Random Hearts
Mostly, I wanted to see this because of the wife. But a good second reason was that Harrison Ford only makes one movie a year, and they usually are very finely crafted, even if they're not box office successes. The only way I can sum this one up is with an anecdote about Ford: while shooting Star Wars, the actors got into makeup and costume at about 6am. Lucas was still arguing about camera angles and dialogue, and ended up calling it a day at 8pm with no progress made and not so much as a dry run through a single scene. Harrison approached Lucas about the wasted time, quipping, "At the end of my life, I want this day back." I walked out of the theatre feeling the same way about the hours I spent watching this stinker.
The basic plot of the movie is that a detective's wife and a politician's husband get caught, post mortem, in an affair after their weekend getaway jet crashes and kills them both. In a nutshell, the rest of the movie is the two survivors trying to cope with the loss and falling for each other in the process.
Maybe I'm just not old enough or mature enough to fully understand the situations, but I'm usually really good at subtext. None. Glances, gestures, doubletalk, yes; no really good banter between the two of them and no emotional sparks whatsoever. I kept waiting for something and was finally rewarded by the exciting change of pace the credits rolling by offered.
If you are an insomniac, or wish to feel really good about the flickering, dying light that is the spark in your relationship with your significant other, check this one out at a matinee at a budget theatre or wait for someone you know to rent the video, so as not to waste your own money.
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