L'ombre d'un soupçon

The opening scenes grab you and push you back into your seat. The two stars of the film have just lost their spouses in an air crash. They must identify the bodies. Harrison Ford discovers his wife was sitting next to a man in first class so he calls upon the wife of this man. He suspects that they might have been having an affair. Harrison Ford is such a good actor; he leads you into the film and won't let you go. This is a bit unfortunate because the story slowly deteriorates. No viewer can miss what is going to happen next but this review will not tell you just in case someone new to American cinema fears "a spoiler." The acting is so good that the film can hold your interest, but it does not seem to live up to its riveting beginning.

I admit I have been a fan of Harrison Ford for many, many years now so it didn't surprise me that I enjoyed his performance here. But I also enjoyed the way the storyline developed and thought the casting was well done. I don't know whether I "buy into" Kristin Scott Thomas as a Congresswoman but she is a fine actress and a beautiful woman. I took notice of her in the first Mission Impossible. Although her part was small she stuck out on the screen.

Here her and Ford play people whose spouses are killed in an airplane crash. They are seated together and this is where the plot takes off. Apparently Ford, a police detective in Wash D.C., discovers that his wife was having an affair. He further discovers that the affair was with the husband of a New England Congresswoman.

The story takes on many subplots as Ford and Thomas find themselves drawn together by revelations of their marriages, the uncovering of deceipt, and the pure grief and anger over the loss of a loved one.

I think the movie is worthwhile either renting or catching on cable.

Random Hearts: Losing a significant other is a subject most people would rather not think about. Now, try to imagine this agony exacerbated by the knowledge that your spouse was headed for an illicit rendezvous when they died: the combination of grief and betrayal is simply too overwhelming to comprehend. This is what confronts Dutch Van Den Broeck (Harrison Ford) a hard-nosed cop with DC Internal Affairs and Kay Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas) a US Congresswoman, when their cheating spouses are killed in a plane crash.

With heavy hitters Ford and Thomas on the Marquee, and the subject matter in question, I expected a well crafted, intriguing movie, or at the very least, an entertaining one. If only it were so. Hearts suffers from a flat, poorly written script, with corny formulaic dialogue - several "touching" moments left the audience in hysterics - leaving the actors with little too work with. The problems don't end there.

From its inception this movie was obviously intended as a romantic drama. I can only assume that the subplot involving an investigation of a duo of dirty cops was added as an afterthought to secure the ever-important 18-35 male demographic. The result is a quixotic mess: every time the movie begins to flow and find its legs, it veers off on a tangent, until you longer care what happens.

When the credits finally started rolling after 133 minutes I was positively exhausted. Unless you've seen all the movies that are currently out or are desperate for a pseudo date flick, give this a miss.

True, there are some goofs, for the one who wants to find them. They're not important, though.

The primary feature of this film is watching veteran expert actors do their craft. Kristin Scott Thomas is beautiful and plays well the part of a strong woman, but one who has been hurt. Same for Harrison Ford, who, for the ladies, is just as beau as Kristin is belle for us guys.

Their hurt at the hands of their adulterous spouses brings them together in an awkward manner, but one in which they find support in each other. How they evoke their hurt feelings and their humanity within on th screen is why these are such sought performers. The viewer cannot help but feel what they feel, nor can one help wanting to cheer them when they're together.

Yes, there are several action scenes involving angry corrupt cops, but they only spice it up a little, and are not a significant part of the movie.

For the lover of music, Dave Grusin provides a superb Jazz based background, featuring trumpeter Terrence Blanchard. Like the actors, Grusin shows why he is one of the most sought musical consultants in the movie business. Blanchard shows why he's one the premiere trumpeters on the scene.

Not a movie for the lovers of guts, blood, and gore. But for those who want to see a lot of what makes us feel inside, watch a beautiful English actress with big expressive blue eyes who can act, like Harrison Ford, to the endless soothing accompaniment courtesy of Dave Grusin and Terrence Blanchard, this is a move to watch with someone you love. Preferably in bed.

I thought it deserved at least an 8.

Has there ever been a more dour, dreary and depressing movie romance than "Random Hearts," a film that drones on for 131 grueling minutes and traps two wonderful actors, Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas, in its diabolical clutches?

Ford is a police sergeant working in internal affairs and Thomas is a New Hampshire congresswoman whose paths cross when their spouses, who are having a secret affair with each other, die in a plane crash. Drawn together by both circumstance and grief, the two begin a tentative love affair despite the many complications it sets up.

The actors do their best given the stark limitations of portraying two people overcome with despair, but the audience is nevertheless subjected to more than two hours of unrelieved gloominess. In a sense, it is a bit of a relief to see a romantic film that is not all lightheartedness and carefree silliness, but a subject as profound as the study of grief and loss on the human psyche demands a less conventional, more imaginative and serious a format than this film provides. (The brilliant film, "Fearless," from 1993 is a startling case in point). The actions of the characters often ring false as when, for instance, the two grieving spouses, sitting in a car, suddenly begin grappling in a wild sexual frenzy, a moment that elicits giggles from the audience because it is so lacking in motivation and preparation. Moreover, the film pads out its narrative by constantly cutting away to an irrelevant and wholly underdeveloped subplot involving Ford's pursuit of a murderous cop - a sideshow that results in a completely ludicrous shooting scene that undercuts the seriousness of the film's purpose.

"Random Hearts" is an obvious and, perhaps, even admirable attempt to bring a more mature, adult-oriented love story to the screen. It's a shame, then, that all involved seem to have confused dreariness with profundity and gloominess with depth.