Message in a Bottle (1999)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Luis Mandoki

Writers (WGA):

Nicholas Sparks (novel)
Gerald Di Pego (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 February 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A story of love lost and found.

Plot:

A woman discovers a tragic love letter in a bottle on a beach, and is determined to track down its author.

Plot Keywords:

Bottle | Love | Beach | Male Female Relationship | Message In A Bottle

Awards:

5 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 18	1:00 PM	CW
Mon. July 20	1:30 AM	CW

Cast

Kevin Costner	...	Garret Blake
Robin Wright Penn	...	Theresa Osborne
Paul Newman	...	Dodge Blake
John Savage	...	Johnny Land
Illeana Douglas	...	Lina Paul
Robbie Coltrane	...	Charlie Toschi
Jesse James	...	Jason Osborne
Bethel Leslie	...	Marta Land
Tom Aldredge	...	Hank Land
Viveka Davis	...	Alva
Raphael Sbarge	...	Andy
Richard Hamilton	...	Chet
Rosemary Murphy	...	Helen at the B&B
Steven Eckholdt	...	David Osborne
Susan Brightbill	...	Catherine Land Blake

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for a scene of sexuality.

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Norway:11 | UK:12 | Denmark:7 | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:6 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bath, Maine, USA

Company:

Bel Air Entertainment

Trivia:

When Garret arrives at Theresa's apartment, the show playing on the TV that she turns off is "Perfect Strangers" (1986) The two main characters in that show worked at a Chicago newspaper, just as Theresa does.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Theresa and Garrett are standing on the beach after Garrett blesses the boat, Theresa's hair is alternately still/windswept between shots.

Quotes:

Dodge Blake: If I was about 150 years younger, you'd be in trouble, young lady.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hamlet (2000)

Soundtrack:

No Mermaid

Allow yourself to enjoy the pace of the ocean in this romance.

The pace is set from the opening scene: the ocean with its consistent but gentle force splashing against the shore. `Message in a Bottle' follows this leisurely pace; it is not in a real hurry to give up all its secrets, but like the ocean, will surrender all in good time. So relax, and allow yourself to enjoy!

Paul Newman (Dodge Blake) and Kevin Costner (Garrett Blake) both deliver strong performances as father and son, initially content, though not really happy in their current existence. Both have lost their love, for one reason or another, and are each other's companion and support. Newman gets the fun punch lines, Costner gets the woman. `If I were about 150 years younger' starts one of Newman's lines – it must be different for him not to play the leading role. Costner seems right at home playing a ship-building sailor who is lost because of his lost love.

Robin Wright (Theresa Osborne) is equally strong, playing an independent and patient reporter, who follows her heart, and decides to find the author of the love letters from the ocean. She gives Garrett distance gently when he needs it, yet pushes back equally hard when she needs to.

Much of the acting relied not so much on the delivery of lines, as on the body language, on looks, on the strained silence between a couple who is unsure of each other, often unsure of themselves, yet strongly attracted to each other.

Both Garrett and Theresa seem to struggle at conversation, both uncertain of how to discover each other, yet each finding an attraction they can't seem to deny. Garrett is hanging on to the love he still feels for his wife, who died too early. Theresa is still recovering from a divorce, and the busy life of a single parent. Neither is sure they can be open to a new relationship, nor are they ready to say goodbye to something that is starting to feel so right.

The photography of the sailboats on the ocean were enough to bring out the romantic in me. What could be a more peaceful setting than a sailboat anchored privately in a small cove of the ocean in the Outer Banks?. We're given just enough peek into the unfolding world of a couple discovering love, without it feeling like an intrusion.

To talk more of the ups and downs would give away too many of the secrets that only the theatre, the bookstore, or the ocean will release.