Paul J. Nemecek Two people who have never met are suddenly brought together when their spouses are killed in a plane crash. The tragedy is compounded when these two people discover that their spouses were flying to Miami together to continue an adulterous affair. The real tragedy, however, is the collection of talented people that were assembled to make this overly long and ponderous melodrama.Harrison Ford plays the internal affairs detective whose wife is killed in the crash. Kristin Scott Thomas (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The English Patient, The Horse Whisperer) plays the congresswoman whose husband is killed in the same crash. As they come to discover the ways in which their lives were intertwined in the past, they become romantically intertwined in the present. These are two of the hottest stars working in film, and their contribution to the effort is one of the brighter moments in the film. There are some great moments here in terms of acting.The cinematography in this film is also worthy of note. Phillipe Rousselaut won an Academy Award for his cinematic vision in A River Runs Through It, and his vision is just as sharp here. There are a number of shots here that would be worthy of a frame and some space on a wall.The real weakness of the film is its meandering plot and its torturous timing. We're never sure until the end if this is a mystery film, a romance film, or even a detective film. There is an uninteresting and unnecessary subplot involving police corruption that I suspect resulted from basic laziness on the part of the screenwriter. The wretchedly slow pacing may be the result of an overly ambitious editor who decided that everything had to stay.Random Hearts is directed by one of the great directors of the past two decades. Sydney Pollack has given us Tootsie, Out of Africa, and The Firm to name but a few. Sadly, this film does not have the wit and charm of Tootsie, the epic scope of Out of Africa, or the edge-of-the seat suspense of The Firm. It has a few moments of clever dialogue, but the basic story line is muddled, mundane, and/or mushy. Perhaps the real problem with the pacing is that Pollack also plays a minor role in the film as the congresswoman's spinmeister. If Pollack the director had had the courage to fire Pollack the actor, it might still have been muddled, but it would have been shorter.

dvts Without actually having read any of the reviews (except Ebert's), I think I can understand why it would rate so low - it fails as a movie. Kind of. It makes a half-hearted attempt to have a plot and to have plot mechanics and so on. And just doesn't care at all about any of that stuff, and eventually it all just fades away to nothing. Because the filmmakers don't care at all about the cop's case or his career, any more than they care about the congresswoman's career or her race for re- election, or her relationship with her daughter, or even how each of these people grieves over the loss of their spouses or the betrayal. No, the movie's not about any of that, yet that takes up a good portion of it - so it makes sense that a lot of people would go thumbs down on this.And yet - the movie is really good, if you focus just on what the movie itself cared about in itself, and what it was about at heart. And that is, simply, the two leads, and their relationship. And that's it. The rest of the movie doesn't matter at all to the people making it. But that's OK, because - Ford and Scott Thomas are amazing in this. And have amazing chemistry. And are amazingly written. We love the relationship, we really love the two people in it. We want them to end up together (I won't say if they do or not). Badly. And all the rest is just stuff to justify getting them from point A to point B and having the relationship happen and take the steps it needs to take - and that INCLUDES the entire 'premise' of the film itself, including the plane crash and the situation that opens it. So. As I say, I can see why this would get a fail grade. But it's so involving and the good in it is so good - we care so much about what the filmmakers cared about in the movie - that I can recommend it and could imagine watching it again at some point. Even if only for Kristin Scott Thomas's beautiful face with those big puppy dog eyes that are just - so open and emotional. You can fall in love with her, watching this, much moreso than in The English Patient. Her character here is extremely endearing and adorable - two words I've never used to describe any politician, fictional or otherwise. So perhaps she was miscast. But yea. A lovely woman playing a character you could imagine falling in love with (and do fall in love with, watching the movie), being hurt and having a disaster befall her, being vulnerable, and then meeting and falling for as likable and respectable and endearing a MALE performer as we've ever seen on screen. It's a recipe for success and despite the failed movie surrounding it, I think it was a success.Also of note - film features a young Kate "Never Quite Famous" Mara in an early role as the congresswoman's daughter. And there's a late scene of plot movement where a subplot crashes hilariously into the main story, in a way that momentarily threatened to be the most ludicrous such subplot intrusion in the history of cinema (narrowly averted, as she didn't take the bullet, thank God).Is the movie plausible, psychologically? No. It's absurd, psychologically. My OnDemand deal had Peter Weir's (brilliant) "Fearless" as a similar film to this. And superficially, in some plot details, yea I guess they are similar. But the films are nothing at all alike, nor are they about anything similar. The one line towards the end where Scott Thomas tells the press how the cop had been her friend, seen her thru a tough time when she needed it, how they were 'survivors' - all that rings completely hollow and doesn't match the film, which simply depicts a romance. The thing Scott Thomas is talking about at the end there would match the Rosie Perez/Jeff Bridges relationship in Fearless, which was indeed about two survivors of a tragedy using each other's company to cope (or not cope) with a trauma they'd both experienced. But this film isn't about trauma. It sidesteps all of that very quickly and is simply about a romance that, if freed from the requirements of psychological plausibility and the plot, is quite good. So. If you still are interested in seeing a nice and involving romance, despite all those many caveats - check it out.

juneebuggy Dubbed as a 'drama' I would categorize it more 'romance' and in saying that I'm not sure how I feel about watching Harrison Ford in a full-on love scene? Uncomfortable is a word that comes to mind.So anyways Harrison plays a "tough-minded internal affairs cop" (big stretch) whose wife is killed in a plane crash. Kristin Scott Thomas is a congresswoman he develops a relationship with when its discovered that her husband (also killed in plane crash) was having an affair with his wife.Intriguing enough premise, a little dull with the execution. I did find it interesting though how Ford's character "Dutch" dealt with his grief, by becoming obsessed with learning the details of his wife's affair, treating it as a case. "Kay" on the other hand just wanted to sweep the whole mess away. The ongoing score of (loud) piano music was very distracting. 06.13

John M Hightower When I first saw this film in the theaters I kind a board with it. but when i saw it on video I loved it more. it is a very loving film to watch in your spare time. I gess this movie made me think about a lot of things that went on in my life during this film in 1999. Bonnie Hunt was so awesome in this movie telling of on herself to Kay Chandler. The actors and actresses were so loving in there roles of the film. Its so wild how Cullen got around with the ladies in this movie. The soundtrack of the film was great as well. Its like all the music went with the script of the show. Over all is one of my favorite movies of all time