Review
The Rebound 2
Director: Bart Freundlich
Release Date: 30 July 2010
Just looking at the poster for The Rebound: a woman looking smug a-top a washing machine beside a man with knickers dangling from his mouth, is enough to send most people screaming for the nearest exit. But wait, it’s not that bad.
Forty-year-old suburban mum Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) finds out her husband is cheating and so promptly removes herself and her two kids to the bright lights of New York City where she quickly finds an apartment, a job and a new friend in 25 year old Aram (Justin Bartha). Their first meeting is innocent enough but after a disastrous date with a man of questionable toilet habits, the appeal of the younger man becomes harder to resist.
Despite the age difference which is played up at the beginning of the film, once the two give in to their feelings there is very little opposition. And when they are faced with a dilemma they give in just as easily as they got together. Whatever potential there is for drama is lost in the misplaced gross-out comedy (there’s a lot of fart and sex jokes, and not from the kids) though some much needed comic relief is provided by Aram’s parents played by Art Garfunkel and Joanna Gleason.
The first two thirds move along nicely, if rather innocuously, then strangely the final third limps over the finish line showing Aram’s ‘coming of age’ in an extended travel montage. One minute he’s in Paris, the next offering gifts to Indian deities before bringing food to the poor and teaching them English. It appears tacked on and ends up looking like a commercial.
The Rebound by no means breaks romantic comedy mould. There are some nice performances from Zeta-Jones and Bartha who are likeable, if not engaging and director Bart Freundlich ensures it has the glossy charm that’s expected of a New York-set rom-com.
Marjorie Gallagher
