A REVIEW OF "MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE"
by Ryan Ellis
give me a buzz on the ol' e-lines, iluvmick@hotmail.com
Studio executives have one eye stuck on their profit summary and the other eye stuck on their calendar. With no small measure of coincidence, they release certain pictures at the time of holidays or observances. "Fathers' Day" was released around--get this!--Fathers' Day, "Independence Day" debutted on the July 4th weekend, and Christmas flicks come out in December. Therefore, it was fitting that "Message In A Bottle" swept into theatres on the Valentines' Day weekend. A romantic love story, this picture is for lovers to attend and hold hands and cry together and whatnot. BUT, don't call this a date movie--at least, a FIRST date movie. It's not really '99s version of "Sleepless In Seattle" or even "You've Got Mail". This piece of work is painful to watch. I wouldn't want to go to see this film on a first date (or even a second) with a woman I don't know that well. The funny moments are few and far between and they've set some kind of record for tears shed in one movie. However, don't take that for negative criticism--this is an old-fashioned, well acted love story co-starring one of the all-time greats, Paul Newman. And good ol' Paul would be worth watching in a tooth-pulling contest. While Newman is not the main focus of this movie, the two leads, Kevin Costner and Robin Wright Penn, certainly are. The actors must have found some sort of emotional bond when they were shooting this because while the script is mostly formulaic, their genuine feelings for each other look real. Call it good acting, but once the script calls for them to become smitten, they actually look like they're in love. This relationship is not hokey or off-putting. Luis Mandoki doesn't go for cheap laughs or unrealistic sentiment to draw his audience into the movie. So, it's difficult to stay detached from these attractive characters for long. The plot revolves around the proverbial message in a bottle. Divorced mother Theresa Osborne (Wright Penn) takes a short vacation on the New England coast. While jogging on the beach, she finds a bottle on the shore. She reads the enclosed letter and through her research job at the Chicago Tribune proceeds to track down the author of the note. Her editor (Robbie Coltrane) publishes the letter, which brings about hundreds of letters of input from readers. Theresa is already infatuated with whomever has written the heartbreaking letter and falls for him even more when, through her persistence (and with assistance from co-workers), finds that he has written other beautifully sad letters to his lost beloved. She discovers that the man lives in the Carolinas. Throwing good sense to the wind, she flies down to meet this man. Garret Blake (Costner) is the lonely boat-builder who lost his wife, Catherine, two years before. He has not dealt with the intense pain of her death and neither has her family. He feuds with them, particularly her brother, Johnny (John Savage), about who should keep her paintings and other precious things. Also, Garret lives with Dodge (Newman), his formerly alcoholic, yet caring, father. Theresa meets Garret and they begin a relationship almost immediately. Perhaps all this happens a little quickly, but the movie is only two hours long, after all! They fall in love, but he hasn't gotten over the loss of his wife. That's the premise of "Message In A Bottle". To give away much more would be to give away TOO much. While not a monumental romantic movie, this picture was nicely shot (with a tastefully done bedroom scene) and the actors are easy on the eyes. Wright Penn is beautiful and believable, Costner is deliberately aloof (yet likable anyway), and the legendary Newman is fine as the imperfect father. Costner and Newman make a great father-son team and they actually look alike. Wright Penn and Costner are well-cast (with that great chemistry) and they both show their emotions well. This film pulls no punches. It has few surprises. This is about dealing with intense pain and grief, letting go and moving on. While it's formulaic and the romance blossoms a little too perfectly, the acting is just right. Costner usually gets slammed for his self-indulgence and vanity, but he doesn't even appear until the 20-minute mark in this movie. Plus, this picture doesn't revolve around just him, anyway. It's wonderful to see the magnetic Robin Wright Penn (who picks projects carefully) and especially delightful to see Newman. As a three-part package, they're as honest as the movie they're in. So, bring along a couple boxes of tissues and watch '99s first good love story. Just be careful who you bring along. First dates beware, but lovers enjoy.
USELESS TRIVIA--Unrewarded? If (and it's a big if) Paul Newman receives an Oscar nomination for this supporting role, it would be only his 2nd nomination of the 90s and only his 5th in 20 years!
This film gets a 7/10.
THE RYAN RATING SYSTEM SAYS... 10/10--absolutely outstanding 9/10--excellent 8/10--pretty darn good 7/10--sure, go on and give it a peek 6/10--so-so; ye ol' recommendation point 5/10--not quite worth the dollars 4/10--only if you have a free pass 3/10--don't go, PLEASE don't go 2/10--avoid even if you DO have a free pass 1/10--"Showgirls" territory; truly crappy 0/10--bang your head off a wall instead
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