Harrison Ford has great taste in action scripts, but lousy taste in romantic ones. You see his name on an action film (Air Force One, the Indiana Jones or Jack Ryan movies), and you can be pretty sure of entertainment. On the other hand, you see his name on a romance (Six Days, Seven Nights, Sabrina), and you know you might as well see something else. It's unfortunate because Ford is a consummate actor who would sizzle in the right romantic film, if only he could find one that plays to his strengths (think of what he pulled off in Witness, a thriller with a solid romantic subplot). For the time being, the general rule of thumb certainly holds true, as evidenced by Random Hearts, a romantic drama that hits theaters with a deafening clunk.
Ford plays Dutch Van den Broeck, an internal affairs detective in Washington, D.C. His wife is killed in a plane crash while en route to Florida for a "business trip." Dutch soon discovers that there was no reason for her to be on the plane and, in fact, there is no official listing for her. Through some investigative work, he discovers that she was having an affair with another man. Dutch tracks down the guy's wife, a Congressional candidate named Kay Chandler (Kristen Scott Thomas).
Kay is stunned to learn of the affair, but wants to put the betrayal behind her and move forward. Dutch can't do that, though; he chooses to keep searching for answers. How long were they together? Were there other deceptions? Did anyone else know about their union? At first, he drives Kay crazy with his constant probing, but if you guessed that they woud eventually fall in love, pat yourself on the back. If you guessed that their passion would potentially jeopardize her career, pat yourself again.
Random Hearts would like to be a wrenching heart-tugger about two good people who have been betrayed and find comfort in each other's arms. That's a nice idea for a story, but this one botches the premise. For starters, it's hard to care about either character, since we don't get much time to know them before the plane crashes. What we do know is not that compelling. Dutch seems like the same growling man's-man before he learns of his wife's infidelity as he does after; he never seems really impacted by the tragedy. As for Kay, she's made too goody-goody - a politician who just wants to do the right thing and doesn't care about image or self-promotion (a movie-only convention that certainly has no basis in the real world of politics). Her character is sketched with cliches, so she never gains much sympathy either.
And the movie is just so slow! Despite a running time of over two hours, Random Hearts drags along at a snail's pace. There are subplots involving Kay's campaign and Bill's attempt to nab a dirty cop that are far more interesting than the romance. The romance, though, gets most of the screen time. Love is a wonderful thing, but do you really want to spend 130 minutes watching two boring people falling into it? I should add that the scene in which they finally kiss is totally ridiculous and out of place. As in all half-baked romances, the couple fights vigorously (and rightly) before spontaneously finding themselves in an unexpected clinch. (And don't even get me started on the ending, a hackneyed concept that is as familiar as it is uninspired.)
Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas are both superb actors, and they undoubtedly try their hardest to make this movie work. But the fact remains that the script is heavy-handed and dull, and Sydney Pollack's direction is leaden. It's not fair to call Random Hearts a bad movie - the people involved are too talented to let it become really atrocious - but it certainly is a snoozer. The movie wants to be a three-hanky affair, but when it's over, there's not a wet eye in the house.
(
out of four)
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