Message in a Bottle
1999  PG-13  DRAMA  2h 11min
CAST— Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, John Savage, Illeana Douglas, Robbie Coultrane, Paul Newman
MUSIC— Gabriel Yared  DIRECTOR— Luis Mandoki  BASED ON— Message in a Bottle (novel), by Nicholas Sparks

     Lies. Deception. Dishonesty. Upon these roots a passionate romance begins in this tear jerker of a drama. Robin Wright Penn plays a Chicago Tribune columnist vacationing at Cape Cod, who discovers a bottle washed ashore. Inside is an intensely romantic letter from a mystery man. Back at the Tribune she uses every means at her disposal to track down the origins of the letter. Finally, the discovery is made: it was written by a man in a town on a small island off the coast of North Carolina, a man who restores sailboats. Off she goes to meet the man (strictly on a professional basis, of course), but after meeting him, she never reveals the true reason for her interest in him. But soon love starts to bloom for the two, even though she has her career seemingly a million miles away and he still can’t let go of the memory of his late wife, Catherine. There are many great moments in the film, many highs and lows, but the performances (Paul Newman’s for example) really add depth to the story. P.S.: as mentioned earlier, it’s a tear jerker, so to keep a tissue or two handy may be prudent.
OUR RATING— ***