Hope Floats

Hope Floats
Theatrical film poster
Directed by Forest Whitaker
Produced by Lynda Obst
Sandra Bullock
Elizabeth Joan Hooper
Mary McLaglen
Reba Merrill
Written by Steven Rogers
Starring
Music by Dave Grusin
Cinematography Caleb Deschanel
Edited by Richard Crew
Production
company
Fortis Films
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
 May 29, 1998
Running time
 115 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million
Box office $81,471,882[1]

Hope Floats is a 1998 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Forest Whitaker and starring Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick Jr., and Gena Rowlands.

Birdee (Bullock) is an unassuming housewife whose life is disrupted when her husband (Michael Paré) reveals his infidelity to her on a Ricki Lake-style talk show. She and her young daughter Bernice go back home to her mother (Rowlands) and the small town in which she grew up, where everyone knows of her televised marital collapse. Meanwhile, an old friend of hers, Justin (Connick, Jr.), has entered her life, sparking a romance. While Justin's intentions are clear and good, Birdee struggles with the decision to let him fully into her life.

Plot

Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock) is a Chicago housewife who is invited onto the Toni Post talk show under the pretense of getting a free makeover but instead is ambushed with the revelation that her husband Bill has been having an affair with her best friend Connie (Rosanna Arquette). Humiliated on national television, Birdee and her precocious only daughter Bernice (Mae Whitman) move back to Birdee's hometown of Smithville, Texas, with Birdee's eccentric mother Ramona (Gena Rowlands) and her young, imaginative nephew Travis (Cameron Finley), to make a fresh start. As Birdee and Bernice leave Chicago, Birdee gives Bernice a letter from her father, telling Bernice how much he misses her.

Birdee struggles to make a new life as a working single mother and deals with the growing attraction between herself and a former high school classmate, Justin Matisse (Harry Connick Jr.), who Ramona hopes that Birdee will get together with. She also tries to rebuild her relationship with her estranged mother, her father (who has Alzheimer's Disease), and her daughter, who desperately wants to be with her father and grudgingly blames her mother for the breakup, even trying to sabotage the romantic overtures Justin makes towards Birdee. Meanwhile, Bernice is not very happy that she left Chicago and is having difficulty adjusting to her new life and school in Smithville. Her negative view of the small town is worsened when she is bullied by a classmate known as Big Dolores.

Adding to Birdee's heartache is her former status as the school queen bee and a beauty pageant winner, which alienated many of her former classmates. They also haven't forgotten Birdee's high school snobbery and rub her nose in her televised embarrassment.

Ramona tries to mend the gap between her daughter and granddaughter by telling a childhood story of her own. She asks Bernice what she's wishing for her upcoming birthday. Even though Bernice says she doesn't have a birthday wish, she secretly wishes for her father to return.

That night, while drinking a cup of tea before she could sleep, Ramona suffers a massive heart attack and dies. Birdee's sister sends a telegram that she can't make the funeral and Travis wonders if Birdee will raise him now. At the funeral, Bill arrives at the church. Bernice believes her father's presence at the funeral is a sign that her wish has come true... and that her father wants them both to come home. However, it soon becomes clear to her that her parents' split is permanent when Bill asks Birdee for a divorce. Wanting to be with her father, Bernice runs up to her room, packs a suitcase, and follows Bill to his car. She is devastated when her father tells her that even though he loves her and promises to come back for her, he has no room for her in his new life with Connie right now. Bill turns his back on Bernice and drives off, leaving her sobbing and screaming for him to come back and take her with him at the end of the driveway. Birdee comes to pick Bernice up and carries her back into the house. As Birdee comforts Bernice up in her bedroom, Bernice says she knows the letter was actually written by her mother, and not really by her father.

One day at work, Birdee finds Justin outside waiting for her with flowers. As she walks to him, she says, "Ok, Mama, stop pushing". After they kiss and embrace, he picks her up, places her in his truck and they drive off together.

The final scene shows Birdee, Justin, Bernice, and Travis at a big town event. Birdee has now taken full custody of Travis and is also dating Justin, but she's still not planning on getting married again for a really long time. Bernice embraces Smithville as her new hometown, ultimately accepts Bill's departure from her life as a full-time parent, and begins to accept Justin as her mother's new love interest and a father figure. She and Birdee are much closer because of everything they've been through, as Bernice finally realizes it wasn't her mother's fault that her father left them and that Birdee really did love her. They share a tender, yet humorous moment when Bernice asks Birdee if she's going to marry Justin. When Birdee asks her if she doesn't like Justin, Bernice says her only real concern is being known as "Bernice Matisse".

Cast

Filming

McCollum-Chapman-Trousdale House in Smithville

Hope Floats was filmed in Smithville, Texas.[2] The home in the movie is the McCollum-Chapman-Trousdale House, built in the Neoclassical style in 1908.[3] The elementary school in the movie is a 1924 high school building.[4] The church used was Saints Peter and Paul Church in Kovar, TX, about 6 miles from Smithville. The church was built in 1921.

