Message in a Bottle Review
by James Sanford (jamessanford AT earthlink DOT net)February 23rd, 1999
Nicholas Sparks' novel "Message in a Bottle" is a gossamer-thin story of a columnist who finds the item of the title on a beach, reads the enclosed letter, and then sets out to find the man who wrote it.
When she finally tracks him down, there's an instant mutual attraction; sure, it's a sterling example of the literature one of my college friends called "the 'I turned around and I was in love' books," but on its own terms it's a perfectly passable daydream.
Director Luis Mandoki's adaptation of the best-seller maintains the same mellowness,almost to a fault. Next to this, the films of "The Horse Whisperer" and "The English Patient" could almost be mistaken for entries in the "Die Hard" series. If the novel is best washed down with a pitcher of herbal iced tea, this unquestionably beautiful movie might make some in the audience wish for a triple espresso.
The screenplay has changed the setting of the drama, the occupations of both the leads - Garret (Kevin Costner) no longer runs a scuba school and Theresa (Robin Wright Penn) now has some kind of research job that somehow allows her plenty of expense money and time off to zoom around the country - and thrown in are some backwoodsy former in-laws to make trouble for Garret. Why bother? Theoriginal material would have worked just fine onscreen.
"Bottle" wants so very badly to be a world-class tearjerker and there's no denying it has a whole lot of things going for it. Costner's performance is relaxed and charming, much closer to the guy everybody liked in "Tin Cup" and "Field of Dreams" rather than the self-congratulatory figure of "The Postman." He and Penn - who seems to have carefully studied Meg Ryan's moves from "Sleepless In Seattle" - blend comfortably together, a major plus in any romantic drama.
The film's trump card turns out to be Paul Newman as Garret's salty dad. He and Costner have several wonderful small scenes together, and Newman's work radiates with world-class starpower; it takes a lifetime of training to turn a simple "go away" into a major laugh line.
The photography by Caleb Deschanel is also astonishingly pretty, although that's not such a shock when you remember Deschanel was the director of "Wind," a movie that was little more than two hours of sailing ships and sea spray.
So why does "Bottle" feel half-empty instead of half-full? Part of the trouble lies in Mandoki's approach to the story's ending, which worked fine in the novel but seems corny in the extreme onscreen. Also, The movie's pace is so leisurely - this being a Costner film you can bet there are numerous lingering close-ups of Kev - attention tends to ebb and flow like the tides Garret and Theresa ride.
There's a lot to enjoy in "Message in a Bottle," to be sure, and it might be just the ticket for those in the mood for anything remotely romantic. But like a festive basket of chocolate-covered potato chips, it's the sort of thing that certain people will definitely appreciate more than most.
James Sanford
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