Random Hearts (1999)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writers (WGA):

Warren Adler (novel)
Darryl Ponicsan (adaptation)

Release Date:

8 October 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

In a perfect world...they never would have met.

Plot:

After the death of their loved ones in a tragic plane crash 'Harrison Ford' and Kristin Scott Thomas find...

Plot Keywords:

Death | Box Office Flop | Funeral | Sexuality | Victimization

Cast

Harrison Ford	...	Dutch Van Den Broeck
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Kay Chandler
Charles S. Dutton	...	Alcee
Bonnie Hunt	...	Wendy Judd
Dennis Haysbert	...	Detective George Beaufort
Sydney Pollack	...	Carl Broman
Richard Jenkins	...	Truman Trainor
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Dick Montoya
Susanna Thompson	...	Peyton Van Den Broeck
Peter Coyote	...	Cullen Chandler
Dylan Baker	...	Richard Judd
Lynne Thigpen	...	Phyllis Bonaparte
Susan Floyd	...	Molly Roll
Bill Cobbs	...	Marvin
Kate Mara	...	Jessica Chandler

MPAA:

Rated R for brief violence, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (British Columbia/Manitoba) | USA:R (certificate #36468) | Malaysia:18SX | Iceland:12 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:6 | Mexico:B | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

During production planning for this film, the studio contacted American Airlines to request information about its "CARE Team" in order to portray the movie airline's response team more accurately. American declined, seeing no upside in being associated with a film about a crash.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Dutch meets Kay for the first time, as he is leaving her apartment, she is standing by the door to let him out. During the close-up of him, you can see the door behind him. The very next shot, the door is behind her again.

Quotes:

Dutch Van Den Broeck: You're supposed to be nice to me. I've been shot.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: The Making of 'Random Hearts' (#6.8)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Daddy's Little Girl

dull, dreary romantic tale

Has there ever been a more dour, dreary and depressing movie romance than "Random Hearts," a film that drones on for 131 grueling minutes and traps two wonderful actors, Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas, in its diabolical clutches?

Ford is a police sergeant working in internal affairs and Thomas is a New Hampshire congresswoman whose paths cross when their spouses, who are having a secret affair with each other, die in a plane crash. Drawn together by both circumstance and grief, the two begin a tentative love affair despite the many complications it sets up.

The actors do their best given the stark limitations of portraying two people overcome with despair, but the audience is nevertheless subjected to more than two hours of unrelieved gloominess. In a sense, it is a bit of a relief to see a romantic film that is not all lightheartedness and carefree silliness, but a subject as profound as the study of grief and loss on the human psyche demands a less conventional, more imaginative and serious a format than this film provides. (The brilliant film, "Fearless," from 1993 is a startling case in point). The actions of the characters often ring false as when, for instance, the two grieving spouses, sitting in a car, suddenly begin grappling in a wild sexual frenzy, a moment that elicits giggles from the audience because it is so lacking in motivation and preparation. Moreover, the film pads out its narrative by constantly cutting away to an irrelevant and wholly underdeveloped subplot involving Ford's pursuit of a murderous cop - a sideshow that results in a completely ludicrous shooting scene that undercuts the seriousness of the film's purpose.

"Random Hearts" is an obvious and, perhaps, even admirable attempt to bring a more mature, adult-oriented love story to the screen. It's a shame, then, that all involved seem to have confused dreariness with profundity and gloominess with depth.