This might have been tailor-made by director Pollack to ease Ford into more straightforwardly romantic territory.
Random Hearts (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:87
Fresh:13
Rotten:74
Average Rating:4/10
Consensus: Even Harrison Ford could not save the dull plot and the slow pacing of the movie.
Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis:
Dutch Van Den Broeck, a sergeant in the Internal Affairs Division of the Washington, D.C. police department, and Kay Chandler, a New Hampshire congresswoman running for re-election, know about...
Dutch Van Den Broeck, a sergeant in the Internal Affairs Division of the Washington, D.C. police department, and Kay Chandler, a New Hampshire congresswoman running for re-election, know about trust. Their careers depend on it. Their marriages are founded on it. Or so they thought. When an airplane carrying Dutch’s wife Peyton and Kay’s husband Cullen crashes into the Chesapeake Bay, leaving no survivors, it marks just the beginning of a mystery that will not only lead Dutch and Kay to disturbing and shocking information about their spouses, but bring these strangers together in an unlikely romance.
In the aftermath of the crash, pieces of startling information come to light—Cullen and Peyton were sitting side by side on the plane, traveling on "Mr. and Mrs." tickets and carrying identical keys in their pockets. Grief-stricken spouses Dutch and Kay—a pair of opposites from widely dissimilar backgrounds and with very contradictory temperaments—are now thrown together, bonded by this mutual betrayal, to unlock the truth behind the secret that threatens to destroy them.
Dutch, a policeman to the core, investigates. Kay, left with a teenage daughter to protect and a campaign to run, doesn’t want to know any more than she absolutely has to. As clues lead from the gritty streets of D.C. to the romance of Miami’s beaches, both the cop and the congresswoman are caught in an upheaval of misplaced lust and rage, laying bare not only the details of their spouses’ clandestine affair, but their own awkward and painful feelings. Out of the ruins of their shattered marriages, this pair of random hearts forms a volatile new union.
Starring: Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Bonnie Hunt, Dennis Haysbert
Starring: Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Bonnie Hunt, Dennis Haysbert, Sydney Pollack, Charles S. Dutton
Director: Sydney Pollack
Director: Sydney Pollack
Screenwriter: Kurt Luedtke
Producer: Marykay Powell
Reviews for Random Hearts
A kind of thriller/drama/romance that has an interesting idea and doesn't know where to go with it.
The heat generated by these two attractive stars barely rises above room temperature.
Sydney Pollack directs with a risk-free style that's borderline dull.
Random Hearts, a film that sits on the screen like a bump on a log for a very long 131 minutes, a running time that's filled mostly with excruciatingly long, silent pauses.
Harrison Ford does some of his best work ever in Sydney Pollack's marvelous new thriller, Random Hearts.
Pollack appears to have taken lessons from Martin Brest about how to irritate and bore viewers with endless pauses in conversations.
Random Hearts is disappointing mostly because it didn't have to get this absurd.
When all is said and done, Random Hearts proves to be a bona fide disaster.
This is perhaps the worst two and a half hours I have spent in a movie theatre all year...and I've seen a lot of really bad movies.
The score is an irritating jazz collection which seldom, if ever, fits the film's somber mood.
There are some good moments that take an honest look at the aftermath of both infidelity and the loss of a loved one. Too bad these moments are too often lost in the clutter.
There's a lot of satisfaction in seeing two stars given this much time and space to examine a complex relationship.
Latest News for Random Hearts
February 09, 2006:
Critical Consensus: Critics Not Tickled "Pink"
An incompetent French detective ("The Pink Panther"). Eight million ways to die ("Final Destination 3"). Harrison Ford looking frantic, then looking really,... More...
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