Return To Me (7/10)
Thank goodness for Return To Me. My mother came to visit and this was the only film showing on any of the sixty screens in Bristol that I thought my mother would enjoy. The film choice is restricted to avoid anything remotely scary or exciting, as she's easily overwhelmed by a big screen and a good sound system - I thought she was going to pass out during the trailer for The Perfect Storm.
On reading the review in Empire magazine, I discovered that Return To Me concerns a widowed man who falls for a young woman without realising that she's the recipient of his dead wife's heart. My eyes rolled. Sheesh... give me break... there must be something else I can take her to see. Gladiator? U-571? Final Destination? Hmmm... maybe this heart thing doesn't sound so bad... actually it's not at all far-fetched... it could happen...
The guy - Bob (David Duchovny) and the girl - Grace (Minnie Driver) are perfectly sweet and nice, as is virtually everyone in this film, and even the bad stuff that happens to the characters is only there so they can come out the other side even sweeter and nicer. Grace lives with her father (Carroll O'Connor) and works in his restaurant. She also hangs around with his gang of elderly friends, and much of the warmth and humour in the film comes from the loveable old folk trying to help romance blossom between Bob and Grace. (Did I mention that these good- naturedly meddling senior citizens are very sweet? And nice?)
In Return To Me, director and co-writer Bonnie Hunt (who also appears in the film as Grace's friend) has produced an unashamedly old-fashioned weepy romantic comedy, and Duchovny and Driver are appealing enough to just about pull off this unfeasible confection. It pushes the right buttons, but occasionally the button-pushing is just a bit too obvious. The film is also let down its bland cinematography - a point only worth mentioning because the film was shot by the usually-reliable veteran lensman Laszlo Kovacs.
Despite a lack of publicity for the film, it attracted a good crowd, so such lightweight feel-good movies seem to have a sizeable audience who are not currently being well served. (If anyone wants to fly me or my mother out to Hollywood for consultancy services, they can e-mail me.)