Bounce, written and directed by Don Roos - 7.8 out of 10

Bounce, written and directed by Don Roos

7.8 out of 10

Despite the fact that it stars Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow – or is it because of that, given the rather unsavory reputation that the latter seems to have nowadays – this motion picture is forgettable.

The premise could be conceived as peculiar, or for those who are more tolerant, they could think it is original, to some extent.

Ben Affleck is not spectacular, but still decent in the role of Buddy Amaral, an advertising executive, junior partner, with 20%, in a company mostly owned and led by Jim Willer.

As he is waiting for a flight to Los Angeles, he meets with beautiful Mimi Prager aka Natasha Henstridge and Greg Janello, a writer that has had a play performed, something with a Bat on the Doorstep, which had not enjoyed enthusiastic reviews, but he is also writing material for television.

Buddy is a womanizer and this would make the idea that he would suddenly, or gradually for that matter, get so thrilled to be with a mother of two children seem if not preposterous, at least not credible.

He is very attracted to Mimi, indeed so thrilled that he decides to skip his flight and give instead the chance to Greg to be with his family, his wife and two sons that are waiting for him.

As Buddy spends the night with Mimi, he is disturbed by the sound of sirens and when he looks outside, it is clear something has happened and when he turns the TV on, he finds that a plane has crashed.

It is Infinity airlines, the flight he was supposed to be on, on which Greg had boarded and thus was killed in the accident, which for a while his wife thinks that he must have missed.

His widow, for it soon becomes evident that he is dead in the crash, is Abby Janello, aka Gwyneth Paltrow, the subject of jokes on late night, comedy shows, due to her activities as an investor, the Goop and other outré concepts…

Buddy is affected by what has happened, albeit his behavior is offensive, rude and arrogant, as he rejects the demand of the airline, which is the client of the company where he works.

They want the ad agency to run a campaign about the deceased, that looks somewhat inadequate, aiming to say that they are sorry, but in the wake of the late Boeing accidents, in which several hundred have died due to software or plane malfunction and the lack of apology or recognition of the responsibility of the manufacturer, perhaps fictional Infinity was not so exaggerated.

The campaign is in fact the winner of an award of the industry, but at the ceremony, Buddy is drunk and on stage he keeps the same self-absorbed profile, albeit it is also clear that he had been affected by the idea that he should have been on the plane and therefore dead.

He tries to find the widow of the man who had died in his place and he discovers that she tries to work as an estate agent, so he claims to be a potential client, only to have his suit ruined by the dog of the woman.

After this, he involves Abby Janello in the mega deal of his company, which is about to acquire a new office for about 1.8 million dollars, and he sets the game in such a way as to offer some money to the agent.

It works, although the widow does not become rich consequently, and in her effort to show gratitude – and surely, because Buddy aka Affleck is good looking – she offers two tickets to a major game.

For a while, he tries to avoid the one who is single and widowed because of him – although he had not intended it – thinking that he had tried to compensate somehow for his guilt and he has to stop.

The plot is written with the idea that he falls in love with Abby, even if this appears very unlikely, if not impossible, for this is the type of man that would avoid children and look for affairs of the Mimi type.

Besides, Abby aka Paltrow is not in top form here…admittedly, we are talking about a grieving woman.

Obviously, stranger things happen all the time, more peculiar than a devoted bachelor turning suddenly into a man that wants to spend time in the water park, with kids, rather than in clubs, with super models such as Mimi.

However, this is just one aspect that does not fit in; the rest of the film is not convincing either.