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Starring Kevin Costner, et al. Released to DVD on August 3, 1999. It's not a secret, men and women really don't understand one another. Women can't understand things like why men blow their noses on socks or nearby curtains, and men can't understand why women need 50 pairs of shoes and can't understand men. Given this lack of comprehension of the opposite sex, certain stereotypes (and myths) have evolved where fact was previously lacking. And just as most women think that Pamela Anderson Lee is every guy's dream girl-which, for the record she is not-Message in a Bottle, written, produced and directed by men, is the epitome of what men think women want.Costner stars as Garret Blake, a somewhat well-off widower who works on old boats as a part time gig. Garret has a good relationship with his father (Paul Newman) and is so consumed by grief about the death of his wife that he writes her letters, puts them in bottles and throws them into the ocean. A vacationing reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Theresa Osborne (Robin Wright-Penn) finds one of Garret's letters, reads it, and is overwhelmed by the emotion and passion expressed by the author. Utilizing the Tribune companies' vast resources, she tracks down Garret in North Carolina-from an anonymous letter in a bottle, mind you-and, finding that he looks like Kevin Costner, immediately falls in love with him. The physical production of this film was above average, I just couldn't escape the feeling that writer, Gerald Di Pego and director Luis Mandoki had brought Nicholas Sparks' novel to the big screen to attract a certain demographic group. Just as anything with a bevy of bathing beauties sans bikini tops is consider a guy's movie, and anything starring Sarah Michelle Gellar a teen film, the sensitive portrayal and creation of Costner's character in Message in a Bottle seemed specifically designed so that women would pay eight dollars to see this movie, cry, and afterwards say things like "Garret was such a perfect man". And, to make matters worse, Costner's Garret is as close to a perfect man as you can come without being Tom Cruise. He is handsome, wealthy, devoted to his love, straight-laced, compassionate towards others, on great terms with his father, dapper, eloquent, romantic, hard-working, great with kids, able to express his feelings, good with his hands, well-spoken, smart, giving, selfless, charismatic and he owns a sailboat. The only seemingly negative quality Garret possesses is his quickness to come to blows with others. However, even this isn't as negative as it might seem because it is later shown that Garret only fights to defend the honor of his late wife. The romance and chemistry between Costner and Wright-Penn is good-Wright-Penn is no Susan Sarandon though-which is an important first step in romances, but this film suffered immeasurably because it just felt fake; made up. If you're female, you'll love this film; if you're male you'll roll your eyes and vomit. Of the two the undercover, Chicago newspaper reporter movies, see Never Been Kissed.
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