Touches You

Nice effects though.

Just what I expected

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

"The Big Bounce" is not a boring film, but it is certainly unremarkable. It is too often the case that the film feels like a six-episode television series that has been scrapped and then condensed down into a 100 minute feature. It is rich in character diversity and snappy put-downs; overflowing with a sense of people coming and going in and out of one another's universes that can often be refreshing and is laden with micro-narratives pertaining to heists; betrayals and collapsing marriages, but there is no finished product – no substance to really sink one's teeth into.Owen Wilson plays Jack Ryan (no, not that one) – a handsome conman who has served time for his petty crimes but now lies low on a Hawaiian island and works on a construction site. He's cool; calm and amusing. When he breaks the law, in infiltrating the glamorous surroundings of a beach house hosting a pool party so as to nab a couple of hundred in notes to tide himself over, he does it in such a way that we cannot quite hate him for it.Ryan lands himself in some trouble when he clobbers a foreman with a baseball bat following an altercation on his work-site that involves protesters unhappy at the desecration of their lands to make way for a new hotel. Fired, and told menacingly by the henchman (played by Charlie Sheen) of his ex-boss that he should leave the island, he finds solace in working as a handyman for Morgan Freeman's district judge Walter Crewes on a small holiday-camp he runs on the side.It is around this time that he meets Nancy (Sara Foster), a blonde twenty-something beach-bimbo with a backstory of city-based exotic dancing and a fetish for criminality – not a dangerous girl, but one who is fast and loose and too pretty for Ryan to turn away from when she demonstrates an interest in him. The reason for this is, of course, that he himself has a penchant for criminality, albeit petty burglaries. The relationship occupies the bulk of the film's middle third – Nancy, already having an affair with the chap who wants to build that hotel, is thus able to garner access to yachts and luxury villas otherwise off-limits where the endless teasing; flirting and talking plays out.Sadly, there is no real substance to this core relationship: Nancy is turned on by criminals and Jack commits crimes. Elmore Leonard, author of the novel from many years earlier upon which the film is based, would later bring a character similar to Jack Ryan together with a federal marshal in "Out of Sight" – two binaries that should repel but who eventually come to attract. Rum Punch, later adapted as "Jackie Brown", possessed at the core of it a far tougher love story to bring to life between the eponymous Brown and Max Cherry.Eventually, Nancy digs out that the man to whom she plays mistress possesses the sum of $200,000 nearby – located, as it happens, in a safe in one of these luxurious homes he owns. She hits upon the idea that they could steal it, but Ryan already has an angry foreman in a neck-brace out for payback; an on-off criminal accomplice in the form of Frank (Gregory Sporleder) saying he needs $1500 to pay off some bad people and a job to hold down for Crewes who has his own plans for Ryan...The film is not remarkably well made – it is bouncy in that way "Get Shorty" and "Jackie Brown" are without ever being frivolous, but does not amount to the satisfying experience those films were. We are provided with endless shots of surfers to transist between scenes, while the close ups of the rolling white waves as they crash into the beach as Nancy and Jack make love is just clumsy. On one occasion, there is a particularly silly sequence whereby Nancy nips back and forth between the first and ground floors of a house to appease Jack and another male visitor (with whom she is additionally having an affair) without the other knowing either of them is present.There is a certain style and a certain logic to the film, although I am perplexed as to why one character seems to spend the duration of the film trying to talk Ryan out of doing something which is crucial to a plan of his own that he has up his sleeve for later on. When all is said and done, this is tough to recommend as both a genre piece and as a standalone accomplishment.

