Message in a Bottle

by Vivian Rose

"Message in a Bottle" is Kevin Costner's best movie in a long time. Which is not to say that it's that great, just that it's much better that either "Waterworld" or "The Postman" which were both overlong, tedious movies.

Actually, "Message in a Bottle" is kind of depressing - it features more shipwrecks and dead lovers than the movie "Titanic"! Costner plays a ship restorer living on the eastern United States coast. Robin Wright Penn plays a newspaper researcher who tracks him down via several letters he wrote, stuck in a bottle, and tossed out to sea. (She found one of these letters and was intrigued.) Although a romance soon blossoms between them, it's clear that he's still very attached to Katherine, his dead wife, (two years in the grave!) , so their relationship remains rocky. Meanwhile, she still hasn't told him that she found the letters.

"Message in a Bottle" is definitely a chick flick, yet it has entertaining moments. I liked Paul Newman in his powerfully acted and sometimes amusing supporting role as Costner's father (and all these years I thought Newman just sold salad dressing!) And I'm glad that Costner finally seems to be moving in the right direction with his films.

My rating: 3 stars
Rating : PG-13