The first romantic comedy of the summer, and the first big chance for several actors. Hope Floats is an amusing and light-hearted movie that will have you leaving the theater smiling.
Birdee (Sandra Bullock) and Bernice (Mae Whitman) Pruitt
Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock)...yes Birdee, why any parent would be cruel enough to name their child Birdee I'll never know... is the stereotypical happy woman. She was the homecoming queen who married the captain of the football team and was the housewife while he was the successful businessman. Then her best friend brought her on a Jerry Springer type talk show and told her that she was having an affair with Birdee's husband Bill (Michael Paré). Not Knowing what to do Birdee takes her daughter Bernice (Mae Whitman) and moves back in with her mother (Gena Rowlands) in a small town near Austin, TX. As she tries to cope with her misfortune she runs into one of her old childhood friends, Justin Matisse (Harry Connick, Jr.), and finds out that he had always had a crush. The last two hours of the movie pretty much follows Birdee and Justin moving from a friendship to a romantic relationship.
Harry Connick, Jr. as Justin Matisse
Even with the lack of a dynamic plot throughout the majority of the movie, Hope Floats is an entertaining film with some suprising performances. Sandra Bullock isn't spectacular but she does a very good job playing a woman whose life has basically been torn to shreds. Harry Connick, Jr. showed his versatility and talent... proving he isn't just another singer trying to act. But in my opinion the best characters in the movie are the two child actors, Mae Whitman as Bernice and Cameron Finley as Travis, Bernice's cousin. Whitman's portrayal of Bernice gave a lot of comic relief and some suprisingly dramatic moments. The best part of the movie for me was when Bernice first meets Justin and it is obvious she doesn't like him when she says "Mama named a skunk Justin Matisse once... Do you think that's a coincidence?... She would go around screaming 'You stink Justin Matisse', then she just took a club and killed it." And the scene when Birdee's husband comes back to tell her he wants a divorce showed some very mature acting for such a young actress (even though her crying needs some work, but for a child it was good.) Finley role of Travis was probably the most amusing character. Throughout the film he is always dressed up as different characters and acting them out. When we first see Travis he is pretending to be a dog, complete with ears and a painted nose... later on he dresses up as a frog, a cowboy, Charlie Chaplin, a clown, and a Barney like dinosaur. It really reminded me of what it was like to be a little kid, always pretending to be something. What I am trying to say is even though the plot really doesn't go anywhere, they made up for it with a lot of funny dialogue and some great comedic acting. If you want to smile, Hope Floats will get the job done.
