To understand how bad \The Big Bounce"" truly is, it must be stated that Owen Wilson's lackluster acting in the film is the most minor of flaws in a poorly constructed, poorly written movie.??It does for Wilson what Waterloo did for Napoleon-ruin his career.
The film begins with a Wilson voice-over describing his checkered past as sweeping shots of Hawaiian beaches and swaying palms fill the viewer's mind with promise of escaping the frozen hell of Wisconsin, if only via a one-and-a-half hour visual jaunt. Sadly, this hope is soon dashed by the realization that trading in one difficult reality for a bloated and falsified version of life in paradise leaves nothing but a bitter resentment focused on the Hollywood ""yes man"" that green-lighted this cinematic equivalent to a motion sickness bag.
The plot of the film centers on con-on-the-mend Jack (Owen Wilson) trying to scam Ray Ritchie (Gary Sinise) out of $200,000 with the aid of Nancy (Sara Foster). Although there is much more to the script, explanation of the plot would point out holes large enough to squeeze a humpback whale through. Suffice it to say the movie has plenty of ""completely unexpected surprises,"" including Morgan Freeman's character turning out to be the villain and Jack landing the money in the end.
Arguably, the film's highest point occurs at the end. A repentant Nancy encounters Jack on the side of a road and it seems they might get together. Jack, however, turns his back on Nancy's advances, leaving her in the dust while he takes off in a limo with a buxom and nearly speechless romantic interest, who has nothing to do with the plot of the film.
Wilson, who throughout his career has played the role of the fun, easy-going, slightly off-center mischief-maker, stumbles through his role. A worthwhile performance from Charlie Sheen as Ritchie's sniveling side-kick is wasted as the undistinguished performance by Foster serves to block out any quality Sheen may have contributed. Foster had a great opportunity to stand out as a decent evil genius but instead retrogresses to the status of eye candy in all of her scenes. Thankfully, the director spares the audience the pain of having her speak too much.
""The Big Bounce"" on its own may be light-hearted fodder for a dreary winter day, but when considering the quality of acting associated with the film (Wilson, Freeman, Sheen, et. al.), the end product falls flat and one can only hope that there is not a ""big bounce"" in sales of this waste of time once it goes to DVD.
