Bounce : Movie Review


Bounce, starring Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow, is also getting bounced about by the critics.

Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal writes that the film gave him the creeps, "not the good creeps, which set in when you're being scared by clever horror or expert suspense, but the bad creeps, which come when you're appalled by a movie's failure to acknowledge its own smarminess."

On the other hand, Eleanor Ringel Gillespie in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls it "a fine romantic drama" and adds: "At the core of Bounce is a kind of old-fashioned movie illusion. Namely, we're asked to buy the notion that people who look like Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck could ever be part of the walking wounded. It's to the film's credit that not only do we buy it, but we find ourselves rooting for them."

Many of the reviews focus on the "chemistry" between Affleck and Paltrow in the movie.

Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News asks, "Has there ever been a duller Hollywood duo than Ben & Gwyn?"

Susan Wloszczyna in USA comments: "Truth is, Affleck and Paltrow flunk Chemistry 101. They aren't believable even as a fake couple."

And Lou Lumenick in the New York Post writes: "Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck ... may or may not be a couple in real life, but certainly exhibit zero chemistry together on screen."

However, Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News observes: "Bounce is helped immeasurably by the chemistry of its two stars. I don't know whether Affleck and Paltrow are dating again in real life, but they sure remember their way around each other."

Author : Studio Briefing