Message in a Bottle film review

certificate_12

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

As the last resort of ragged, desert island mariners - whose bottled, fading hopes must overcome colossal odds (not to mention the grim, geographical reality of longshore drift) - random, ocean-borne messages are a fanciful, romantic notion.

And only fanciful romantics need apply as Kevin Costner strives to put the nightmare of The Postman behind him in a love pudding over-egged with sentiment.

Winsome single mum, newspaper researcher Theresa Osborne (Robin Wright Penn) plucks the titular missive from the briny while on a lonely vacation and, touched by the depth of passion and sadness spelt out therein, becomes determined to find the author.

Her quest washes up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where shipbuilding widower Garret Blake (Costner) is still keenly feeling the loss of his wife, and doing so from his wonderfully picturesque waterfront locale, with grumpily mischievous old dad Dodge (Paul Newman) stomping about in the background.

What follows are the faltering footsteps of a tentative relationship sparked by Theresa's faintly calculated attempts to woo Garret, and complicated by his reluctance to let go of the past and risk this opportunity for future happiness or further heartbreak.

Which makes it sound rather more worthy than it actually is, because this is chick-flick, date-movie fare at its most unadulterated. A love story gently wending through all the requisite bases of romantic drama.

That said, few are better at this sort of thing than Costner, and he warms to confident ground with an assured turn. He's well-matched by Wright Penn - who normally demands an extra angle to such straightforward stuff - but she's lovely and wistful and has the right colour eyes for glowing close-ups.

What might swing it for the wavering neutrals are the periphery roles, one in particular. For while Costner is undoubtedly A-list Hollywood material, there's A-list, and then there's movie superstars, and Paul Newman - who very nearly steals the show and certainly claims every scene he's in - has a faultless class to which few can even aspire.

Not quite in the same league, but offering valuable distraction, is Blighty's own Robbie Coltrane as Theresa's supposedly hard-nosed but caring boss on the Chicago Tribune, doing a creditable accent and the source of the odd, welcome chuckle.

But look, you didn't need me to tell you all this - just take a gander at the film's poster and you'll know just about all you need to.