The film was choreographed by Patsy Swayze.[5]

Soundtrack

Hope Floats:
Original Score Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various
Released 1998
Genre Score
Label RCA Victor
Producer Don Was

The film's soundtrack was released in 1998 under the production of Don Was. The album included the works of well-known artists such as Garth Brooks, the Rolling Stones, Bryan Adams, Bob Seger, and Sheryl Crow. Brooks' "To Make You Feel My Love", was a number one single on the Billboard country singles charts in August 1998 and also a Grammy Award nominee in 1999 for Male Country Vocal performance.

Hope Floats: Original Score Soundtrack

  1. "To Make You Feel My Love" – Garth Brooks (3:53)
  2. "In Need" – Sheryl Crow (5:29)
  3. "Honest I Do" – The Rolling Stones (3:55)
  4. "Chances Are" – Bob Seger and Martina McBride (4:17)
  5. "All I Get" – The Mavericks (4:08)
  6. "Paper Wings" – Gillian Welch (3:57)
  7. "Stop! In the Name of Love" – Jonell Mosser with David Campbell (4:31)
  8. "Wither, I'm a Flower" – Whiskeytown (4:53)
  9. "What Makes You Stay" – Deana Carter (4:35)
  10. "To Get Me to You" – Lila McCann (3:50)
  11. "Smile" – Lyle Lovett with David Campbell(3:38)
  12. "When You Love Someone" – Bryan Adams (3:39)
  13. "To Make You Feel My Love" – Trisha Yearwood (2:57)

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 24%, based on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10.[6]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "corny and false, with a script by Steven Rogers that's almost 100 percent artificial sweetener." He praised the performances of Sandra Bullock and Dee Hennigan, especially in the scene at the employment agency, and said Harry Connick Jr. was "likable as usual", but found the character Bernice's surliness to be abnormal and painful to watch.[7] Roger Ebert deemed it "a turgid melodrama with the emotional range of a sympathy card", citing the formulaic plot and numerous holes in the characterizations. He gave it two stars.[8] James Berardinelli also gave it two stars, commenting that the film relies too much on stock situations and blatantly calculated attempts to stir emotion while neglecting character-building. He also criticized the acting, saying that Bullock is better suited to more lighthearted fare, and Connick's performance is wooden.[9] The Republican's John R. McEwen had a more mixed reaction, assessing the film as "a run-of-the-mill romance, but fair work by all involved." He particularly praised the chemistry between Connick and Bullock and the country-flavored soundtrack. However, he criticized that the townspeople's callousness towards Birdie strains credulity, since Bullock's performance makes it hard to imagine people disliking her so much, and that even if they did it would be normal for them to have some sympathy after her public humiliation and the breakup of her marriage.[10]

Awards and nominations

  • 1999 ALMA Awards
    • Nomination: Outstanding Performance of a Song for a Feature Film - The Mavericks for the song "All I Get".
  • 1999 Acapulco Black Film Festival
    • Nomination: Best Director - Forest Whitaker
  • 1999 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
    • Nomination: Favorite Actor - Drama/Romance - Harry Connick Jr.
    • Nomination: Favorite Supporting Actress - Drama/Romance - Gena Rowlands
  • 1999 Lone Star Film & Television Awards
    • Winner: Best Actress - Sandra Bullock
    • Winner: Best Supporting Actress - Gena Rowlands
  • 1999 Young Artist Awards
    • Winner: Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actress Age Ten or Under - Mae Whitman
    • Nomination: Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actor Age Ten or Under - Cameron Finley
  • 1998 YoungStar Awards
    • Nomination: Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film - Cameron Finley
    • Nomination: Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film - Mae Whitman

References

  1. ↑ "Hope Floats (1998)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. 1998-07-24. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  2. ↑ "City of Smithville - Heart of the Megalopolis". Ci.smithville.tx.us. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  3. ↑ "Hollywood Stars and Smithville, Texas". Blue Eyes and Bluebonnets. 18 January 2010. Archived from the original on 11 December 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  4. ↑ http://www.katyhouse.com/smithville-attractions.htm Archived November 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Kelly, Devin (2013-09-18). "Patsy Swayze, mother of Patrick Swayze, dies at 86". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  6. ↑ "Hope Floats (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  7. ↑ LaSalle, Mick (May 29, 1998). "Bullock Can't Buoy Schmaltzy 'Floats'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  8. ↑ Ebert, Roger (June 6, 1998). "Hope Floats". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  9. ↑ Berardinelli, James (1998). "Review: Hope Floats". ReelViews. Archived from the original on February 5, 2007.
  10. ↑ McEwen, John R. (1998). "Filmquips -- Hope Floats". Retrieved 20 October 2017.
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