Random Hearts (2000, DVD)

This was an entirely disappointing movie viewing experience. Harrison Ford is a police officer whose wife is killed in a plane crash with her married lover. Two dead spouses, two living. So....

So what! There is a hint of a story here, but it is never realized. This is a drama lacking in...drama. Not to mention common sense, believable characters, or good dialogue.

Because his dead wife's infidelity came as a shock to him, Ford becomes completely and morbidly obsessed with finding out all the juicy details of her relationship with the now-dead lover. Not just where they met, or when, but what the hotel room looked like where they were destined to, or never destined to stay.

For his investigation, he aggressively pursues assistance from his dead-wife's lover's spouse to join him on his morbid quest. She is unwilling, at first, but then finds herself compelled, for some reason -- not only to assist Ford, but to physically then sexually attack him in her car. This was a very uncomfortable scene to watch -- as it was obvious that it was also uncomfortable for the actors to portray it.

Very soon, however, she decides "Hey--my husband just died; I could be on the rebound here; I could be just trying to get even by sleeping with his dead-lovers husband; I could be overlooking the fact that this man has been jipped in the personality department; but...I think I'll sleep with him anyway. And so we are treated to an extremely uninspired love scene. (Ford looked like the worst kisser on the silver screen!)

Add to this the facts that there was no meaningful dialogue, no believable explanation for why Ford was acting so --well--dangerously obsessed,(other than the fact he is a dangerously obsessed person), and no way to interpret the length of time that had passed between the characters first meeting and last. Also, figure in that there was a daughter character that popped conveniently in and out of the movie for no apparent reason, and whose presence served no important purpose. As well, there were little "sub-plots" that served only to take up film.

Harrison's acting is also a non-event as he moped around the entire movie with one facial expression and a monotone voice.

This was just a really bad movie. It could have been shot in half an hour as a vignette, with a good lead, and compelling dialogue---and it still wouldn't hold much water.