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The Big Bounce
- Review Date: July 18, 2004
- PG-13
- Genre: Comedy
- 2004
Common Sense Media says
Missing: this movie's plot.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie is pretty intense for a PG-13, with strong language, sexual references and situations (including making fun of a gay character), drinking, smoking, violence, and general bad behavior by just about everyone.
What's the story?
In THE BIG BOUNCE, sticky-fingered surf bum Jack Ryan (Owen Wilson) loses his job for bashing the boss with a baseball bat. He gets a new job as a sort of handyman for some bungalows owned by Judge Crewes (Morgan Freeman). He meets a beautiful woman named Nancy (Sara Foster) who has a weakness for men who have a weakness, and the next thing you know everyone is trying to double-cross everyone else over $250,000 in cash. It's supposed to be used to pay some goons to beat up the people who are protesting a development owned by a mean guy who is Nancy's boyfriend. But Nancy wants Jack to steal it. "All you have to do," she purrs, "is walk in poor and walk out rich."
Is it any good?
The Big Bounce wants to be comic caper movie, but the real crime is inflicted on the Elmore Leonard book credited with inspiring it. You can tell that somewhere in there there's a book with colorful characters and a couple of lines of dialogue that crackle. There is some evidence that there was an actual plot of some kind. At some point. But not now.
Wilson, who always looks like a surf bum in whatever part he is playing, finally gets to play a surf bum and is surprisingly uninteresting in the part. Foster has some spirit and Freeman's bemused spin makes his lines feel fresh and he adds a little class. But the movie feels recut by people who weren't sure what tone they were trying for, and the result is just bland.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about whether anyone in this movie trusted anyone else, and if so, how. What will happen to Jack, Nancy, and Crewes after the movie ends?
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AGE
A Decent Film - At Best
The only reason I really went to see this movie was because of Owen Wilson. He's good in the movie, but not in top form a la Shanghai Noon, The Royal Tenenbaums, or Bottle Rocket.
Overall it's a pretty mediocre and harmless movie. The most objectionable part, from my perspective, was that the female lead (who's only real job in the movie is to be good-looking) is far too skinny to be sensibly considered beautiful. She's the type of woman that encourages anorexia in girls and that men need to be retrained to think is unheathily skinny rather than attractive.
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AGE
A bad flim with no point.......
The only reason I seen the worthless flim was because of Gary Sinise. Was on for 5 seconds....so that ended my fun. I also a fan Morgan Freemon, but even he couldn't save it. Poor.
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| Studio: | Warner Bros. |
| Director: | George Armitage |
| Cast: | Charlie Sheen, Morgan Freeman, Owen Wilson |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 98 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | January 30, 2004 |
| DVD release date: | July 20, 2004 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | sexual content and nudity, violence and language |
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