Bounce

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Watching Bounce, you look at him (Affleck) and believe how much he's got at stake, and you look at Paltrow and know why.

Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark

Roos combines a sharp script with excellent performances.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

It'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.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

In 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.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Ben 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.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie is well acted, deeply moving, and unlike some love stories, it doesn't feel forced or contrived.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

For the first time since "Chasing Amy," I realized why people like Ben Affleck.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Roos 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.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

There's nothing in Bounce you haven't seen before, but the movie is surprisingly unsentimental, the Paltrow factor cannot be denied.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Bounce 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.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

Thrillingly unpredictable.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

After a few movies in which Paltrow was in danger of becoming a caricature of herself, she's back in rare form.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Something is missing in Bounce, the muted dynamic of which calls forth a perhaps inevitably muted reaction.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Beneath 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.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's the opposite of "The Opposite of Sex," a meditation on multiple truths, and the lies that sometimes lie in between.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

Truth is, Affleck and Paltrow flunk Chemistry 101. They aren't believable even as a fake couple.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

If I wanted a Nora Ephron cuddle-ganza, I'd rent one.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The most depressing date movie since "Random Hearts."

Film.com Robert Horton

There's no way out of the excruciating melodrama, and the film withers in its trap.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Doesn't really work when examined in the daylight outside the theater doors.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

The unusually thoughtful dialogue and soul-searching performances make this romantic drama seem deeper than it is.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Simultaneously contrived and genuinely felt.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Surprisingly tepid and soapy.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Flies coach instead of first class, despite a charismatic cast.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Isn't sexy, funny, smart or fun.

Film.com John Hartl

While Bounce may mark a sophomore slump for Roos, it's hardly the worst date movie out there.

Film.com Moira Macdonald

So relentlessly vanilla that it never springs to life.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A pallid, mediocre tale that treacles its way through well-worn channels.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

It's been smoothed over plenty, but this is one creaky, rigged contraption.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Affleck and Paltrow, who've been excellent elsewhere, display less chemistry than they've shown in magazine photo shoots. Even Woody and Bo Peep had more going on between them in "Toy Story" than these two manage here.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Moments 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.