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Hope Floats | Year: 1998 Classification: Drama Directed: - Forest Whitaker Actors/Actresses: - Forest Whitacker - Rosanna Arquette - Sandra Bullock - Harry Connick Jr. Good movie, great soundtrack If there was ever a movie that I really wanted to hate, this was it. A friend whose taste is usually horrible recommended it, and it co-starred a guy a chauffeur friend of mine told me was arrogant and obnoxious. The trailers made it clear that it was going to be hopelessly smarmy. I anxiously awaited its debut on HBO so I could tear it apart, but I really liked it -- Sandra Bullock and Connick have chemistry, and the performance of the boy who plays Travis is touching. There are some slow (boring) scenes scattered throughout, but there are also some real gems --one of the scenes with Birdee and her alzheimers-stricken father, and the chat between Travis and Justin (Connick) after a funeral. There were some others, but I don't want to spoil them. Smithville, Texas is a charming town (visit it sometime if you're in the area) and some of the photography in Hope Floats really captures that. I was disappointed with the role of Bullock's daughter (the way she treated her mother and worshipped her father made no sense), but overall I still enjoyed the movie. I also loved the soundtrack, which is saying a lot since it was mostly country and I generally hate country music. SANDRA BULLOCK CHARMS...HARRY CONNICK, JR. SIZZLES... Forest Whitaker's directorial efforts pay off, as he presents the viewer with a solid, though predictable, romance. The ever charming and coltish Sandra Bullock gives a strong performance as Birdie Pruitt, who has just found out on national television that her husband Bill is having an affair with her erstwhile best friend, Connie. Shocked, she is left to cope with this very public betrayal. Birdie takes their daughter, Bernice, and leaves her husband, returning to her small town roots in Smithville, Texas, where her mom, an eccentric but lovely lady, wonderfully played by Gena Rowlands, still lives. As a teenager, Birdie had been a big fish in a small pond, a popular high school cheerleader who had ended up marrying the high school star quarterback, Queen of Corn three years running, and the envy of most of the young women with whom she grew up. She now finds herself returning home with her tail between her legs, her fairy tale life having taken a decided nosedive. While home, some of those who remember her manage to get their digs in. One person, however, a sensitive and sensual good ol' boy, Justin Matisse, played to sexy perfection by Harry Connick, Jr., remembers her with fond affection, as he has loved her since they were in high school. He is there, just waiting to pick up the pieces. My cup runneth over Mae Whitman plays the adorable, if not bratty, daughter in this, Bernice. If you happen to come across a recent photo of her, my, hasn't she grown up? Yet again, Sandra Bullock exectutive produces, and stars in, a film that she's done a million times over. She's got herself into a rut with the kind of roles she can play, and nothing can save her now. She's teamed up with yet another hunky man, this time Harry Connick Jnr, and although they hardly spend any 'quality' time together in the movie, there is one great scene where they dance together. I hope soon that Sandra Bullock will shock us all with a role in a movie that isn't something she normally does. She's approaching 40 now, and should be expanding her horizons, so she can stay in the movie business once her pretty looks have gone. But nope, she churns out film after film, swapping guys and trying to make out she's still as popular. I'm holding out for the Miss Congeniality sequel - still one of my all time favourite films starring her. Don't get me wrong, I love her films. The only one that's surprised me was Murder By Numbers, and that's probably cos I still can't understand it to this day. But if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Still a good film though, with Kathy Najimy playing the role of Toni Post, the Ricki Lake style chatshow host at the very start of the film. Mae Whitman is terrific in this, and hopefully, she'll appear in loads more movies, now she's getting a bit older, and has got rid of those horrid glasses. Buy Hope Floats at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Hope Floats Search with the Priority Search Engine on Hope Floats This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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