Themes: Star-Crossed Lovers, Members of the Press, Haunted By the Past
Main Cast: Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, Paul Newman, John Savage, Illeana Douglas
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 132 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, Message In A Bottle stars Robin Wright Penn as Theresa Osborne, a writer for the Chicago Tribune. While her son visits her cheating ex-husband, Theresa goes on a vacation by herself. One day, while running on the beach, she finds a bottle washed up on the shore. She opens it and inside finds a love letter unlike any she's ever read. Captivated by the author's words of love, she returns to her job at the Tribune where she convinces her boss to run an article about the mystery writer, known only as "G." He approves, and Theresa begins her hunt. Scrutinizing every physical detail of the letter and the path the bottle may have taken, she eventually locates Garret Blake (Kevin Costner), a North Carolina boat-restorer who has not been the same since the tragic death of his beloved wife Catherine. Since her death, Garret has written several letters to his dead wife, put them in a bottles, and let them loose in the sea. As Theresa spends time with Garret, she quickly falls in love with him, though she neglects to tell him she knows about the letters. Garret, prodded by his cantankerous, no-nonsense dad, Dodge (Paul Newman), emerges from his shell of grief and develops an interest in Theresa as well. Theresa returns to Chicago and Garret soon visits her; he meets her son, Jason (Jesse James), but also discovers her knowledge of the letters. Eventually the two, who have both lost love, must cast off their emotional baggage and decide if they will pursue love even if it can't always last. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
Review
There's a lot to like in this film from director Luis Mandoki, including a terrific, underrated performance by supporting player Paul Newman, decent production values, and two leads who seem to genuinely like each other -- no small plus in a doomed romance. The film's chief stumbling block is that the source material from Nicholas Sparks and subsequent script adaptation from Gerald Di Pego make the blooming attraction between protagonists Kevin Costner and Robin Wright Penn seem so predestined, so utterly fated, that the second-act conflicts that arise to keep them temporarily apart feel phony. After a great setup that rivals that of Sleepless in Seattle (1993), it's a letdown when petty concerns over how they met and letting go of the past come between two lovers who have been cast as a modern-day Orpheus and Eurydice. Still, Newman gives one of his great, gruff star turns here and John Savage, wasted in a bit part that is interesting enough to have been more substantial, does some yeoman-like supporting work, diverting attention away from the contrived nature of much of the film's middle portion. Message in a Bottle comes back around again in the end, with an ending that, while not exactly leaving the audience with the feeling that anything has been learned or gained that made the trip worthwhile for the film's surviving hero, also must be given credit for surprisingly not copping out with a typical Hollywood ending. Still, the film's central romance could have used some of the earthy, realistic touch of Mandoki's previous excellent relationship drama, White Palace (1990). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Mark Zuelzke - Art Director, Steve Saklad - Art Director, Leslie Weisberg - Associate Producer, Cathy Sandrich - Casting, Amanda Mackey-Johnson - Casting, Bernie Pollack - Costume Designer, Bruce G. Moriarty - First Assistant Director, Luis Mandoki - Director, Gary Capo - Second Unit Director, Steve Weisberg - Editor, Gabriel Yared - Composer (Music Score), Jeffrey Beecroft - Production Designer, Caleb Deschanel - Cinematographer, Kevin Costner - Producer, Jim Wilson - Producer, Denise Di Novi - Producer, Dorree Cooper - Set Designer, Nancy Deren - Set Designer, Elaine O'Donnell - Set Designer, Masako Masuda - Set Designer, Andrea Dopaso - Set Designer, Mike Cukers - Set Designer, Jose Antonio Garcia - Sound/Sound Designer, Gerald Di Pego - Screenwriter, Nicholas Sparks - Book Author
Theresa Osborne works for a Chicago newspaper as a researcher. On a trip to Cape Cod, she finds a mysterious, intriguing love letter in a bottle in the sand, addressed from Garret to Catherine. She is fascinated by it and comes into possession of two more letters by the same person, eventually tracking down the man who wrote them, Garret Blake. He is a boat-builder who lives quietly on the outer banks of North Carolina with his father, Dodge.
Theresa and Garret become better acquainted, but she does not reveal her knowledge of the love letters. Along with the literal distance between them — they live hundreds of miles apart -- there is another problem: Garret cannot quite forgive Catherine for dying and leaving him.
Theresa's career flourishes as the romantic tale of the "messages in a bottle" is told in print, without naming names. Garret makes a trip to Chicago to visit Theresa and her young son. Their new love grows, until one day Garret finds his letters in a drawer in Theresa's apartment. Garret angrily goes home by himself.
A year later, Dodge Blake tracks down Theresa. He informs her that his son Garret has died at sea in a storm while attempting to rescue someone else. A bottle with a message inside was found on his boat. Theresa realizes that it was written a night before Garret's last sailing. In it, he apologizes to Catherine and says that in Theresa he has found a new love, a love he must fight for. Unfortunately, it is too late.
