Ainsi va la vie

I'm surprised at the harsh reviews and low rating of this movie!

Unlike other so-called "chick flicks", this movie has an authentic appeal to it and a real heart. Sandra Bullock is a shamed and distraught mother returning to her hometown after being dejected by her husband on national television. She is the beauty queen turned humiliated housewife and her old neighbors don't hesitate to rub it in. Sandra's strong-willed and adorable daughter is played wonderfully by Mae West. Their dysfunctional relationship is a central plot element throughout the film. Sandra finds strength in her own mother and finds new romance with a strong, sensitive cowboy type played surprisingly well by Harry Conick Jr.

Sandra must come to terms with her changing identity and role as mother while her daughter fights for a false allusion of Sandra's husband. An impending divorce between Sandra and her husband and the struggles of Sandra's daughter and nephew, create many heartbreakingly touching moments and at last - an intriguing story with a sense of humor.

Living in Texas and having visited a few small towns, I can state that the movie's portrayal of small town life is a very realistic one which only adds to the films' effectiveness.

"Hope Floats" is too dramatic to be a romantic comedy. It's more of a character drama about Birdee (Sandra Bullock) moving back home and the main story line being a romance with Harry Connick Jr.

Birdee, and the film, are very down-to-earth. Although she lived in Chicago, she's much more suited to the small-town life that she grew up in in Texas. They don't go for much of the obvious comedy of big-city girl versus small-town country girl. And that's a good thing.

The young daughter can get annoying, and the romantic comedy angle is transparent from the beginning. But the natural drama that Birdee goes through in trying to rebuild her life after a public divorce is done well enough that it makes "Hope Floats" worth watching.

Lensed by the great Caleb Deschanel, this buttery tale of love lost and hope found actually manages to rise above the excesses of its emotionally bombastic script. This is a weeper and the dirty tricks of the trade are apparent in all its manipulative confrontation, revelation and redemption scenes. Sweet like ice cream and sickening like a chocolate overdose, HOPE FLOATS is a delicious exercise in viewer survival.

The sun-dappled cinematography, though reliant on soft-focus, is beautiful like Romantic American oils. Shot in gorgeous earth tones, HOPE FLOATS is a stunning series of postcards, the better onto which graft the sickness of relationship disfunctions. The painterly still shot of the main character taking a photograph through a window still haunts me, as does the magnificent late sequence drenched in rain.

Thankfully for the viewer, the manichean script is brought to life with a breezy confidence by Forest Whitaker. This assured artist has worked with the likes of Jim Jarmush and Clint Eastwood, and it shows in his cool camera work and straightforward approach to material that is little better than the "reality talk shows" it twice decries. Himself an actor, the director pulled bravura performances out of his main cast.

For the real star of this show is the acting: from Harry Connick Jr's solid performance to the great Gena Rowlands spot-on delivery, it's all good. Mae Whitman devastates in her "money shot" and even the bit parts are interesting to watch. But with a glance, a crooked smile and a much improved body language, it is star Sandra Bullock who proves the real gem in a movie that sparkles with all the pretension of a jewellery store. The underplayed, devastating opening scene is worth a dozen scenery-chewing showpieces - and then some.

There is quite a bit of emotional baggage borrowed in PRACTICAL MAGIC here, but the underpinnings are far better. Fearless, engaged and precise, Bullock's performance is a virtuoso piece that makes watching HOPE FLOATS a real treat; I have never seen her more bold or more beautiful (even as a vamp in MISS CONGENIALITY) - she is absolutely gorgeous here.

Manipulation and honesty mixed in an effective, emotional pressure-cooker, HOPE FLOATS may just make you sick like a roller-coaster. But for anyone interested in Sandra Bullock, it is required viewing . ..

Firstly, I LOVE Sandra Bullock. I'll watch any and every movie starring Sandra Bullock. She's the entire reason I gave this movie a chance. I really like old rom-coms as well. There's a certain charm to them. I rated this movie what I did because, in my opinion, there's no real, fluid chemistry between Birdie and Justin. Everything seems so forced and it's just very off putting to me. I also don't like how Justin practically forces Birdie to be around him and make physical contact with him even though she is clearly uncomfortable and has said no to him many times. Gives me the ick to the highest degree.

I actually liked this movie. Neither because of the slow development nor of the fair acting of Bullock/Connick Jr. The brilliant performance of Mae Whitman as Bernice made this whole movie worthwhile. I've never seen a child outperform her "co-stars" like that. She sure would deserve the Academy Award for best supporting actress. So if you want to see a slow love story with a very good child performance (German magazine "cinema" wrote: "...she has the potential of Oscar winning Kathy Bates ("Misery")...") this is yours. If you are a fan of high paced action movies, don't bother to see this, you wouldn't like it anyway.