The Big Bounce Review
The Big Bounce is passable entertainment, but it never lives up to its promise. George_Armitage, who nailed Charles_Willeford's down-and-dirty sardonic tone in the woefully underseen Miami_Blues and found the right mood for the tricky screenplay of Grosse_Point_Blank, would seem to have a feel for this kind of darkly comic material, supplied by the redoubtable Elmore_Leonard (and adapted by screenwriter Sebastian_Gutierrez). The cast is impressive, with amiable goofball leading man Owen_Wilson providing quirky energy and newcomer Sara_Foster surprisingly effective as the surfer-girl femme fatale (though this is a softer version of the character in Leonard's novel). The scenery is plenty lush, but the film's narrative drive seems to get lost in the Hawaiian surf. The plot is weak by caper standards, and a strong supporting cast is pretty much wasted. Minor characters that need to be fleshed out in order to hold our interest, like Morgan_Freeman's laid-back judge and Bebe_Neuwirth's alcoholic rich man's wife, are held in check to provide "surprising" story payoffs that will likely leave viewers scratching their heads. Armitage is usually sure-handed with incidental music (think of the way "Spirit in the Sky" juices the opening of Miami_Blues, or of the clever use of cheesy 1980s hits in Grosse_Point_Blank), but he makes a huge gaffe here in using the Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing" in one scene, evoking Steven_Soderbergh's far superior Leonard adaptation, Out of Sight. While The Big Bounce ambles along pleasantly enough, that unfortunate musical cue calls to mind how much better it could have been. Josh Ralske, Rovi
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