The Rebound (2009)

Sadly Over-hyped

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

A rich woman catches her husband cheating and decides to leave their big safe house in the suburbs and move to the city. I guess kicking him out and filing for divorce never dawned on her? So she drags her two kids to the city and moves into super small apartment, before that there are the usually horrible jokes about homeless people. They are not funny and also exploitative.She gets setup on a blind date so she needs a baby sitter for her two precious kids, so why not hire the first person you meet in NY city? The blind date turns out to be Bo duke...yee haw. Of course Bo is a good looking man so they need to make him a dirty disgusting person who would poop in the street and not wash his hands and then try to touch her face and mouth. Christ why even hire Bo duke if you are going to just make him so gross. It wasn't funny and made me wonder why Bo duke would agree to it. He must be desperate for the money.So her blind date fizzles and she goes home to Aram Finklestein the babysitter who is 25 but looks 12 and likes to read Harry Potter books. Aram Finklestein is a name that would just drive the ladies crazy with lust in New York city. To make matters worse, he's really boring, and there is no chemistry between him and Catherine Zeta Jones....but this a Hollywood movie so they have to have some kind of relationship and then breakup.He travels the world for five years, it's never explained how he can afford this, I assume his father is rich and pays for it. So bumming around the world for five years is suppose to make him more adult. Instead of working and paying the bills like everyone else. He also adopts a young child because you know those international adoptions are so easy and a single man adopting a child wouldn't raise any red flags. Sigh.I felt bad for Catherine Zeta-Jones, she's the only one in the film that actually acts. The rest of the cast are basically cardboard. If you are going to make a Rom-Com, make sure it's has some romance and some actual comedy. The movie would gross out most women so it's not a date movie and it's not a family film either. I'm not sure who this movie was intended for, it's insulting in every way.

I can't remember why I added this movie to my Netflix queue, but it wasn't because of the older woman/younger man dynamic. If I'd taken a good look at the poster they chose, I wouldn't have bothered, but it's a good example of this film's identity crisis. It seems to have been marketed as a "cougar romp", which it is not (the sexytime scenes are few and low-key), and takes out-of-tune detours into gross- out/obnoxious-sidekick comedy that don't match the rest of the movie, seemingly tacked on to widen its appeal. The rest of the time it does a fair (though not stellar) job of what it apparently set out to do, which is tell us the stories of the two main characters and how they come together. Despite some stumbles in outlining the particulars, the relationship portrayed feels organic and believable. Jones and Bartha have nice chemistry together. Sandy's character arc is certainly of interest to any woman who is questioning her life choices and redefining what makes a good or 'suitable' relationship, whether or not the betrayal and divorce themes happen to resonate (certainly moreso if they do). Both she and Aram are being pressured by friends/family to make life choices deemed suitable for them by others, a situation most of us can relate to. I appreciated that Aram was not reduced to a two-dimensional cougar or divorcée fantasy object. Happily, they are written as equals, despite a few details being thrown in to remind us of the age difference. More important than the age gap is the exploration of parental/caretaker roles. While Sandy discovers after her divorce that she is able to pursue a career that matters to her, Aram hits the ground running as a competent and gentle caretaker for her two kids, a job he seems to take on out of a desire to heal from his own broken sham of a marriage. Whether or not Justin Bartha really is a genuinely lovely, decent man and human being, he always manages to come across as such, and was perfect for this role. The relationship grows into a working, loving romance, until a sad bump in the road causes Sandy to panic about their future and break it off--an agonized reaction understandable given the circumstances, but which feels by that time very much like breaking up a happy, well-adjusted family. A few years intervene before they run into each other again, with both parties having grown and progressed in their own lives. Sandy has been promoted, and Aram has (entirely consistent with his character) adopted a son during his word travels. It seems that perhaps the timing is finally right--not least because the attraction between them is still palpable. Neither has been wallowing in misery since the break, but they are delighted to see each other. It's nice to see a romance that doesn't declare life impossible without a partner (for either party), but gets across very nicely that love is vitally important, something to be hoped for and invited in, not turned away, and to recognize it when it offers itself. At a mere 95 minutes, I felt they wasted far too much time with Aram's unnecessarily repugnant "friend" from the coffee shop and a truly disgusting first date for Sandy. The comedy inserted to qualify this as a rom-com was badly done. Although we could certainly see how Sandy was desirable to Aram (Jones is gorgeous, and her character is succeeding at life despite the trauma of divorce), it might have been nice to see her character fleshed out a little bit more. Overall, despite it feeling mismatched and annoying at several points, the two principals worked well together and I enjoyed watching them fall in love. I found I wanted them both to be happy whether or not they stayed together, and was pleased with the ending. This movie could certainly have been better, but when you're in the mood for a gentle romance about grownups, you could certainly do worse.

