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Rating:  - Full of surprises
I've read a few reviews of this film that said it was creepy and really not all that good. I disagree completely. I loved it. I thought it was a very good character study of 2 people in recovery from trauma, each from a different type. The performances were very good, the movie was not too long, it made its point and got on with it, and it was believable to me. There was one situation that seemed a bit off, but all in all I highly recommend this movie.
Rating:  - Offensive and Disturbing
I had to give it at least one star in order to do a review.
Ben Affleck's character is a horrible person. He only gives up his plane ticket in order to get laid, he stalks and lies to Gwyneth Paltrow's character. He sleeps with her before even telling her that he knew her husband, yet alone mentioning that he gave her husband the ticket on the crashed plane. Then-I think the worst part-he lies to her son saying that the deceased father did not express any desire to be with his son. He denys that the father said he wanted to fly home to spend time with his son selling Christmas trees. The son is obviously hurt and this lie in no way benefits anyone. Affleck's character does it out of pure malice.
SPOILER::: In the end poor Gwyneth ends up with this psycho and we can assume that the poor boys have to deal with this manipulative stalker, pathological lier and selfish #@$^#&%#. Do not see this movie. It is horrible!!!
Rating:  - Would you fly on an outfit named "Infinity Air"?
Why not just go ahead and call it "Crash and Burn Air"? That would fit right in with the general quality of the plot and the writing (not to mention the male lead's acting).
Plot and writing. Look, as I've mentioned before in a different context, one coincidence is a great plot device: a young man sees a woman about to throw herself into the ocean and saves her; a cop sees a murder suspect walking down the street; an Army private who later becomes an officer finds out his first sergeant is his old drill instructor. Great. Pile on the coincidences though, and what you have is nothing more than lazy and unfocused writing. Such is the case here. SPOILER ALERT. Affleck's Buddy Amaral not only switches places with Gwyneth Paltrow's loving husband* on a flight that crashes, but he's involved in the airline's business AND there just happens to be a video of Amaral with the loving husband that just happens to appear at a crucial moment.
This movie does not do service to the "from airplane disaster to romance" genre. About the only thing to its credit is the unlikely achievement of making "Random Hearts" look good.
* I'm assuming Greg Janello is a loving husband. If you were married to Gwyneth Paltrow, wouldn't *you* be loving?
Rating:  - warm and sweet
This film was a surprise to me. As the blurb on the DVD case said, this was a romantic movie with great chemistry between the two co-stars, I expected to see a cute movie about two beautiful people falling in love. but I was pleasantly suprised by the depth of the movie.
The basic plotline is this: Ben Affleck plays a vibrant, young man with a promising career named Buddy who gives up his plane ticket to a man he meets at the airport for a night with a beautiful blond. As fate would have it, the plane has a deadly crash killing all the passengers on board including Buddy's acquaintance. To make up for the guilt, Buddy seeks out the widow of this acquaintance, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Although, Buddy's intentions were merely to help the family and disappear, in the midst of his guilt, he sees past the grief and falls in love with this beautiful woman.
I believe the script, the directing, and the acting were all very successful in this film. Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck were very believable and the gradual growth in their relationship was very real. Gwyneth's performance was quite amazing. Peronally this is one of my favorite performances by her. She allows Abby to be vulnerable and emotional yet her strength and virtues are consistent throughout the movie. The credit goes to both Gwyneth and the write/director, Don Roos for this. The director seemed to have paid much attention to the details, especially with the two characters in their behavior.
Five stars!
Rating: - Excellent Film
Too much of a four-corner job at last, still the director made an excellent go at a film that dealt with strong human values in a romance. The acting was excellent. I never cease to be amazed at Gwyneth Paltrow's abilities as an actress, among films like Bounce, Shakespeare in Love, and Proof. Ben Affleck - a few too many tears perhaps, but a well thought-out role with finely developed feeling. I sense Americans want more one-liners and laughs and this film didn't play that comedic line. Not a great film by any means, it is solid and a worthwhile watch. I gave it five stars for the four-star quality and the effort to do something different.
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