When Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck) decides to have a casual fling with a woman he meets in an airport, he gives up his ticket to Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn), an earnest man on standby for the flight who is desperate to get home to his wife and child. But when the plane crashes because of snowy conditions, killing everyone on board, Buddy plunges into a sea of despair and confusion. At the edge of a nervous breakdown, Buddy seeks out Abby Janello (Gwyneth Paltrow), Greg's widow. He approaches Abby, who works as a real estate agent, under the pretense of finding a new location for his advertising agency. But, he never reveals that he knows about her husband's death. While his only intention is to do a good deed for the grieving Abby, Buddy slowly finds himself falling in love with her and she responds to him with a similar sincerity. The only thing keeping them apart is the dark secret that Buddy is hiding.
BOUNCE is writer-director Don Roos's follow-up to his engaging, clever, independent debut, THE OPPOSITE OF SEX. Like that film, BOUNCE examplifies Roos's knack for writing witty dialogue and using it to make a intelligent, sweet films.
2.
As a partner in LA's hippest advertising agency, Buddy Amaral (BEN AFFLECK) makes things happen. Fearlessly confident and wildly charming, his clients love him, and thanks to his killer good looks, so does every woman he meets. Life smiles on Buddy... that is until the December night he's stranded in a major snowstorm at Chicago's O'Hare airport.
There, Buddy meets Greg Janello (TONY GOLDWYN), who is trying to make it home in time to celebrate Christmas with his family, and beautiful business woman Mimi Praeger (NATASHA HENSTRIDGE). When Buddy's connections get him a seat on the only flight out that night, he's faced with the choice of either getting on the plane or enjoying a one-night tryst in the windy city. Buddy picks the sexier option and generously offers Greg his seat.
But the next morning, Buddy learns that the plane he should have been on has crashed, and for the first time in his life the guy with all the answers is at a loss.
Compelled to make things right, Buddy sets out to find the wife (GWYNETH PALTROW) of the man who took his seat. It's a bold move that will change the lives of two people who never in a million years would have met, in very surprising, unpredictable and ultimately unforgettable ways.
3.
Buddy Amaral (Affleck) is a charming, smooth talking ad executive who is enjoying his successful career until fate steps in and changes everything. In order to make things right and make amends over his guilt from his past actions, he goes out in search of Abby Janello (Paltrow), a single mother of two struggling to make ends meet as a realtor. So he poses as a real estate client in order to get closer to her. Under these false pretenses they become friends and fall in love, and in the end, Buddy knows he must be truthful and confront Abby about his true feelings and his past.
4.
Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck), a cocky, self-absorbed ad executive who--in desiring a tryst with the gorgeous Mimi (Natasha Henstridge), a woman he meets at the airport--gives up his plane ticket back to Los Angeles to writer Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn). The plane crashes, and Buddy begins a downward spiral of alcoholism and self-loathing until he undergoes rehab. Once out, he decides to pay a visit to the dead man's widow. Abby Janello (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a struggling real estate agent with two young sons. She slowly befriends Buddy and falls in love with him while Buddy struggles with the guilty secret of his connection to her husband's untimely death which could destroy their relationship.
5.
Bounce has all the deft charm and breezy good looks you'd expect from a romance starring Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow, but under the surface beats the poisoned heart of an independent film just going through the motions. Affleck plays Buddy Amaral, a successful ad exec with an empty life. In a Chicago airport, he meets Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn), a failed playwright going home to his family and a corrupt job as a TV writer. Buddy, angling for a one-night stand with a fellow passenger, gives Greg his ticket, but feels bad when he discovers the plane crashed and the guy died. He feels so bad, in fact, that when he gets out of rehab a year or so later, he decides to give the guy's widow, real estate agent Abby (Paltrow), commission on the sale of a building for his business, a sale she's not qualified to make. They start dating. She quickly forgets her initial impression of him as a creepy stalker. Affleck is good at playing privileged and shallow; Paltrow does what she can with the prepackaged grief of a widow; Joe Morton has very little to do as Buddy's business partner (but he does it well); and Johnny Galecki shines in a very small part as Buddy's assistant. These are good performances in a rather creepy film by the guy who made The Opposite of Sex. --Andy Spletzer, Amazon.com
On the DVD: as with most two-disc sets the additional material is contained on the second disc and offers the usual assortment of outtakes, "Making of" documentaries and deleted scenes. The highlight is the outtake reel but the Behind the Scenes featurette with Paltrow and Affleck also has its moments with the pair interviewing crew. The 45 minutes of deleted scenes contain two alternative endings. The commentary with director Don Roos and producer Cohen is informative with discussions on narrative structure, context and shooting techniques. All in all this is a packed second disc with enough to keep Affleck or Paltrow fans happy for at least the night. The visual quality of this 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen DVD is crisp and clean throughout. Because the film is heavy on dialogue, the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack doesn't really get an opportunity to show off, but the more emotional scenes are all perfectly audible and easy to understand. --Kristen Bowditch
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