A housewife (Zeta-Jones) is horrified to learn that her repugnant husband has cheated on her during her son's birthday party. After the divorce, Sandy and her kids relocate into the city. Things start off well when Sandy gets a job. She even hires a male nanny (Justin Bartha), whose life is in disarray as well. Things begin to get complicated when Sandy gets feelings for the nanny and her work hours get bigger. I remember seeing this on the DVD shelf at my old DVD rental store often, but I never went through with it. I'm not opposed to watching STD movies, I've seen tons of them. I'm not really sure what it was, but I never went through with renting it. Now that my video store is obsolete, I decided to finally give in and check this out. I thought it was a perfectly acceptable romantic comedy that gave me a few laughs and some smiles. This movie is unabashedly raunchy and isn't afraid to show it. Sandy's character curses like a sailor at times in front of her kids. There is also talk of "Penis", "transvestite" , among other things. We get childish fart and pooping gags as well. As likable as this movie can be at times, I wasn't fully invested in the somewhat "controversial" relationship between the two leads. It comes across as very awkward and clumsy. Zeta-Jones is beautiful and does fine as the brazen mom, but I felt emotionally distant when it came to her character. Justin Bartha has some natural charisma, but he isn't quite talented enough to pull his role off. I felt he was a tad too gullible as well. For what it was, I thought it was a decent way to pass the time. I did laugh and that's all I can really ask for. Unfortunately, the lack of chemistry between the two leads and the awkward love story hampers it. It's still well worth a watch5.7/10

Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a very organized, type A mother who adores her two kids. However, she catches her husband in an act of infidelity on a webcam and decides to change her life in a major way. Instead of the suburbs, she moves her family into an apartment above a Manhattan coffee shop & starts a job search. Meanwhile, getting-a-divorce Aram (Justin Bartha) is a barista at the cafe, despite having a college degree, which displeases his extremely pushy parents (Art Garfunkel and Joanna Gleason). On their advice, Aram tries a part time stint at a woman's issues agency, where he has to dress up in a protected suit and let the women vent their angers on him! One of them happens to be our Sandy, naturally. All too soon, these two meet again when she returns to her department. Needing a babysitter one day, she asks Aram to help her out. The two children, a boy and a girl, adore him so before long Aram is installed as the nanny. Also, despite the decade of age difference between S and A, they have eyes for each other. Something may be approaching, in terms of a relationship, but how can it survive when it is more of a "rebound" coupling? This is a nice flick, written and directed by a respected indie filmmaker, Bart Freundlich. He himself is married to Julianna Moore, who is a few years older than her husband. Therefore, he has good insight into a May-September relationship. Zeta-Jones and Bartha, who seem an odd couple at first evaluation, give nice performances as the afflicted twosome while all other cast members do a nice job, too. Sets, costumes, and photography are likewise quite attractive. The resolution is admirable, as it strikes a balance between a ride into the sunset and an unhappy finish. The only minor criticism is that there is some salty dialogue and scenarios that won't please the G-rated crowd, so stay away from it, if this applies to you. That said, most romcom fans will like it just fine.