There’s a scene midway through “The Big Bounce” in which Morgan Freeman’s shifty Hawaiian magistrate warns Owen Wilson’s petty thief that “some things are exactly as they appear.” After collecting dust on a shelf at Warner Bros. for more than a year before finally landing a less than desirable January release date, it would appear that this curious remake of an awful 1969 Ryan O’Neal flick is a big loser.
Yes, some things are exactly as they appear. If not for the presence of Wilson, who has a penchant for making bad films seem, well, not so bad, “The Big Bounce” would be the clear-cut early favorite to top 2004’s “Worst of” lists. Wilson does what he can to drag this crappy comedy along, but he’s held back by an inert narrative and a stagnant supporting cast. Freeman was surely one of the finest actors in the business in his heyday (early 90s classics include “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Unforgiven”), but his credits in recent years suggest he’s content to merely cash some hefty retirement checks. Marking her film debut is Sara Foster, a former model and MTV veejay, who surely looks nice in a bikini … and surely can’t act very well.
Based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, and easily the weakest adaptation of the author’s work, “The Big Bounce” chronicles — slowly, waaaay too slowly — the missteps of Jack Ryan (Wilson), a tousled con man/surfer who gets into some trouble with real estate developer Ray Ritchie (a disinterested Gary Sinise) and his not-ready-for-prime-time toughs (Charlie Sheen and Vinnie Jones). Ignoring Ritchie’s edict that he leave the North Shore of Oahu, Ryan instead winds up in the employ of District Judge Walter Crewes (Morgan) — a schemer in his own right — and under the spell of Ritchie’s cunning young mistress, Nancy Hayes (Foster). A bag of money is up for grabs, and from there it’s just a question of who’s scamming who. But there isn’t much reason to care.
“The Big Bounce” is lacking essential elements that have made other Leonard-ized movies so enjoyable — punchy dialogue, a credible caper and, most of all, multi-dimensional characters. This movie plays as if director George Armitage had handed out Prozac and a set of instructions to the cast and crew each morning to hang loose and not let the production get in the way of their Hawaiian vacation. (Rated PG-13 for sexual content and nudity, violence and language.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 30, 2004. Read the original PDF.