Bounce (2000)

What a great story. Wonder if this has actually happened in real life: man decides NOT to board a plane, gives a free ticket to a dad who desperatedly wants to go home on christmas eve and the plane crashes.Guilt. That is what drives Ben Affleck in this movie, being the guy who gave away his ticket to this dad at christmas eve, unknowingly signing his death ticket. Ben Affleck lives, the dad dies. Out of sheer guilt Ben Affleck tries to do good and secretly finds out who the widow is(Gwyneth Paltrow). He wants to ease his guilt by giving the widow a job that will give her a big salary, so she can provide for herself and her kids. Gwyneth Paltrow doesnt know that Ben Affleck was indirectly the cause of her husband's death. With the best intentions Ben Affleck is now secretly interferring in her life. Can Ben Affleck ease his guilt? Will the widow find out the real reason behinds Ben's help?This story could have easily become very sentimental, but it didnt. This story could easily have become unbelievable, but the dialogues and the script are true to life. Acting is magnificent. One of Affleck's and Paltrow's best roles in their entire carreer. Seen this gem many times now and it is here to stay. Sweet tragedy, really sweet. But as I said earlier what makes this movie so attractive and endearing is the true to life approachment of the story. It really COULD have happened the way it is portrayed here. And credibility is paramount when I truly wanna enjoy a movie. Ideal movie for anybody (family, date, loners) who just wants to get romantically swept away of their feet...

Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck) has just signed a big ad deal. He's flying out of Chicago back to LA, but gets delayed. He meets fellow passengers Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn) and Mimi Prager (Natasha Henstridge). Greg is a failing writer and he opts to be bumped for a couple of tickets and $200. Buddy tries to do him a favor by switching tickets while staying the night with Mimi. The plane crashes killing everybody on board. The airline gets Buddy to run feel-good ads and it wins a Clio. It crushes him and a drunken Buddy creates a fiasco at the awards. After rehab, he goes to check on Greg's widow Abby (Gwyneth Paltrow) as one of the 12 steps.First of all, this is hamstrung by a bad title. There is a really heart breaking story in this and it starts off well. However the romance just breaks the movie down to a lesser level. It tries very hard to romanticize this tragedy that it comes off as awkward. The two leads try to do a good job but they are off by a little bit. I'm not sure what most people think about the flirting. It mostly made me feel sad. And the awkward attempts at humor don't help either. This could have been a much better movie if it could have maintained its darker edge.

It's easy to see that this movie is a failure but it's hard to point out what it is that makes this movie a bad one. The movie is just too sloppy and not involving enough to say anything useful about it.The movie has a formulaic and predictable story but on top of that also picks a just totally bad approach of things. The story isn't really going anywhere and it basically picks all of the least interesting angels imaginable. The story never becomes emotional or in any way engaging. You won't care for any of the characters and you also overall just don't really care for anything else that's happening within this movie. A failure as a drama and as a romantic movie.It's incredible how this movie is written. It's as if they were thinking lets make an original movie with unoriginal ingredients. This of course doesn't work and causes the movie its story to be such a distant- and far from interesting one. You can say that the movie its problems start with its main source material already.I must say that Gwyneth Paltrow still gave her best efforts but it seems like a waste of energy to me. Most of the other actors don't seem at place within the genre. Its true that they aren't being helped though by the most realistic writing or best kind of dialog. Couldn't they just have said no this this movie?Just not really a movie worth watching, although also being far from the worst the genre has to offer.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

BOUNCE, in my opinion, is a heart-warming, hilarious, romantic, and touching romance. If you ask me, the way that Buddy (Ben Affleck) and Abby (Gwyneht Paltrow) met was pure magic. This was because fate intervened. Plus, it was love at first sight. Some people have said that this is one of the worst movies they've ever seen, but I strongly disagree. This is a great movie with terrific performances from very talented actors and actresses. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say, "This is a perfect movie to see with the one you love!" Now, in conclusion, to all you Ben Affleck or Gwyneth Paltrow fans that have not seen this heart-warming, hilarious, romantic, and touching romantic drama, I highly recommend it! When you see it, prepare to laugh and have a good time.