The Big Bounce (2004): Dir: George Armitage / Cast: Owen Wilson, Morgan Freeman, Sara Foster, Charlie Sheen, Gary Sinise: Nobody really makes a big bounce in this film. That is not to say that it doesn't have entertainment quality. It has a catchy premise and several plot turns that play around trust and betrayal. What works against it is its methods of paying off crime. Director George Armitage presents beautiful Hawaiian photography. He previously made Grosse Pointe Blank, another film that featured a young anti-hero caught up in crime. This is not much of an advancement. Owen Wilson is appealing as a con man working a construction job that is being protested by locals. He spent time in jail for break and enter, and he also decks a construction supervisor with a baseball bat. Morgan Freeman steals scenes as a judge who takes interest in him. Sara Foster plays a schemer who seduces Wilson into stealing $200, 000. Other roles are either pointless or underused. Charlie Sheen for example, is amusing as a foreman but more might have benefited him. In other roles are Gary Sinise who is underused and Vinnie Jones who is totally unnecessary. This is a great cast with mixed results in terms of who benefits and who is underused. Very light weight comedy with its moments of comic bliss but it is no big bounce. It does contain several little bounces though. Score: 5 ½ / 10
Review of The Big Bounce
