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Forces of Nature/*** (Rated PG-13)
Ok, let me admit that I worship at the altar that is Sandra Bullock. She has been in some very good films, and some very bad films (speed 2 and Practical Magic come to mind), but like any restaurant in France, she is incapable of disappointing. In Forces of Nature, she shines through a movie that cannot decide if it is a Hope/Crosby/Lamour Road picture or a modern retelling of "It Happened on Night". However, it does not matter. The film works. It makes you truly cry and smile all at once.
The film opens with Ben (Ben Affleck) on the eve of his weeding to Bridget (Newsradio's Maura Tierney). He lives in New York and the nuptials are to take place in two days at the Bridget's parent's house in Savannah, Georgia. After he realizes at the airport that he has forgotten the rings, he insists that the rest of the wedding party go without him, while he goes to his apartment to retrieve the rings. It is here, in only in movie fashion, that the fun begins. First the plane crashes on take-off, then they share a ride in a rental car with another passenger and get busted for possessing marijuana, then they get on the wrong train, then they get robbed, then… well you get the idea. A therapist might say that the real reason that he can't get to Savannah is because he is having second thoughts about the marriage.
Thus enters Sarah (Sandra Bullock), who as the film's title states, is a full-fledged force of nature. Actually, she is the films human manifestation of a real storm that is heading towards the South East. Both of these serve as the devices to prevent Ben from getting to New York in order to force him to decide what he wants to do with his life; marry Bridget or run away with Sarah. Along the way, Ben and Sarah meet many people who regale them with stories about marriage, both good and bad. All of this leads to their falling in love and the fateful decision that they make at the end of the picture.
Ben Affleck and Sandrah Bullock are the perfect team. Like Tracy and Hepburn, or Douglas and Turner, they have a chemistry that makes the somewhat overdone story work, and even fun to watch. Bullock has a smile that lights up a room, and Affleck is like the moth drawn to it. You know he is going to get hurt, but it's truly engaging to watch. Ultimately the film makes a rather welcome statement. In past decades, leaving your bride at the alter for another love might seem romantic, or at least acceptable, but Forces of Nature teaches the very welcome lesson that If a love is truly real, it will survive the most inviting of storm.
Studio: Dreamworks & Amblin Entertainment
Directed by: Bronwen Hughes
Produced by: Susan Arnold, Donna Arkoff Roth and Ian Bryce
Screenplay by: Marc Lawrence
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ben Affleck, Maura Tierney, Ronny Cox, Blythe
Danner, Steve Zahn
Rated PG-13