Jack Ryan (Owen Wilson) is your typical surfer dude in Hawaii, except he has also has a background as a thief, mostly small breaking and entering crimes where he leaves with his pockets aligned with decent cash and maybe some valuables here and there. After hitting construction foreman Lou Harris (Vinnie Jones), who works for a corrupt island Ray Ritchie (Gary Sinise), in the head with a bat, both Harris and the Ritchie's assistant Bob Rogers Jr. (Charlie Sheen) want Ryan to leave the island asap.However, a resort bungalow owner and local judge Walter Crewes (Morgan Freeman) takes a liking to Jack's laidback ways, and employs him at his resort as a handymen. This gives Jack and opportunity to get closer to Nancy Hayes (Sara Foster), a bad girl who knows how to smile and bat her eyes the right way around town. "She likes the criminal type," Walter warns Jack, but Jack doesn't listen and begins to hang around with Nancy, pulling off petty heists like the kind he is used to. Nancy wants more excitement, though. It isn't long before she gets the idea to stage a $200,000 heist on Ritchie.The Big Bounce is based off of Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name, but instead of taking place in the Michigan Thumb the story was moved to the shore of Oahu. This definitely makes the film more pleasing to look at and appealing in aesthetic, but it can't shake the fact that this film is meandering, far too directionless, and very dry as a whole. The film lacks energy and mystery for being a heist movie and adopts a persona about as lax and as breezy as its main character and location.I often haven't read many of the books when I review their film counterparts, so all I can do is tactfully assume what Leonard's novel contained. Two of the key ingredients for a crime novel are interest and, at least, some clarity of the overall mystery. The Big Bounce has a lot of characters, who are interesting on a basic level, but never seem to channel anything but basic archetypes. The actors work with what they have in their respective roles, sure, but if they were paid by lesser-known, second-rate actors, would you remember them just as well? Owen Wilson does some fine work, and Sara Foster, for her first time, channels the sexiness someone like Hayden Panettiere but possesses the personality of an Olsen twin. Arguably the best performance in the film is given by Morgan Freeman but, really, is that much of a surprise? There is a scene right near the end that has two characters, a man and a woman who should remain unspoiled, and the woman is talking to the man, confused about what their plan of action is now that they're about to be exposed. She keeps questioning the plan and the man continues to correct her. She only gets more and more confused. I think this is the closest the film comes with connecting the audience because nothing in The Big Bounce is clarified to the point of being digestible to the audience. By the end, I was trying to piece together what the ultimate goal of all of this was and what both parties were trying to achieve. Usually, in a crime drama, this is what the filmmakers want you to be doing, except instead of feeling like I had all the pieces somewhere in front of me, it felt as if I had a ten-piece puzzle and three pieces were on the floor, two were mistakenly thrown out, two were falsely advertized, and I was left with three that may or may not have been from the puzzle on the box. And so The Big Bounce goes on, and on, for a surprisingly short eighty-one minutes, going from mildly-interesting, to dull, to boring, to amusing, to somewhat funny, and the cycle repeats. Eventually, it becomes more of a scenery-chewing project for several talented actors who occasionally could be mistaken for contemplating better role choices in their future during this movie.Starring: Owen Wilson, Sara Foster, Morgan Freeman, Charlie Sheen, Gary Sinise, Vinnie Jones, Bebe Neuwirth, Willie Nelson, and Harry Dean Stanton. Directed by: George Armitage.

We are in Hawái , there Jack Ryan a young ex-con who gets fired from his employment ,then he takes another job as handyman and cleaner of a judge and local hotel proprietary called Sam (Morgan Freeman). Meanwhile , he is enamored by a shady and gorgeous woman named Nancy (Sara Foster), she's lover to an unscrupulous mobster called Ritchie (Gary Sinese). Nancy proposes Jack to help her with the robbery Ritchie's safe with supposedly big amount of money. He reluctantly help her , but problems ,double-crosses , risks and dangers are arising.The film mingles intrigue , black comedy with cynical sense of humor , action , suspense and exotic landscapes including shores , islands , and beaches from Hawaii . The movie contains several ingredients for amusement and entertainment such as surf , yachts , sunny outdoors and sexy girls wearing T-shirt and bikinis . Owen Wilson as sympathetic drifter is nice and Sara Foster as sulky and seductive young is awesome . However, Morgan Freeman and Gary Sinese are miscast , but they usually play intelligent and upright roles . Other secondary actors as Charlie Sheen , Willie Nelson , Vinnie Jones , Bebe Neuwirth and Harry Dean Stanton are well. Wonderful outdoors and lush interiors are beautifully photographed by Jeffrey L. Kimball and lively and atmospheric music by George S Clinton . Screenplay by Elmo Leonard ,an old novelist and screenwriter specialist on noir plots and western and working from ¨Tall T¨,¨3:10 Yuma¨,¨Hombre¨ continuing with ¨Rosary murders¨, ¨Get shorty¨, ¨Jackie Brown¨ till nowadays . This film was previously adapted by Alex March (1969) with Ryan O'Neal and Leigh Taylor Young . Motion picture was regularly directed by George Armitage . Rating : Average but with lots of fun for the entire youth and it will appeal to noir comedy fans .

The worst dialog in the history of screenplays!!! Mr. Bing would have been better of putting his money in ENRON stock!!! How can Hollywood expect us to "GO to the Movies" when they come out with this junk!!! Morgan Freeman had a nice shirt and that's all I can say positive about "THE BIG FLOP". Geo. Armitage should offer a Refund w/ his next Blockbuster!! This " Thing " made a ROGER CORMAN Film look like a "BEST PICTURE" lock on Oscar!!! Enough said!!! I don't think so!!! Remember" Vigalante Force "," Privite Duty Nurses ", etc. Where do Directors get the $$$$$$$$$$$ to make this junk???????????? Perhaps there's too much HOLLYWEED in Hollywood!!!!!!!!!!!