"To be someone's true North?  Are you kidding?"      

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE (PG-13) 

Reviewed February 13, 1999 - Check out the Message In A Bottle Website.

Theresa Osborne (Robin Wright Penn) is a researcher and staff writer at the Chicago Tribune, a thirty-something professional and just-divorced single mother.  While jogging on the beach one morning, she happens upon a bottle in the sand, a bottle with a message.  It's a message of love and loss and regret, a message "To Catherine:" from someone who signs the letter with a single initial, "G".  Intrigued and moved by the message, she takes the bottle and the letter to her office, unleashing a chain of events which leads Theresa on a search for the mysterious author.  Who is G?  Who is Catherine?  What happened to this tragic couple?  It's not long before Theresa discovers the origin of the letter, a shipbuilder named Garret Blake (Kevin Costner) who lives on the Carolina Coast.  She finds him, they meet, and...well...you know how it goes from there.

In slightly over two hours of runtime, Message In A Bottle slowly peels away the story between Garret and Catherine while slowly developing the romance between Theresa and Garret.  Adapted from the bestselling novel by Nicholas Sparks, it's a film that takes its time, it's a film that speaks quietly, and (despite a certain level of predictability) it's a film that works.  Credit goes to Robin Wright Penn for a captivating performance as Theresa, and to Paul Newman for his often hilarious role as Garret's father, Dodge.  Kevin Costner, who often has mixed success portraying emotion of any kind, also handles his role well, resulting in a film that is definitely well-acted all around.  Add to this the absolutely gorgeous cinematography in this film, and you have a romantic drama that will surely be loved by many.  Yes, Message In A Bottle *is* an unabashed tearjerker, but judging by all the sniffling I heard it's quite an effective one.  Date-flick, chick-flick, call it what you want, but I found this film extremely watchable and its leisurely pace very tolerable.  The ending will no doubt be a point of contention for many people, but that's something you'll have to see and decide for yourself... :-)

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

Barb gives this movie  stars: "My husband and I agree it is most depressing. None of the characters can talk to each other. The "love" interest is based on pity and deception (Teresa); Garrett is so crippled he doesn't know which way is up. Catherine's family can only resort to violence. And the ending makes no sense except to perpetuate the death theme. The lesson: make sure you know how to communicate well with people. A better title: "Don't Let This Happen to You"." (8/31/99)

melissa@everythingchanges.com gives this movie  stars: "This movie was ok. Well, except the end. I have never seen a movie that would switch directions so quickly! Needless to say, I was disappointed." (5/23/99)

roche_leonor@yahoo.com gives this movie  stars: "I never really liked sad endings but with 'Message in a Bottle', I certainly appreciated it. I specially liked the letters. They're so touching." (5/16/99)