Jami Bernard
Gary Dretzka
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Doug Pratt
Ray Pride
Stu VanAirsdale
..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..David
Poland
..Ray
Pride
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Splat!
My memory of the previous screen adaptation of Elmore Leonard's The Big Bounce has blurred considerably since its release in 1970. It was Ryan O'Neill's follow up to Love Story and featured the stunning Leigh Taylor-Young in a grim, sober murder plot. Three decades later, it's been reconceived as a lively, inane character crime comedy and re-located to Oahu from the American mid-west. While the result is considerably more watchable, the film ambles aimlessly, unrelieved by smart aleck dialogue, spectacular scenery and colorful miscreants.
The broad strokes are that petty criminal Jack Ryan (Owen Wilson) - no relation to Tom Clancy - has grifted to the Big Island and run afoul of local developer Ray Ritchie (Gary Sinese) who wants him off the island. But Ryan's moxie has earned him an ally in Walter Crewes (Morgan Freeman), a district judge, Ritchie adversary and small time entrepreneur. Crewes hires him to manage his guest bungalows and Jack becomes smitten with Ritchie's larcenous girlfriend Nancy Hayes (Sara Foster). That's the surface story anyway.
The dilemma in adapting Leonard's novel begins with tipping the audience that what lies beneath is considerably more sinister. With the exception of Ritchie, every principle character wants to exploit Ryan's foibles for their own gain. He's the patsy and that's a problem when you cast Wilson and give him funny lines that only someone who can't be duped would mouth.
So, the venality residing below is never properly addressed and for most of the film's running time, nothing relating to plot is allowed to intrude. Mostly it's about cute exchanges and gags and in the absence of story, the charm evaporates after about 20 minutes. And to remind us of the wafer thin quality, there are periodic cutaways to spectacular surfing footage and a goodly number of beauty shots that exploit the island's natural splendor. When there's finally no option but to punt or run, the convolutions come at such a fast and furious pace, that the fun of it all is squandered.
Wilson reminds me of Charles Grodin, an ingenious personality better employed as foil than leading man. However, once made the focus of the piece, his quirky demeanor is impossible to sustain even among a stellar rogue's gallery that includes Freeman, Sinise, Willie Nelson and Harry Dean Stanton. It's the sort of territory John Huston milked effectively in Beat the Devil and Robert Altman lampooned in The Long Goodbye. And though director George Armitage would seem a natural for this sort of shaggy dog story given such past credits as Miami Blues and Grosse Point Blank, he remains someone that is only as good as his script and Sebastian Guiterrez's adaptation is banal and misconceived.
A Warner Bros. release of a Material Films production. Produced by Steve Bing, Jorge Saralegui. Director, George Armitage. Screenplay, Sebastian Guiterrez, based upon the novel by Elmore Leonard. Camera, Jeffrey Kimball. Editor, Brian Berdan, Barry Malkin. Music, George Clinton. Production design, Stephen Altman. Costumes, Betsy Cox.
Owen Wilson (Jack Ryan), Morgan Freeman (Walter Crewes), Sara Foster (Nancy Hayes), Gary Sinise (Ray Ritchie), Charlie Sheen (Bob Rogers).
|
The
Big Bounce |
Release
Date: January 20, 2004
Rated: PG-13
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Owen Wilson, Morgan Freeman, Sara Foster,
Gary Sinise,
Bebe Neuwirth
Produced by: Steve Bing,
George Armitage, Jorge Saralegui
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Distributor:
Warner Bros.
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Review Date: January 30, 2004
