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Summary: "Bounce" is an emotionally gratifying
romantic drama. It stars Ben Affleck as an advertising executive who offers his airline
ticket to another man who he befriended moments before in an airport bar so that the man can
return home early to his family. But when that flight crashes, Ben Affleck's
character, Buddy, feels incredible guilt and goes into an uncontrolled
tailspin. Nearly a year later, when Buddy looks up the man's widow to see
how the family is doing, he unexpectedly falls in love with her. Though the
theme is remotely familiar to that of "Random Hearts", this film holds its own
and is a wonderful romantic drama.
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The Story
Ben Affleck is Buddy Amaral, a successful advertising
executive who just landed a big account with Infinity Airlines. Gloating
from the success of his new deal, he heads to Chicago O'Hare international
airport and waits for
his flight home to Los Angeles. While he waits, he befriends Greg Janello
(Tony Goldwyn). Greg is a playwright who has had limited success, but has
a wife and two sons in Los Angeles for which he is anxious to return home
after a long business trip. With weather delays making everyone anxious
and shutting down flights, Buddy voluntarily offers Greg his ticket home
on the next flight, the last flight of the evening. The next morning,
Buddy wakes up to realize that the flight Greg was on had crashed in
Kansas with no survivors. Buddy feels incredible guilt and goes into a
tailspin as his drinking habit goes out of control.
Nearly a year later, Buddy bounces back from his
alcoholism and returns to work. Still feeling the guilt, he seeks out
Greg's widow, Abby Janello (Gwyneth Paltrow), to see how the family is
doing. Without identifying himself as someone who knew Greg, Ben tries to
help Abby by giving her the opportunity to serve as the real estate agent
for his advertising company's purchase of a new facility. Though his
intention was to look out for the interest of Greg's family, their
relationship unexpectedly grows into something more. Will Buddy explain
himself to Abby before she somehow finds out on her own? A-ah, I'm not
telling. But you can probably guess...
Though the plot is rather predictable,
"Bounce" is a very touching romantic drama. So be sure to have
plenty of tissues on hand, as Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck give very
convincing performances. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised with Ben
Affleck's performance in his leading role in this romantic drama. If you're
looking for a nice, emotionally gratifying romantic film, "Bounce"
could be your ticket.
The Extras
"Bounce" is featured as an "exclusive two-disc
set". The first disc contains the feature film and:
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an audio commentary with
director Don Roos and producer Bobby Cohen
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sneak peaks theatrical
trailers for "Emma", "The Pallbearer",
"Shakespeare in Love", "Music of the Heart", "Boys
and Girls", "The Crew", and "Unbreakable"
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a
"Miramax Movies to Remember" promotional featurette of Miramax
movie titles: just some self-promotional hype, no added value here.
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a "Bounce" soundtrack promotional spot:
ditto.
On the second disc are the following bonus features:
-
deleted
scenes with commentary: there's a few good scenes here, but nothing that
should have been included in the theatrical cut.
-
a gag reel (i.e., bloopers): it's OK - not that funny.
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"Need To Be Next
To You" music video
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"Ben and Gwyneth go behind the scenes"
featurette: this is a very personal look at various members of the crew
as interviewed by Gwyneth and Ben. The different cast members talk
about their roles, making it quite educational if you're interested in
how a movie is made. I quite enjoyed this feature for its
educational and entertainment value.
-
additional scene-specific commentary with director Don Roos
and Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow: their personalities really shine
through in these team commentaries.
It's quite a good package of bonus material.
Video & Audio
The image quality of this anamorphic
widescreen DVD is excellent. The colors are accurate and
saturated, while shadow detail is very good. Overall, the video
transfer is top notch. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack is well balanced and quite effective,
particularly with the wonderful musical score. The dialogue comes
across crystal clear.
Conclusion
If you enjoy romantic dramas, don't pass up on
this film. Get yourself plenty of tissues and settle in for an
evening with a great film.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES
STR-V444ES A/V receiver, NHT 2.1 as left/right main speakers, NHT 1.1C center channel speaker, NHT
SuperZero as surround speakers, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable XP speaker
wires, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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