Dr. Lecter
You must have big rats
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:28 pm Posts: 92093 Location: Bonn, Germany
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The Rebound
The ReboundQuote: The Rebound is a 2009 romantic comedy film directed by Bart Freundlich, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Justin Bartha. The movie was released in theaters in several countries in late 2009. The movie's release in the United States is set for 25 December 2010.
_________________The greatest thing on earth is to love and to be loved in return!
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Dr. Lecter
You must have big rats
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:28 pm Posts: 92093 Location: Bonn, Germany
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Re: The Rebound
B
It has been almost three years now that we have last seen Catherine Zeta Jones on the big screen. While Chicago turned out to be a big success for her, financially and critically, she wasn’t able to build much on that. Misfires like Intolerable Cruelty, The Legend of Zorro and, more recently, No Reservations followed. Her newest film, The Rebound, is unlikely to win her much attention, even though the film isn’t half as bad as one might assume.
The romantic comedy, directed by Bart Freundlich, deals with a recently divorced 40-year-old Sandy (Zeta-Jones) who moves to New York with her two young children and falls for their babysitter Aram (Justin Bartha). However, she’s not only his chef, but also 15 years older than him. The usual older woman-younger man romcom problems ensue. Does it sound familiar? Back in 2005 Prime dealt with the same theme. The Meryl Streep/Uma Thurman starrer is similar to The Rebound in more than one way. Both have the older women/younger man constellation, in both films the man is from a distinctly Jewish family which is not happy about the son’s private life and his career plans. In both films the age difference between the romantic partners proves to be the main cause of stress. However, unlike Prime’s rather stale humor The Rebound actually delivers on the comedic part of the romcom. The film has its share of humorous scenes which even made me forget how annoying Justin Bartha is in the National Treasure films. Moreover, the pairing of Zeta-Jones (who looks as beautiful as ever in the film) and Bartha is much better than that of Bryan Greenberg and Meryl Streep. The two share some good chemistry despite the age difference and that is what a film like this always needs.
Bart Freundlich, whose last theatrical feature was a mediocre Woody Allen rip-off Trust the Man, doesn’t try to copy a superior artist’s work this time. The Rebound isn’t a film of high aspirations or great art, but for the most part it delivers what it promises – an enjoyable romantic comedy with a good couple and a few genuinely funny moments. That until the movie falls apart in its final 30 minutes during the usual “couple has issues” part of the romcom. Until then it’s an unpretentious fun movie that does follow the token path but in a better way that most other films of the genre. The last part seems tacked on, however. The movie comes to a sudden halt and an absolutely cheesy resolution that had me shaking my head. It doesn’t ruin the film but certainly undermines that could have been one of the better romcoms of the year.
_________________The greatest thing on earth is to love and to be loved in return!
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