Random Hearts *** (1999, Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Charles S Dutton, Peter Coyote) – Classic Movie Review 932

Producer-director Sydney Pollack’s 1999 romance focuses on the anger and grief that bring two strangers (Internal Affairs officer Harrison Ford, Congresswoman Kristin Scott Thomas) together after a plane crash that kills their respective faithless spouses off on a have-it-away-day.

Normally they would never have met, but Ford’s Dutch Van Den Broeck and Thomas’s Kay Chandler find each other’s keys in their loved one’s possessions and realise that they were having an affair and must figure out all the details. Their pain brings them together at first awkwardly, but then they find they can support each other.

OK, as romances go, it’s not a bad setup by any means, though it was always going to be an uphill struggle to pull off on screen. But, as if their 1995 collaboration Sabrina wasn’t enough for Ford and Pollack, they tread again in murky romantic waters and sink all over again too. You’d think The Horse Whisperer (1998) was enough for Thomas, too, but here she is falling for the older man all over again.

Both actors seem a little uncomfortable in their not ideal roles, though their huge, supreme professionalism gets them through, with Thomas staying credible and likeable, though Ford stays too downbeat and dour for his own good, or the film’s. To be fair, that is his trademark image and the role, however.

And Darryl Ponicsan and Kurt Luedtke’s screenplay (based on the novel by Warren Adler) is often oh so dull and sappy. Padding for the 134-minute plot is provided by a rather perfunctory side issue about Ford trying to bring down a bent cop. This allows some action scenes to liven it up a little.

Despite its good heart, Random Hearts is mostly a wet and windy experience, but Philippe Rousselot’s cinematography and Barbara Ling’s production designs provide some compensation, while Dave Grusin’s jazz score livens things up a bit too. And of course Pollack directs smoothly and professionally and provides a glossy package. Pollack also has an acting role as Carl Broman; Peter Coyote plays Thomas’s hubby Cullen; Susanna Thompson plays Ford’s wife Peyton.

A costly film, at $64million, it didn’t do too well at the box office, taking £31million in the US and only £680,000 in the UK.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 932 derekwinnert.com