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75In movies with this story structure, all depends on the precise timing of the delay and the revelation, and Bounce misses. Not by a lot, but by enough.
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75For the first time since "Chasing Amy," I realized why people like Ben Affleck.
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50Surprisingly tepid and soapy.
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50Truth is, Affleck and Paltrow flunk Chemistry 101. They aren't believable even as a fake couple.
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60Beneath the plot's romantic turns lies a surprisingly complex examination of the personal and professional price of honesty; falsehoods, half-truths, little white lies and self-delusion spur most of the key plot developments, and Roos never resorts to platitudes to account for their effects.
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91Watching Bounce, you look at him (Affleck) and believe how much he's got at stake, and you look at Paltrow and know why.
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30A pallid, mediocre tale that treacles its way through well-worn channels.
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30It's been smoothed over plenty, but this is one creaky, rigged contraption.
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20Moments of strained mirth indicate how false and fabricated the whole enterprise really is--just a couple of well-to-do superstars doing their darnedest to prove to us that they're regular folk. And failing.
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75The movie is well acted, deeply moving, and unlike some love stories, it doesn't feel forced or contrived.
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75There's nothing in Bounce you haven't seen before, but the movie is surprisingly unsentimental, the Paltrow factor cannot be denied.
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75Roos introduces the possibility that perhaps two partials add up to the whole truth, and in so doing creates a provocative love story that sticks with you long after the credits roll.
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75Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow are so immensely appealing, and their chemistry together is so unforced, that their presence alone makes a movie worth seeing. Thankfully, Bounce has even more going for it.
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63After a few movies in which Paltrow was in danger of becoming a caricature of herself, she's back in rare form.
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63Something is missing in Bounce, the muted dynamic of which calls forth a perhaps inevitably muted reaction.
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50Doesn't really work when examined in the daylight outside the theater doors.
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50The most depressing date movie since "Random Hearts."
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50If I wanted a Nora Ephron cuddle-ganza, I'd rent one.
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90Roos combines a sharp script with excellent performances.
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50It's the opposite of "The Opposite of Sex," a meditation on multiple truths, and the lies that sometimes lie in between.
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50Flies coach instead of first class, despite a charismatic cast.
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42Isn't sexy, funny, smart or fun.
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80It's a love story, yes, but one whose sweetness is cut by honest performances, a sharply drawn supporting cast and a fairly serious, yet never self-pitying, tone.
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70Thrillingly unpredictable.
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70Bounce may be far from a great film, but its pleasures are consistent enough to remind you of how few movies nowadays come anywhere close to matching it in intelligence and emotional balance.
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50There's no way out of the excruciating melodrama, and the film withers in its trap.
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50Simultaneously contrived and genuinely felt.
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50The unusually thoughtful dialogue and soul-searching performances make this romantic drama seem deeper than it is.
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40While Bounce may mark a sophomore slump for Roos, it's hardly the worst date movie out there.
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30So relentlessly vanilla that it never springs to life.