Message in a Bottle

views updated

Message in a Bottle ★★ 1998 (PG-13)

Romantic drama that's paced slower than the method of mail delivery in the title. Wright Penn is a divorced mother who finds a love note written to a mystery man's lost love floating in the Atlantic. She tracks the note to strong silent guy Costner, still grieving for his dead wife. She tries to get him to open up and move on with his life (with her preferably), but this takes a mind-numbingly long time. The two are destined to be together, but half of those watching are destined to be asleep by the time it happens. The sole reason to watch this movie is to see old pro Paul Newman steal every scene he's in as Costner's father. 132m/C VHS, DVD . Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, Paul Newman, John Savage, Illeana Douglas, Robbie Coltrane, Jesse James, Bethel Leslie, Tom Aldredge, Viveka Davis, Raphael Sbarge, Richard Hamilton, Rosemary Murphy, Stephen Eckholdt; D: Luis Mandoki; W: Gerald Di Pego; C: Caleb Deschanel; M: Gabriel Yared.