Ben Affleck is a drunk who, out of a spirit of inebriated generosity, switches tickets with another passenger on a crowded flight, allowing the man to get home and visit his child. The airplane falls down, as airplanes are wont to do, and the man is killed. A dried-out Affleck feels compelled to look up the man's widow, Gwyneth Paltrow, and tell her the story. Instead, he falls for her and holds back his secret. It's understandable that he finds her desirable. She's Gwyneth Paltrow as a brunette. When the big reveal finally rolls around there is heartbreak to spare.
I almost feel I ought to apologize for not liking the movie. It's like not liking a child's finger painting. See that dendritic structure? That's Junior's tree. The long part at the bottom is the trunk. You can tell because it's brown. And that green ball at the top? The leaves.
What sex is to pornography, what blood is to action movies, emotional highs followed by crashes followed by highs are to this higher-budget afternoon domestic drama.
Here's some dialog. "You can either say good-bye and leave now, or you can leave without saying good-bye," sobs Paltrow through her tears.
The fact that Affleck gave the other fellow his own ticket is treated as a shameful act. Affleck is made to keep it a secret as long as is consistent with a full-length feature movie. When he vomits out the terrible truth, he hems and haws and acts as if he, Affleck, had personally strangled the guy in order to get at the wife he hasn't yet met.
It's not insulting in that it doesn't propagate some fantastic notion like wiping out everyone we dislike or having unprotected sex with a Nigerian prostitute. It's just ultimately boring, like pornography and action movies. However, it must be said that movies about sex or gore have their fans, and this one probably will find an audience too, but I wouldn't be among them. I have this tendency to drift off.
I almost feel I ought to apologize for not liking the movie. It's like not liking a child's finger painting. See that dendritic structure? That's Junior's tree. The long part at the bottom is the trunk. You can tell because it's brown. And that green ball at the top? The leaves.
What sex is to pornography, what blood is to action movies, emotional highs followed by crashes followed by highs are to this higher-budget afternoon domestic drama.
Here's some dialog. "You can either say good-bye and leave now, or you can leave without saying good-bye," sobs Paltrow through her tears.
The fact that Affleck gave the other fellow his own ticket is treated as a shameful act. Affleck is made to keep it a secret as long as is consistent with a full-length feature movie. When he vomits out the terrible truth, he hems and haws and acts as if he, Affleck, had personally strangled the guy in order to get at the wife he hasn't yet met.
It's not insulting in that it doesn't propagate some fantastic notion like wiping out everyone we dislike or having unprotected sex with a Nigerian prostitute. It's just ultimately boring, like pornography and action movies. However, it must be said that movies about sex or gore have their fans, and this one probably will find an audience too, but I wouldn't be among them. I have this tendency to drift off.