Bounce

Miramax Films | Release Date: November 17, 2000

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

52	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Todd McCarthy

Simultaneously contrived and genuinely felt. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

Affleck and Paltrow, who've been excellent elsewhere, display less chemistry than they've shown in magazine photo shoots. Even Woody and Bo Peep had more going on between them in "Toy Story" than these two manage here. Read full review

Edward Guthmann

Surprisingly tepid and soapy. Read full review

Paula Nechak

Flies coach instead of first class, despite a charismatic cast. Read full review

Andrew O'Hehir

A pallid, mediocre tale that treacles its way through well-worn channels. Read full review

Dennis Lim

It's been smoothed over plenty, but this is one creaky, rigged contraption. Read full review

F. X. Feeney

Thrillingly unpredictable. Read full review

Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf

Moments of strained mirth indicate how false and fabricated the whole enterprise really is--just a couple of well-to-do superstars doing their darnedest to prove to us that they're regular folk. And failing. Read full review

Roger Ebert

In movies with this story structure, all depends on the precise timing of the delay and the revelation, and Bounce misses. Not by a lot, but by enough. Read full review

Mark Caro

Doesn't really work when examined in the daylight outside the theater doors.

Chris Kaltenbach

Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow are so immensely appealing, and their chemistry together is so unforced, that their presence alone makes a movie worth seeing. Thankfully, Bounce has even more going for it.

Film.comRobert Horton

There's no way out of the excruciating melodrama, and the film withers in its trap. Read full review

Michael O'Sullivan

It's a love story, yes, but one whose sweetness is cut by honest performances, a sharply drawn supporting cast and a fairly serious, yet never self-pitying, tone. Read full review

Film.comMoira Macdonald

So relentlessly vanilla that it never springs to life. Read full review

Lisa Alspector

The unusually thoughtful dialogue and soul-searching performances make this romantic drama seem deeper than it is. Read full review

Film.comJohn Hartl

While Bounce may mark a sophomore slump for Roos, it's hardly the worst date movie out there. Read full review

Susan Wloszczyna

Truth is, Affleck and Paltrow flunk Chemistry 101. They aren't believable even as a fake couple. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Watching Bounce, you look at him (Affleck) and believe how much he's got at stake, and you look at Paltrow and know why. Read full review

David Sterritt

The movie is well acted, deeply moving, and unlike some love stories, it doesn't feel forced or contrived. Read full review

Wesley Morris

If I wanted a Nora Ephron cuddle-ganza, I'd rent one.

Lou Lumenick

The most depressing date movie since "Random Hearts."

Lawrence Toppman

For the first time since "Chasing Amy," I realized why people like Ben Affleck. Read full review

Jami Bernard

After a few movies in which Paltrow was in danger of becoming a caricature of herself, she's back in rare form. Read full review

Shawn Levy

Isn't sexy, funny, smart or fun.

TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh

Beneath the plot's romantic turns lies a surprisingly complex examination of the personal and professional price of honesty; falsehoods, half-truths, little white lies and self-delusion spur most of the key plot developments, and Roos never resorts to platitudes to account for their effects. Read full review

Jay Carr

Something is missing in Bounce, the muted dynamic of which calls forth a perhaps inevitably muted reaction.

Carrie Rickey

Roos introduces the possibility that perhaps two partials add up to the whole truth, and in so doing creates a provocative love story that sticks with you long after the credits roll.

Marc Savlov

It's the opposite of "The Opposite of Sex," a meditation on multiple truths, and the lies that sometimes lie in between. Read full review

Stephen Holden

Bounce may be far from a great film, but its pleasures are consistent enough to remind you of how few movies nowadays come anywhere close to matching it in intelligence and emotional balance. Read full review

Rene Rodriguez

There's nothing in Bounce you haven't seen before, but the movie is surprisingly unsentimental, the Paltrow factor cannot be denied.

Mr. ShowbizCody Clark

Roos combines a sharp script with excellent performances.