The Big Bounce (9/10)

Jack Ryan (Owen Wilson) is a small time thief in Hawaii. He meets Walter Crews (Morgan Freeman), a judge, when he’s being sentenced for cold-cocking his boss with a baseball bat. Walter strikes up a friendship with Jack and hires him to work at his hotel. Then Jack sees Nancy Hayes (Sara Foster) who works for Ray Ritchie (Gary Sinise) who’s got a lot of money and isn’t a very nice man. Jack and Nancy hook up and Nancy wants him to help her steal some of Ray’s money. From there it gets complicated.

With gorgeous Hawaiian cinematography (Jeffrey L. Kimball), a clever script (Sebastian Gutierrez), The Big Bounce is expertly directed by George Armitage with style and pace. For me, the watch test didn’t work because I kept looking at my watch during the 1:48 running time and hoping it wouldn’t end.

I’ve seen Owen Wilson in some of the worst movies of my life (I Spy as just one example) so it was a treat to see him with material that shows him at his best. Here he’s a charming, easy-going thief who gets involved with people he doesn’t know and in something that just doesn’t seem right. There are some good lines, Wilson’s charming, Freeman’s smooth, Foster’s beautiful, Sinise is nasty (but isn’t seen much), the scenery’s magnificent, and what’s Charlie Sheen (Bob Rogers, Jr.) doing here?

I found this eminently enjoyable.

January 30, 2004

The End

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