Rating of
N/A
So is he or isn't he the rebound?
nyp09 - wrote on 03/23/10
There are no surprises in “The Rebound”. When you hear the plot of the film, it is easy to guess what is going to happen to the characters. Mother of two, Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) has just caught her husband cheating on her and decides to move to the city to make a new start. When she goes on her first date since her separation, she calls on Aram (Justin Bartha), a broken-hearted college graduate who is just drifting through life, to take care of her kids. Aram starts to become a part of the family and he and Sandy develop feelings for each other, despite Sandy being 15 years older than him. They are plagued by age taunts from other people, and eventually the age leads to friction in the relationship. As soon as the audience realises that there is an age difference between the two, they immediately realise how the story is going to pan out. It is slightly unfair to say that the whole thing is predictable as there are parts which you will not see coming, but the actual overall outline of the film is predictable. However, romantic comedies are very rarely unpredictable, so this makes the film is typical of its genre.
Although the film is enjoyable and there are definitely some funny aspects of it, there is just something that does not work with it. Some of the comedy seems out of place. It doesn’t carry on a consistent type of comedy, it can go from being clean and innocent to being crude. Unfortunately, this can be seen as the fault of writer and director, Bart Freundlich, for making the script uneven. The film is also very slow to get going and once it does, the conflict is sudden and there is no emotional insight to it. The emotional insight is what also makes the film seen uneven. There is really a lack of emotion throughout the film, although it is more prominent in some parts than others. When talking about her separation from her husband, Sandy exhibits more emotion than she does with Aram. In this way, the audience is lead to believe that Aram is the rebound, but is he really? It is never really made clear.
There are some good qualities about the film though. There are definitely some funny parts in the film, and it is actually quite realistic in the way that Sandy handles her divorce, Aram’s life situation and the relationships in the film, not just between Sandy and Aram, but also between Aram and the kids. Catherine Zeta-Jones does give a good performance, showing that she is still as good an actor as ever. She is particularly good in the scene where she confronts her ex-husband. There is also great character development for each of the main characters, but not enough chemistry between the main characters.
Unfortunately, there does seem to be more bad points about “The Rebound” rather than good points. On the bright side, it is an easy watch, there is nothing strenuous about it and nothing that will really tug at your emotional strings. Just as side note Mr Freundlich, watch out for parts in your script that don’t make any sense. If you are born in 1983, that does not make you 30 in 2010.
