RETURN TO ME A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
As you sit watching Bonnie Hunt's adult fairy tale, RETURN TO ME, it's easy to convince yourself that this old-fashioned romance must be a remake of some 1940's movie. With its sweetly sappy scenes of love and courtship, it tells a delightful story that is a throwback to a simpler time at the cinema.
Then it hits you. This can't be remake of something that you saw decades ago because the kickoff point for the plot concerns a medical procedure (heart transplant) that hasn't been around very long.
Bob Rueland's (David Duchovny) wife, Elizabeth (Joely Richardson), dies in a car accident. She is a zoologist whose big ambition of building Sydney and her other apes a bigger habitat is finally about to come to fruition. After her death, Bob supervises the building of the habitat, but without Elizabeth he's terminally unhappy. His friends try, without much success, to fix him up with dates, including a disastrous one with a woman (Holly Wortell) who has a water obsession. She can only drink bottled water from certain countries.
Meanwhile, Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver), who was near death, is saved by an anonymous heart transplant donor (Elizabeth). This is where the magic in the plot comes in. When Bob first lays eyes on Grace, both smile and feel like they've met before. Even Sydney recognizes Grace. Hunt, however, is wise enough to downplay these incidents. Basically, Bob and Grace just fall in love slowly and naturally, which isn't easy given how hard their respective friends are trying to match them up with everyone they know.
Grace's best friend, Megan (Bonnie Hunt), and her husband, Joe (James Belushi), are always trying to arrange dates for Grace, who is extremely sensitive about the 10 inch scar on her chest from the operation. "I've already told him [Grace's latest blind date] that she's had some work done," Joe tells Megan. "She's not a Buick!" Megan admonishes Joe.
Filmed on location, the movie is a valentine to Chicago. From the intimate scenes set in the Irish-Italian restaurant of Grace's family to the sweeping skyscraper vistas, the city looks gorgeous and inviting.
A veritable senior citizen's home worth of older actors (Carroll O'Connor, Robert Loggia, Eddie Jones, William Bronder and Marianne Muellerleile) support these the 30something leads, Driver and Duchovny. The chemistry between the lovers is genuine and never rushed. The parts of the script that challenge the PG rating are the intensity of the early tragedy. Sex isn't part of the storyline.
It isn't until the last act that Grace and Bob realize the heart connection. The result of the discovery is predictable, but who cares. This heart-warming movie (pun intended) is an unabashedly sentimental love story, not a mystery.
RETURN TO ME runs 1:53. It is rated PG for language and thematic elements and would be fine for kids around 10 and up.
My son Jeffrey, almost 11, liked all of the movie except for the initial tragedy. Giving it ***, he said that he found the movie hilarious and that he especially liked seeing Carroll O'Connor.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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