Maybe this second movie version of Elmore Leonard's caper novel of the same name (first filmed in 1969 with Ryan O'Neal and Leigh Taylor-Young) is no GET SHORTY or OUT OF SIGHT, but it's a lot more fun than critics gave it credit for (a lot more fun than the dreary original, for sure!), and it deserved to do better at the box office. When it came out back in January, this BIG BOUNCE's new Hawaii setting was especially welcome during this harsh winter season! Hell, all it took to make me love this flick was the playful rock-tinged Hawaiian-style score (though scorer George S. Clinton missed an opportunity: it would've been such a hoot to include Paul Revere & The Raiders' "Kicks" or a cool cover of same, in honor of TBB's thrill-seeking leads! :-), the lush tropical scenery, and the sight of Owen Wilson naked in the ocean! :-) Wilson, the king of comedic neo-slacker cool, is in his element as Jack Ryan (so not Tom Clancy's action hero! :-), an ex-con surfer dude with a penchant for getting in trouble (as he says, his "two longtime companions" are "bad luck and bad choices"). Jack gets into plenty of it thanks to newcomer Sara Foster as Nancy, a sun-kissed cutie with the insouciant insolence of the young Lauren Bacall. Wilson and Foster have an easygoing, playful chemistry even when they get their kicks from stealing cars and "B&E" (Breaking and Entering, a popular indoor sport for movie couples earlier this year what with TBB and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND). When the stakes are raised up to murder, however, Jack has to start rethinking his laissez-faire approach to life... Wilson and Foster have a great cast to double-cross and be double-crossed by, including Morgan Freeman, Bebe Neuwirth, Gary Sinise, our fave British movie tough guy Vinnie Jones (nice change of pace, seeing him get his butt kicked for a change :-), Willie Nelson, and Charlie Sheen and Harry Dean Stanton as father and son! Add lots of snappy dialogue (I particularly liked Wilson's "friendship" speech to Gregory Sporleder: "If I'm in trouble, you won't be there for me...I won't be there for you..." It's a Bogart-style tough-guy speech given a slyly witty spin thanks to Wilson's laid-back delivery), much of it uttered over the rocks (in more ways than one -- I haven't seen so much drinking in a crime comedy since the THIN MAN movies, only the drinking impairs the characters' judgment here :-), and you've got a lighthearted, lightweight way to pass a lazy afternoon, especially if the weather is too dreary for real-life fun in the sun!
Review of The Big Bounce
