Date: Fri 05-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Floats-Hope-Bullock-Connick

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING: "Floats" Is Not Particularly See-Worthy

By Trey Paul Alexander III

It's the stuff of nightmares and real (or is that reel ?) life: Mr or Ms Joe

Average courts their 15 minutes of fame when invited to appear on a

nationally-televised talk show, but those precious moments turn irreversibly

horrifying when a staged ambush leads to embarrassment... and all of it

captured on video. Such a scenario is routine for Jerry Springer and his ilk,

and it led to a highly publicized court battle for Jenny Jones when the tactic

set in motion one guest's murder of another.

Hope Floats , now playing after a strong opening week, begins with such an

incident. Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock), a beautiful wife and mother with

seemingly everything one could want, gets invited onto a Chicago talk show

under the pretense of getting a free make-over. However, once she's on camera,

she is confronted by her "best friend" (Rosanna Arquette), who confesses to

having an affair with Birdee's husband (Michael Pare). The husband also makes

an appearance, and very publicly proclaims his infidelity.

It is a surreal sequence: almost funny due to the faux sincerity both

adulterers have for the wounded Birdee; considerably pathetic due to the

stinging reality of the moment (and its truthfulness about our times); and

partly heart-rending as we watch the emotional evisceration of Birdee (as

thoughtfully played by Bullock in this difficult opening scene).

Unfortunately, the rest of the film fails to live up to this potential-filled

opening. "Hope" may indeed float, but this production is not especially

"see-worthy."

After Birdee's public humiliation, she and her daughter (Mae Whitman) pack up

their things and shuffle back to Birdee's small-town roots of Texas, where she

was a high school beauty queen and talk of the town. Now, as she moves back in

with her eccentric mother (Gena Rowlands), she finds she is again the talk of

the town, but now as a walking billboard for "My, how the mighty have fallen!"

Once the movie settles into its Texas milieu, it goes awry by giving us a

handful of characters that never quite engage our sympathies or undivided

loyalties. Bullock's Birdee, understandably floored by her experience, comes

across as too mopey and moody. Friends claim she was a whirlwind of a

character, but little sparkle (or even hint of what used to be there) comes

through.

Meanwhile, Birdee's mom, who stuffs and costumes dead animals (Did I say

eccentric? How 'bout just plain strange !?), tries to fix her up with one of

her former classmates (Harry Connick, Jr), a handyman who once had a crush on

her. Connick is charming enough, but his character's come-ons are so strong

you want to reign him in and cool him down. He moves so fast you'd think

Birdee just appeared on a "Single and Still Looking" segment rather than

seeing her wedding vows scrapped before a studio audience.

One of the problems with Hope Floats , which was directed by Forest Whitaker (

Waiting To Exhale ), is it lacks a focused center. The sheer talent of the

cast and their director helps provide the movie with some winning scenes (a

sequence revolving around the dreaded experience of enrolling in a new school

as "the new kid" is particularly hilarious), but the film follows too much of

a fixed formula (cue the romantic oldies on the soundtrack, set every

significant sequence in slo-mo, give the audience its big hanky moments) to

truly move the audience. Instead of believing we are following the lives of

individuals, it's more like we are watching a treatise on "Poignant Romantic

Comedy 101."

Though Hope Floats , rated PG-13 for mild profanity and adult themes, may

occasionally engage, it mainly feels like just another routine exercise from

the Hollywood factory.