Feature attraction
There is much to like in The Horse Whisperer, a sensitive romantic drama produced, directed by and starring Redford. Just as 1995's The Bridges of Madison County, another heartland romance about middle-aged protagonists, was far superior to the gooey novel upon which it was based, so this film version of Whisperer is smarter, subtler and more sexually restrained (just kissing and a heated slow dance) than its sappy bestselling source material by author Nicholas Evans. But—and it's a big but—Whisperer may be one of those movies easier to appreciate in hindsight. That's because one's hindquarters get mighty restive sitting through the film's 2-hour, 48-minute running time. Call me a city girl, but aren't a few of those endless, lingering, loving close-ups of horses and Montana hills cuttable?
The movie starts off well, setting its story in motion with economy and precision. A teenage girl (Johansson) and her horse are horribly injured in an accident. Her workaholic mom (Scott Thomas), a hotshot Manhattan editor who's a total control freak, intuits that her kid's recovery may be linked to that of the horse. She transports both out to Montana to seek the help of a horse whisperer (Redford), a fellow known for his gentle way with troubled horses. In Montana's wide open spaces—and this is where the film slows down—injuries both physical and emotional begin to heal, and love blooms between the uptight, married editor and the laconic, grounded cowboy.
There are fine, thoughtful performances here by Redford, Scott Thomas and especially Johansson. And Montana couldn't ask for a better ad campaign to promote tourism. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: Honorable effort and beautiful to look at, but a self-indulgently slow trot at times
Téa Leoni, Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood
Sometimes it's a plus to know the world is about to end. You can skip school. "My dad said I don't have to go. There's no point," explains a hooky-playing student midway through Deep Impact, a doomsday thriller in which a colossal comet is headed straight for Earth.
The movie, which signals the start of summer's silly season, is no better than it needs to be, but no worse either. In Impact, director Mimi Leder (The Peacemaker) brings—how to say this without sounding patronizing?—a woman's touch to the disaster genre. Although she includes several obligatory, let's-blow-stuff-up special effects sequences, Impact's midsection is devoted to touchy-feely scenes of characters who, facing imminent death, strive to get their relationships in order before the comet hits. (Those who want all explosions, all the time, must wait for the July 1 opening of Armageddon, the Bruce Willis movie with a nearly identical plot.)
Of the large cast, Leoni does okay as a TV reporter, Freeman should run for President after playing the perfect one here, and Duvall is his usual stalwart self as an astronaut. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: Neither deep nor impactive, but goes well with popcorn
Jada Pinkett Smith, Tommy Davidson
This one is a real stinker. A romantic comedy, it's such a sloppy mess that polishing it with all the Pledge in the world couldn't help brighten it up.
Woo's story is familiar: A long evening spent in the company of a wacky, impulsive gal named Woo (Pinkett Smith) completely rocks the world of a straitlaced guy (Davidson). Bringing Up Baby, Something Wild and even Addicted to Love have all done it better. Don't blame the talented Pinkett Smith (Set It Off), who's trying hard. But she's just one woman, she can't do it all, and she certainly gets no help from a lame, unfunny script and Daisy V.S. Mayer's (Party Girl) hapless direction. (R)
Bottom Line: Pitch Woo as far out the window as you can
Voices of Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman, Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes
Think of this animated musical as Camelot on training wheels. Instead of the adult, adulterous trio of King Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot, we get a spunky teenage girl teaming up with a blind youth to save the medieval king from a traitorous knight. Both the derring-do of this duo and the comic antics of their animal sidekicks (particularly a talkative two-headed dragon) will keep children entertained. (G)
Bottom Line: Lively idylls of a kid in King Arthur's court
>THE SPANISH PRISONER Writer-director David Mamet returns to a favorite obsession, con games, in this diabolically clever thriller starring Campbell Scott and Steve Martin. It'll keep you guessing.
HE GOT GAME Despite excess plot and characters, writer-director Spike Lee is playing close to the top of his game with a basketball drama about an embattled father and son. Denzel Washington and NBA whiz Ray Allen star.
>Matthew Broderick
Off to See the Lizard For Matthew Broderick and the other stars of Godzilla, surprise matters. "None of us are supposed to talk about it," says the 36-year-old actor, who plays a scientist trying to explain the ragin' reptile's cranky habits. "I end up getting thrown out of that job and team up with Jean Reno and then eventually Hank Azaria and Maria Pitillo, and it ends up the four of us are sort of separated and trapped, and...if I say any more, I'm afraid the phone will go dead."
Broderick accepted the part from the makers of Independence Day because he figured it would be a departure: He usually gets asked to play "the guy who gets pushed around." But this time the bully was bigger than usual. During filming (from which Broderick took a night off last May to wed longtime sweetheart Sarah Jessica Parker), Broderick couldn't see the computer-generated beast. But he says the hardest part was working in the rubber wet suit he had to wear under his clothes (he won't say why, but Godzilla may emit more than just bad breath): "It took me four months to realize I was wearing mine backwards. After I figured that out, it wasn't uncomfortable."
- Contributors:
- Natasha Stoynoff.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
