Bounce

When Ben Affleck goes searching for the widow (Gwyneth Paltrow) of the dead guy who got his seat on a doomed airliner, his plans are to simply apologize...but he falls in love with her instead, and decides to keep their true connection a secret, until she learns it from someone else. Our hero listens to our heroine bearing her soul, sleeps with her, buddies up to her two young sons, and still doesn't tell her. Yet we're supposed to like this selfish jackass because he's a recovering alcoholic and a glib stud learning What's Really Important In Life. We're supposed to feel bad for Ben and root for Gwyneth to take him back because his eyes get a little moist after she gives him his walking papers. Good riddance, I say. What a come-down for writer-director Don Roos, whose last film was the hilariously cynical yet emotionally complex farce The Opposite of Sex. I would never have suspected him capable of something this sentimentally disingenuous. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—Apr. 10, 2012—Lionsgate, 106 min., PG-13, $14.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2000's Bounce sports a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include audio commentary by writer-director Don Roos and co-producer Bobby Cohen, deleted scenes with optional commentary (48 min.), scene-specific commentary by Roos, and costars Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow (45 min.), an “All About Bounce” making-of featurette (23 min.), “Ben and Gwyneth Go Behind the Scenes” (22 min.), a gag reel (6 min.), the “Need to Be Next to You” music video by Leigh Nash, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid Blu-ray debut for an unremarkable romcom.]