"Hearts" more rambling than random
Random Hearts A film review by Michael Redman Copyright 1999 by Michael Redman
** (out of ****)
Stress makes people do weird things. Major stress makes people do _really_ weird things. Suddenly solid ground disappears and they're swimming in an unknown ocean without the usual rulebook.
When their minds abruptly teleport them into their own personal "Twilight Zones", they don't have the usual patterns to fall back upon. Their worlds are filled with alien landscapes; their thoughts, bizarre assumptions. This is often the opportunity for psychological and spiritual growth. It's also occasionally the provocation to climb to the top of a tall building with a high-powered rifle.
There are many different ways of dealing with anxiety. Some people work through it. Some shut down. Others throw themselves into an obsession. Still others deny anything has happened.
And a few fall in love.
Washington D.C. internal affairs cop Dutch Van Den Broeck (Harrison Ford) has just received horrible news. His wife was killed in an airplane crash on her way to Miami. It gets even worse. She was flying their with her lover.
Dutch has to get to the bottom of this. Using his detective skills, he's determined to find out what was going on: why she was having an affair. He can't accept that there are no answers. The truth is it's not why, it just is.
He questions her co-workers, harasses the airlines and finally discovers her lover's identity. Then he shows up on the widow's doorstep.
Shocked Kay Chandler (Kristen Scott Thomas) is a congresswoman from a small town in New Hampshire and has chosen the denial method of coping with her grief. When she hears the news of her husband's death, she changes history. He told her he was going to New York, but she decides she heard wrong and he actually said "Miami". Dutch's tale of infidelity is obviously fiction.
When Dutch refuses to abandon his obsession and continues stalking his dead wife, his and Kay's paths cross repeatedly. She begins to soften towards him and a forbidden attraction develops.
What had the potential for a probing look at grief and how different people react to it, instead plods along sending the audience into thoughts of how uncomfortable the theater seats are. Instead of looking at the numbing effects of shock and stress, we experience the numbing effects of various body parts falling asleep.
The film's 130 minutes feels like days as the story moves at a snail's pace towards its inevitable conclusion. The first hour could have been edited to 15 minutes and lost nothing. There's so little that happens for such long periods of time the mind wanders to grocery lists and choirs that need to be done.
Although the acting skills for the most part are more than adequate, there's nothing special happening. Ford is almost always a delight to watch, but he doesn't put much into this role. Thomas is a little better, but never really breaks out of her ice princess character.
The chemistry between them is mostly negligible. The one scene that is an exception takes place in her car parked at the airport. The sudden and desperate groping in the front seat feels real and for a minute you think something's going to break through the barrier between them.
Their romance growing from grief is unusual, but not out of the realm of possibility. The problem is they are so detached it's difficult to believe.
The supporting actors fare better. Dutch's partner (Charles Dutton) and Kay's campaign worker (Bonnie Hunt) are much more interesting characters and add a little life. But not enough.
The police case and political campaign sub-plots look promising at first, but drift into nothing but filler for a film that doesn't need it. The time spent on these could have been used much more effectively on the real story.
Director Sidney Pollack has a history of admirable films, but this one doesn't add much to his resume. His acting role as the unfeeling media spin doctor is more impressive than his work behind the camera.
Life has enough tedium that there's no need to go to a movie for more of it. Skip this one and step outside for the last few warm days of autumn instead.
(Michael Redman has written this column for over 24 years and he'd like to think he has better things to do than sit in a dark room being bored. Email your non-boring comments to Redman@indepen.com.)
[This appeared in the 10/14/99 "Bloomington Independent", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at Redman@indepen.com]
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