“The
Big Bounce”
Warner Bros. Pictures
Directed by George Armitage
Screenplay by Sebastian
Gutierrez, based on the novel
by Elmore Leonard
Starring Owen Wilson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Sinise,
Sara Foster, Willie Nelson, Vinnie Jones, Bebe Neuwirth
and Charlie Sheen
Rated PG-13
(out
of four)
“The Big Bounce” has the misfortune
of being a child behind a row of giants. Film adaptations
of Elmore Leonard’s novels like “Jackie
Brown,” “Get Shorty” and “Out
of Sight” have made it look like putting Leonard’s
blend of crime, romance, comedy and clever dialogue
on screen is as easy as making a bad Carrot Top film. “The
Big Bounce,” however, proves the contrary,
lacking the charm and energy that the previous films
had, despite a solid cast.
Owen Wilson, that king of lethargic comedy, plays
a small-time criminal loser named Jack who makes
his way to Hawaii, which, we’re told, is the
end of the line for shady drifters. (“They
never make it to Tokyo.”)
After whacking his supervisor on the head with a
baseball bat, Jack goes to jail briefly but his company
doesn’t press charges. They do, however, tell
him to get out of town. The shady owner Ray Ritchie
(Gary Sinise), and his lackey Bob Jr., for some reason
want him to get out of Hawaii, I guess because he’s
bothering them.
Instead, he decides to annoy them
and start seeing Ray’s mistress, Nancy (Sara
Foster).
He gets a job from Judge Walter Crewes, who would
have tried his case and enjoyed the video of the
baseball hit so much that he makes friends with Jack.
The judge runs a low-class resort of bungalows that
Ray is trying to bulldoze along with other local
landmarks to build his own moneymaker.
Morgan Freeman as the judge has the best Leonardian
dialogue. But while other films adapting Leonard
let the great words gracefully float away, this one
repeats annoyingly repeats the best lines a few times
to make sure we notice them. “Sometimes things
are exactly as they seem,” for example, makes
a good enough impression the first time that we don’t
need to hear it again in voice over.
As for Wilson, he has the ability to make me smile
simply by being on screen, but his persona isn’t
perfectly suited to the role. Making things worse,
Sara Foster doesn’t do anything but look pretty
the whole movie. Nancy is trying to seduce Jack into
helping her steal money from Ray, but her means aren’t
seductive or convincing.
The whole film is very mechanical, and the humor
doesn’t come across because most of the time
it doesn’t feel like the characters care about
being embarrassed, getting caught or helping or hurting
one another.
While Wilson and Freeman have their moments, Charlie
Sheen and Sinise are completely wasted for both
dramatic and comedic potential.
The quirky crime element is little more than unnecessarily
convoluted plot twists, and with all the well-done
twists and jokes from previous films in mind, this
one is utterly dispensable.
jeremy@red-mag.com
