Forces of Nature (1999) Reviews

• conventional romance with a surprise brave ending

  Buddy-512000-02-22

  In "Forces of Nature," Ben Affleck stars as Ben, a repressed, buttoned-up stuffed shirt writer who, through a series of natural and manmade mishaps, ends up spending the several days before his impending marriage in the company of a freespirited, totally spontaneous and liberated young woman named Sarah, played by Sandra Bullock. For the vast majority of the film's running time, the screenplay follows the conventions of the opposites-attract scenario almost slavishly. The script even provides Ben's fiancee with an overly-convenient replacement in the form of a now-hunky childhood friend she has not seen in years who rekindles sparks with her on the eve of the wedding. Thus, the stage is set for the predictable true love romantic finale. But, damn, if the writers don't pull the rug out from under us and shatter the time-honored cliche. This is particularly surprising because, up to now, the film has exhibited no trace of iconoclasm in either its plot or character development. In fact, the screenplay is less a full-fledged narrative than a series of photographic montage sequences strung lazily together as Ben and Sarah engage in one cutesy situation and encounter after another. Thus, the unconventionality of the resolution comes as an even more stunning surprise than it otherwise might. Affleck and Bullock are very appealing as two young people who complement each other's strengths and weaknesses and who learn to offer one another valuable life lessons. "Forces of Nature" emerges as one of those rare films that is, perhaps bizarrely, actually better in retrospect than in the watching.

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• Surprising, better than I expected

  TeaBunny2000-04-13

  After reading the back of the video box about the "whirlwind romance" and the plot about Ben heading towards his wedding and meeting a "free-spirited" woman who teaches him how to have fun, I didn't have much interest in seeing it. It sounded extremely trite, and I'm not too interested in Bullock or Affleck either. I was very surprised at the sharp dialogue and humor. And even though every frame of this film looked like a jeans commercial, I *liked* the cinematography and hip, colorful locales. Of course the whole thing was totally unbelievable and the various events that occur are a bit overdone... but I liked it anyway. I am a sucker for road movies, so that was part of the appeal for me... traveling, different locations (the laundromat, the snack bar with the giant globe and the Big KMart at 2AM). I expected Ben's bride-to-be to be a crashing bore or uptight priss, so the audience would root for Sarah and Ben. But she was funny and sharp also, and you don't feel like the marriage would suck all the life out of Ben as it seemed to have for others in the film. All of the things Ben overhears about marriage sucking is pretty funny. I only post here about movies that make an impression on me, whether good or bad... and this one made an impression. I liked it. And no one is more surprised about that than me.

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• Planes, Trains and…very few laughs

  bob the moo2003-01-31

  Two days before his wedding, Ben's grandfather has a heart attack while dancing with a stripper. Due to the delay Ben's fiancé, Bridget, flies ahead to Savannah to make the preparations. Ben catches a plane later the day and meets free-spirit Sarah. When the plane is in a minor crash the two join up to head to Savannah by any way other than road, leading to one `comic' delay after another. Meanwhile the two become a little closer and Ben begins to doubt that marriage is for him. I first saw this in the cinema with my girlfriend (at the time) in a fit of trying to be seen to be giving and willing to watch silly films that she wants to see. At the time I was particularly untaken by the whole film despite the odd amusing touch. A few years on she bought it on video – she likes the silly films she can watch with her friends – and I gave it another go. The film is sadly as poorly pitched as I remember it, it isn't light enough to be funny and it isn't well enough written to be an involving drama. However, by trying to do both it fails to do either well. The light part is clearly indebted to `Planes, Trains & Automobiles' in it's make-up, with cross country japes and one mishap after another. However to even compare the laughs in that film with the low number in this is, well, laughable. The film tries to have some `hilarious' set pieces but none of them are more than amusing. Even the support characters who wander in and out only ever manage a few good lines. What makes this harder is the serious side to the film where Sarah has a child and an abusive husband and Ben gets nothing but advice not to marry. This element is present all the way through and makes the film much more of a drama than a comedy, but, because it wants to be funny as well, the drama doesn't really work very well. Affleck is a non-character here and doesn't have the charisma to really involve the audience. Bullock is normally good but this is outside of her normal character and she doesn't wear the difficult edges well. The two have a reasonable chemistry that helps them through the rough patches but they don't fizz or spark together. The support cast throws up a few interesting faces who give good performances including Ronny Cox, Zahn, Tierney and a few others. The film has been applauded for the realistic (low-key) ending which is certainly better on paper than the usual formulaic ending and on this I pretty much agree. It doesn't spoil the film simply because the 30 minutes before this are so very serious and not funny. On top of this the film also has some nice directorial touches in slow-mo rain and hail storms. However the impact of the emotional climax in a swirling wind of flower petals is rather spoilt by the really poor back projection used to carry it off. Overall though this film is a bit of a letdown as it manages to only half work as a comedy and as a drama although it does have some nice touches that make it worth seeing as long as you know what to expect.

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• Pretty darned good movie, better than we thought it would be!

  TxMike1999-10-13

  This is a review of the DVD version of "Forces of Nature". My wife and I rented this movie because we like Sandra Bullock, especially, and also Ben Affleck. We didn't have high expectations, except to be entertained. And we found it very entertaining and not particularly predictable. Affleck, the prospective groom, has to make his way to Savanna in two days after a plane problem, complicated by an arriving hurricane. He meets up with the ditsy Bullock, and both of them learn quite a bit about themselves. If you watch the special features on the DVD, Bullock explains how every one you meet, even short "chance" meetings, have some impact on you, and this is a large part of what the movie tries to convey. And it does it very well. There's good acting, lots of interesting "developments", and a very good story in total. I give it 7 of 10. It is a much better movie than I expected. The DVD picture is very well done, and the sound track likewise, with appropriate use of the rear surround channels. My only complaint? Not enough bass rumble during the lightning and thunder scenes during the storms. July 2010 update: Saw it again, a pretty entertaining movie with a good message.

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• I'm sorry, I liked it

  csauer2005-11-16

  I read the user comments and was reluctant to view this movie. Well I'm sure glad I went against the crowd. This is a good movie! What more could you ask for. (Sandy is great) The scene I adored is when Sarah is beckoning Ben to come and dance. If a women ever did that to me I would run to her. I really enjoyed the ending but I won't discuss that. There were enough laughs to keep it lite and enjoyable. The gay bar was a real hoot. Ben did a superb acting job doing his dance all be it Sandy does'st hurt the eyes. The one thing I liked is this movie is not a tear jerker. Most of Sandy's movies have me shedding tears like a water works. The story line surely shows that people live their lives in very different ways and that gives the movie credence. What's to not like? Easy to follow has Sandy in it what more could you want? One criticism, what did they use to put on sandy's eye makeup on a putty knife?

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