This is a test screening of HOPE FLOATS an upcoming Sandra Bullock film. This is a VERY early screening. And is the opinion of a single person. What does that mean? Well, it means that it's a roughcut, probably a little long. It doesn't have the final music. And the process of film making is not yet over. This means... this is just one person's opinion in the midst of production. Don't form any opinions yet, this is the advance cry on this film, later on we'll see what others have to think. And then of course the ultimate opinion is your own. Personally I know they shot this film in a beautiful town outside of Austin here. And I'll be going to see it, just for a Hollywood picture of... well my own backyard. If anyone else had any opinions on HOPE FLOATS as it was screened, let me know!!!
North West here checking in after a screening of "Hope Floats" in El Segundo last night. Hope you can use something out of this:
This movie is the story of Birdee (Sandra Bullock), a young mother and former prom queen, who moves back to her small Texas hometown with her 10-year-old daughter after separating from her husband, the former quarterback (Michael Pare). The movie opens with Birdee's best friend Rosanna Arquette revealing to her on a national talk show that she's been sleeping with her husband. (No spoilers in my review, all this stuff happened in the first three minutes.) Gena Rowlands plays Birdee's mother, and there's all sorts of mother-daughter relationship issues explored.
This movie has good acting performances all around, especially by the daughter Bernice, and solid directing by Forest Whitaker, but the best way I can describe it is by what my friend asked me in the lobby afterwards: "At what point did you start hating this movie?" Half an hour for him, twenty minutes for me. The problem is the script. The story isn't going anywhere in particular, but it sure visits a lot of places on the way there. There were so many different aspects this movie touched upon but could have spent the whole movie exploring, like:
* how a newly-separated woman with no work background establishes a career
* how the former prom queen who alienated a lot of her classmates "heals" the high school wounds
* how she deals with her father who's in a nursing home
Every time you think this movie is developing a direction, it jumps to something else. This movie failed in the first reel contract, where it has ten minutes to establish itself to the audience. At first you're not sure if it wants to be a comedy or a drama or a romance, and you don't figure that out until about 2/3 through the movie. I'd say the romantic subplot was tacked on, but really everything in this movie was kind of thrown together. Usually you can figure out "this movie will end when the good guy beats the bad guy, or the hero overcomes a weakness, or the protagonist lets go of his pain," etc., but not here. The movie never develops a center.
Sandra Bullock: desperately needs a hit after three bombs in a row (Two If By Sea, In Love and War, Speed 2). I am glad that she's striving to do a serious character role, and although she's very good in this movie, she's no Jessica Lange or Meryl Streep. A couple times she drifts in and out of a Texas accent, but like Costner, she should just forget trying to do stuff like that. BTW, she looks absolutely gorgeous in this movie.
Harry Connick Jr.: he's good, seems like the character is very much like him in real life, laid back, good sense of humor, Texas attitude. The first scene with him and Bernice is absolutely hilarious.
Bottom line: movie's a stinker. Like a bad "Terms of Endearment" wannabe. I could go on and on, but there's no point. Oh yeah, the movie's a long two hours. Hope they cut some before the release.
After the movie I'm standing in the lobby, waiting for a couple friends, trying to see if Forest Whitaker's around, because I figure directors check out test screenings, and we see Sandra Bullock in the lobby. What can I say about her? Cute as can be, even when she's not all decked out. She had her hair pulled back, black framed glasses, a charcoal grey jacket, and black leggings. Homina homina homina...she's not a drop-dead gorgeous knockout, she's like the cutest sweetest girl in your town, but she was a couple years older than you, so you knew you'd never get close to her. No "movie star" airs about her. Just standing there, talking to people who were walking out of the theater. Seems like a real friendly woman.
I'll check in next week after the LW4 shooting.
Your faithful spy,
North West
