Chrysanthepop Considering the cast and the fact that it was an Elmore Leonard adaptation, I wanted to see this flick. However, it was disappointing. The film (though very small) moved at an extremely lethargic pace with hardly anything happening (except in the last 5 minutes or something). I haven't read Leonard's book so I can't comment on how fair it was to the script. There isn't much of a story as pretty much nothing happens in more than half the movie. The non-compelling ending is very badly written and we are left to figure out the plot holes. Why just the ending, the whole film is boring. The dialogues are, now I don't use this word often but, lame. A few funny moments include the breaking in the cops house, the fight between Sheen and Wilson while the girl watches.Sadly, the cast has been wasted. Wilson and Foster have no chemistry. Being a talented actor, Wilson deserves a better movie. Poor Morgan Freeman hardly has anything to do except utter a few wise (not really) words. Sheen and Sinise have insignificant roles. Newarth springs a surprise but is hardly there. Foster is alright.On the flip side, the cinematography gives us a wonderful tour through exotic Hawaii. It makes me want to go there and at times, I thought maybe the director and cast just happened to be there on holiday and decided to make a film. The soundtracks quite okay too. Thankfully it's a short film too so one not need to suffer too much. Even to fans of the cast and Leonard, this will be a disappointment.

ccthemovieman-1 It's movies like this that give modern-day films a reputation as "garbage," especially among classic-film lovers. I try to defend today's movies to them when they tell me today's movies are all morally bankrupt. Well, in this case, I have no rebuttal. I agree, this is another example of a modern effort that puts too much stock on the sleaze and winds up on the weak side of being classy. It's also another good example of a PG-13 movie that should have been rated "R." There are tons of examples of that in the last 15 years. Parents: be more leery of PG-13 than another rating. Usually, a movie that features crime and comedy is going to be either really good or really bad, depending on the quality of the jokes. Here, very little was funny and by halfway, I could care less about the crime angle. If you are to inject humor into a heist story, make sure it works, or you are going to wind up with a mess like this. Also, the movie seemed to be more of an environmental propaganda piece than anything else. Did Al Gore have a hand in this? It would explain how boring this wound up and all the bias. It just looks as if the filmmakers didn't know what direction go to and wound up with a sub-par performance in all the categories.Owen Wilson plays a smart-ass surfer dude. If his character "Jack Ryan" is the hero of this film, it's no wonder I got turned off in a hurry. I didn't find him a "likable guy," as some others did: just a wise guy who had the cute answers to everything. I have found Wilson to be similar to the crime-comedy genre: he's either very entertaining or very annoying.Speaking of actors, I was very disappointed to see two of my favorites - Gary Sinise and Morgan Freeman - involved with this turkey.I don't blame Wilson for everything. He didn't write the dialog. He didn't cast Sara Foster as the lead female. He didn't write a screenplay in which none of the characters are likable enough for us to care about them. At least I have company as I see most other reviewers here thought this movie stunk, too.

drfpnw Some movies we like because the players fully inhabit their roles and thereby draw us into a well-crafted story articulately photographed, creatively edited and cleverly directing. Such films bewitch us so completely that we are startled by the deep contrasts between the reality we live in and the deepest realization that there are other embodied worlds all about us. They become portals, however temporary, to new and mysterious realms of being.Other films, like "The Big Bounce" and lots and lots and lots of fun! You like to have fun, don't you? Sure you do!Unlike the sourpuss who wrote the first comment on this flick (*please lighten up!*), I was put into a very good mood indeed by the sheer silliness of it all. Think of it as being at a great party with your favorite people all around you, having a great time. If you're not an Owen Wilson fan, then you shouldn't watch this movie. You should go play chess with death or something, or watch that baby carriage bounce down the Odessa Steps again and again. The rest of us are having too much fun yakking at Wilson's perverse line delivery. I could watch Morgan Freeman go through a tax audit and have a great time. Gary Sinese isn't as sinister as usual - he's in Hawaii, man - why should he be? Charlie Sheen actually looks dorky here for a change, and I haven't seen Harry Dean Stanton in years, glad to know he's still around. I had no idea who played the alkey rich wife till I saw the credits and fell head-over-heels in love with Bebe Neuwirth again. I hope Sara Foster does more movies - normally bimbos are interchangeable but her version is so seductively bad for you you you *still* would do it all over again. No mean looks, no leather pants or whips (again, it's Hawaii) - she's fun, which is why people fall for people that are bad for them - they provide the near occasion of more fun then you generally get to have.Anybody else? Oh yeah, hi Willie, good to see you again, glad you didn't sing.And #9 has the best sh*t-eating grin on the planet.But I better close this off, Death and that guy playing chess over there are giving me dirty looks.Watch "The Big Bounce" and have some good laughs.

jpschapira Now I'm thinking about something Gian told me each time I watch a movie. He told me that every image, every camera angle means something in a piece. I said it maybe is like that, but in "The Big Bounce", with Hawaii's views, I didn't find anything meaningful in the trees, the beach and the people surfing.Coming form the novelist of two books that ended in intelligent movies (Elmore Leonard; "Jackie Brown", "Out of sight"), is weird how little of intelligence this film has. Maybe it was Sebastian Gutierrez's script that couldn't correctly adapt the book, or George Armitage's fascination with the view, who forgot he had to direct a story.When we meet Jack (Owen Wilson), he begins to narrate his story, but he won't be narrator at all because he will only talk again a couple of times. Then we meet the supporting characters, participants of the robbery; because Jack's a thief and the title announces this will happen. The girl is Nancy (Sara Foster), the nemesis but also partner is Walter (Morgan Freeman) and the victim is Ray (Gary Sinise) With those characters, another movie came to my mind; "After the sunset". Brett Ratner, a skillful director, could have got a good film, but was also trapped by the same exotic wildness, the views, the women; and the lack of content turned out to be the obvious result.Both movies generate laughs, but if "The Big Bounce" wins in something is in the right choice of the elements to make the movie work. Owen Wilson is a more charismatic lead than Pierce Brosnan, even when he can't carry an entire movie by his own. And his chemistry with Sara Foster is better than Brosnan's chemistry with Salma Hayek. Plus, Foster is much prettier than Hayek and more qualified for a role like this one than the inexpressive Mexican actress (maybe Frida was the only right role for her). Sara Foster is an incredible discovery. On the other hand, the pro Freeman is a better actor than Woody Harrelson, but not funnier. The victim character is irrelevant, unluckily for the great actors that portrayed it in both films.When you watch "The Big Bounce", try to focus in the elements I'm telling you about so you can enjoy it a little bit. Believe me, you won't care about the rest.