number909

I like Sandra Bullock. She has an earthy, honest humor which comes through in her characters. But she has yet to pick a script which suits her. This movie has its moments, but it fails in the end. It tries to hard to be "fair" to beauty pageants, and the script becomes clumsy and obvious when it tries to be political. Better to leave that alone and tell a story It is not believable that she would end up with Benjamin Bratt, someone who would not pay any attention to her until she was tarted up for the pageant. Shallowness to the nth degree, and her character seemed too solid and grounded to fall for that. I wouldn't see it again nor would I own it.

Vertigo, heights, cold, snow, ice, exhaustion, danger, tests of endurance and strength. Well OK, I had my expectations set to low to moderate and was prepared to be merely entertained. I'd heard so much about the special effects I was just going to enjoy them on th4 big screen. Well, don't wait for video. See this in a theatre if you can. I agree with a previous reviewer. This is a serious sleeper. The story is familiar, but the writing is very good, and the cast pulls it off. Scott Glenn does his best David Carradine. The ending is a great, circular resolution and it does work and it's right, even when you finally sense it coming. Give this film a chance.

I know that major films are made with more than one ending and tested on audiences. Why was the ending used for this movie chosen? It turns an excellent movie into a very good one, and tainted my viewing. This story caught me up, emotionally involved me, them dumped sentimental, manipulative slop all over me in the last 15-20 minutes. Oscar worthy performances by the three leads, so I would say rent it and see for yourself. I can understand why it nosedived at the box office.