The Big Bounce - **1/2
Now Playing: (2004, George Armitage) [seen in theatre]
All right, it's safe to see new movies again. This adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel isn't up to the standards of the best based-on-Leonard films, but it's certainly worth a look. A major factor in one's enjoyment level is no doubt how much you like Owen Wilson, because he's center stage for most of the movie here. Personally I like the guy- he may not be a great actor or even a particularly versatile one, but he's certainly an engaging screen presence, as laid-back as Jack Black (who I also like, BTW) is hyperactive. It's difficult to tell whether Owen rewrote his own dialogue or it was like that all along, but it's to the film's credit that his lines feel completely of a piece with the film as a whole. As he did with his previous film Grosse Pointe Blank, Armitage takes his tonal cues from his star, and for much of the film there's an easygoing vibe to it that I enjoyed. Even when Owen and his leading lady (Sara Foster, channeling Bridget Fonda's Melanie from Jackie Brown) are breaking into houses for kicks, it feels less like petty crime than playful flirtation. But as tends to be the case with Leonard novels, the story leads up to a "job", plot twists a-go-go, etc., and this wouldn't be a problem except that the film doesn't really do anything with these scenes. Rather than taking the time to integrate the job into the plot and to make the action specific to the characters, the film barrels through the job as if the filmmakers' hearts aren't really in it. After four reels or so of leisurely comedy, the film ticks off plot twists in ten minutes or so and lets the credits roll, which betrays the mood the rest of the film has set up. Still, it's a good time most of the way through, with a good number of laughs, especially one early on involving Owen and a baseball bat. It's certainly a cut above the usual January fare.