The Rebound - Ricomincio dall'amore

While the title may be a tad misleading, Bart Freundlich's 'The Rebound' is a refreshing romantic comedy that centres around a forty-something single mother and a 24-year old singleton. Unlike most traditional Hollywood movies of this genre, much of the humour here is subtle and it balances off well with the rest.

Freundlich also addresses the issue of age-stereotype and how it affects people. When Aram calls Sandy an ageist, it may appear petty but there is some truth to it as she just couldn't see him outside the stereotype even though her concerns are justified to an extent.

On the technical side, it's a decently made little film. The setting is New York and Freundlich cleverly steers clear of exposing too many postcard images of the city. Refreshingly paired Justin Bartha and Catherine Zeta-Jones form a very likable and convincing couple on screen. Zeta-Jones displays her growth as an actress in a mature performance and Bartha is excellent as the kind-hearted young man who's going through a lot (split up from his wife, unemployment etc) and yet decides to do the generous thing. The supporting cast is mostly adequate. Joanna Gleason is brilliant with her downplayed performance.

Overall, 'The Rebound' is a delight to watch while, at the same time it presents some interesting issues regarding age and gender stereotype. It's a great date movie and something worth considering for a rainy day.

The REBOUND is a romantic comedy, that follows the story of Sandy (Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones – Chicago, The Mask of Zorro series, Entrapment, Traffic) as a happily contented wife and mother – that one day comes across a revealing video on her computer of her husband having an affair with another woman. She leaves the family home and takes her two children to start afresh in New York – looking for work within her favourite pastime (sports statistics) – and living in an apartment above a coffee shop.

At the same time, Aram (Justin Bartha) – who works in the coffee shop, is just getting over his new french bride dumping him - as soon as she's achieved her "green card" status.

Sandy and Aram lives get more and more interwoven when she needs a baby sitter and they gradually get closer and closer.

Her friends want Sandy to start dating again – and Aram's parents want him to make more of himself – all claiming that they are both on the rebound … but, there is much more going on ...

Adequately directed by Bart Freundlich, and very well acted by the Main leads – this story moves along well and is one of the better chick flicks out there – and, as always, it stands or falls on the chemistry of the main actors (which works in this case) – and as usual all the best one-liners come from the two children

"Sometimes you need to travel the world - to discover what you really needed all along was right here at home …"

I would say that for it class and genre, that this would be a successful movie and is recommended as a romantic comedy

Every movie has its specific set of audience, and this one too has a particular set. It is a sensitive but sexy movie about a woman in her forties and her post-divorce encounters with different feelings like hatred, low self-esteem, domestic problems and her personal life. Amidst all the things going wrong with a woman who is in a situation where she had been cheated by her husband, she finds something which perhaps is the most important thing in this world, "Friendship". Catherine Zeta Jones looks lovely throughout. I literally fell in love with her after watching the movie. Not just because she is beautiful but the emotions portrayed by her are extremely believable and life like. She portrays the role presented to her with perfection and looks plausible as a single mother raising two kids. Moreover, No matter what others say, I feel the chemistry between her and Justin Bartha (The Hangover Groom), if not tremendously magical, was just right for the movie. The movie is never uninteresting and did keep me glued to the screen. It makes you smile in places with some witty and amusing scenes and also imparts some wisdom about life and any relationship. I wouldn't say that it is something worth not missing but if you are a planning on watching it, I guarantee you that your ninety minutes would not be wasted.

This is one of the best romantic comedies I have seen in years. I went to see this with a friend of mine who's in his upper thirties and I'm in my mid twenties and we both laughed so hard. There's none of the commercial, fake feel some romantic comedies have, or the ones that try to be funny and are not, this is a daring romantic comedy, really in tune with our times that breaks with some stereotypes.

Great acting, both by the adults and the kids (you can't help falling in love with Justin Bartha and this is some of the best performances I've seen from Catherine Zeta Jones, like a million times better than Intolerable Cruelty), interesting storyline, nice imagery of New York City and a movie I want to see again!

I hope it gets a wide release soon.

I went into the movie with low expectations. Wasn't hard, given it has been slammed by most critics and the pretentious on RottonTomatoes. This was not helped by a rushed, detached start which made me feel doubtful that the movie would pick up from there.

However, The Rebound quickly takes a swift turn for the feel-good drama and I was very impressed as it became not only a light romantic comedy but more a well-thought, rounded character drama with all sorts of little sub-plots, rich character development, great performances, and a genuine likability to every part of the movie. It was just very well done and the rest did not feel rushed at all. If only it had been about 10 minutes longer at the start to get us to really feel that too, instead of brushing aside the seriousness of it as if it were a slapstick laugh-job, it would've scored another star or two.

Definitely go see it if you liked "500 Days Of Summer". And go see "500 Days of Summer" if you haven't already. Are you kidding me?!