, The Black Stallion and Fly Away Home, is a master of bringing whatever environment he is filming into the audience's lap.
In Message in a Bottle, you feel the spray of the ocean, the power of the waves, as the wind captures the sails of Garret's boat.
As Garret, Costner is not afraid to show his character's vulnerability. In such films as Dancing With Wolves, JFK and even the dreadful Waterworld and The Postman, Costner has created larger-than-life characters. It is a relief to see him playing a regular guy with flaws and doubts.
The only quibble about his performance is that - on land - he seems too slow, too deliberate, as if he is allowing his grief to envelop him and debilitate his natural rhythm. At sea, Costner seems to allow his Garret to be freer, more spontaneous.
As Theresa, Robin Wright Penn is radiant and intelligent. She tries to hide her insecurities behind a carefree nonchalance about what is lacking in her life. This is an intimate story and director Luis Mandoki, best known for White Palace and When a Man Loves a Woman, intersperses the love story with many closeups, especially of Wright Penn's eyes.
Mandoki also is adept at using silence to forward the story, especially in a scene in which Costner's Garret and his feuding brother-in-law, Johnny (John Savage, in a small, but effective, role), resolve their differences.
Gerald DiPego's script is not perfect. Theresa's co-workers, for example, come across as types, cliches, rather than full-blown characters. This is too bad, since Theresa's best friend is portrayed by the titanic-talented Illeana Douglas. Wasting that great actress's gifts is a high crime.
Overall, though, Message in a Bottle is an entertaining outing. Your date may enter the theater with reluctance, but he may exit with a tear in his eye.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at cbloom@iquest.net
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