MY GOD! What happened to Sydney Pollack? He used to direct good movies, but since the mediocre “Havana” in 1990, it’s been one painful slide into a pile of s**t.
In this would-be prestige film based on Warren Adler’s novel, a plane crashes outside of Washington, D.C. carrying the spouses of Internal Affairs sergeant Dutch Van Der Broeck (Harrison Ford) and U.S. Congresswoman Kay Chandler (Kristen Scott Thomas). Dutch soon finds that the deceased were having an affair right under their noses. The obsessive cop confronts Kay in a pointless attempt to find out why, BUT ONLY FINDS LOVE. Yes, the audience was laughing, too.
While an attraction might be somewhat plausible in light of some common tastes in mates, I can’t really buy a beautiful, New England congresswoman’s attraction to a MUCH older (18-year age difference), overly hostile cop played by Ford at his MOST unattractive.
What was Kristen Scott Thomas thinking? She looks ridiculous next to the aging Ford, who gives his worst performance ever. He’s so wooden he makes Keanu Reeves look like Nicolas Cage. The actress may have believed that “The Horse Whisperer” and this bomb could lead her to Meryl Streep’s career, but this kind of studio product is only going to give her Jane Fonda’s. Fonda has only starred in four theatrical features since 1982 and the only memorable films she’s made since she was Thomas’ age are “Julia”, “Coming Home” and “Nine to Five”. That last one may not be the direction she would like to go.
