Hope Floats

Hope Floats

Theatrical film poster
Directed by Forest Whitaker
Produced by Lynda Obst
Sandra Bullock
Elizabeth Joan Hooper
Mary McLaglen
Reba Merrill
Written by Steven Rogers
Starring Sandra Bullock
Harry Connick, Jr.
Gena Rowlands
Mae Whitman
Michael Pare
Cameron Finley
Music by Dave Grusin
Cinematography Caleb Deschanel
Edited by Richard Crew
Production
company
Fortis Films
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
 May 29, 1998
Running time
 115 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million
Box office $81,471,882[1]

Hope Floats is a 1998 American romantic drama film directed by Forest Whitaker and starring Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick, Jr., and Gena Rowlands.

Birdee (Bullock) is an unassuming housewife whose life is disrupted when her husband (Michael Pare) reveals his infidelity to her on a Ricki Lake-style talk show. She and her daughter (Mae Whitman) go home to her mother (Rowlands) and the small town in which she grew up, where everyone knows of her televised marital collapse. Meanwhile, an old friend, Justin (Connick, Jr.), has entered her life, sparking a romance. While Justin's intentions are clear and good, Birdee struggles with the decision to let him fully into her life.

Plot

Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock) is a Chicago housewife who is invited onto the Toni Post talk show under the pretense of getting a free makeover but instead is ambushed with the revelation that her husband Bill has been having an affair with her best friend Connie (Rosanna Arquette). Humiliated on national television, Birdee and her daughter Bernice move back to Birdee's hometown of Smithville, Texas, with Birdee's eccentric mother Ramona (Gena Rowlands) and young nephew Travis (Cameron Finley), whose mother abandoned him to pursue an acting career in California, to make a fresh start. As Birdee and Bernice leave Chicago, Birdee gives Bernice a letter from her father, telling Bernice how much he misses her.

Birdee struggles to make a new life as a working single mother and deals with the growing attraction between herself and a former high school classmate, Justin Matisse (Harry Connick, Jr.). She also tries to rebuild her relationship with her estranged mother, her ailing father (who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease), and her daughter, who wants desperately to be with her father and blames her mother for the breakup, even trying to sabotage the romantic overtures Justin makes towards Birdee.

Adding to Birdee's heartache is her former status as the school queen bee and a beauty pageant winner, which alienated many of her former classmates. They also haven't forgotten Birdee's high school snobbery and rub her nose in her televised embarrassment.

Ramona tries to mend the gap between her daughter and granddaughter by telling a childhood story of her own. She asks Bernice what she's wishing for her birthday. Bernice secretly wishes for her father to return.

That night, drinking a cup of tea before she could sleep, Ramona suffers a massive heart attack and dies. At the funeral, Bill arrives at the church. Bernice believes her father's presence is a sign her wish has come true...that her father wants them both to come home. However, it soon becomes clear to her that her parents' split is permanent when Bill asks Birdee for a divorce. Wanting to be with her father, Bernice is devastated when he tells her that even though he loves her, he has no room for her in his new life with Connie. Crushed at the thought that her father put another woman before her, Bernice breaks down sobbing, screaming for him to come back and take her with him. Bill turns his back on her and drives off, leaving her to be comforted by her mother. As Birdee comforts Bernice up in her room, Bernice learns the letter was actually written by Birdee, and not really by her father.

One day at work, Birdee finds Justin outside waiting for her with flowers. As she walks to him, she says, "Ok, Mama, stop pushing." After they kiss and embrace, he picks her up, places her in his truck and they drive off together.

The film ends with Birdee, Justin, Bernice, and Travis at a big town event. Birdee is now taking care of Travis and is dating Justin. Bernice ultimately accepts Bill's departure from her life as a full-time parent and begins to accept Justin as her mother's new love interest and a father figure. She and Birdee are much closer because of everything they've been through, and Bernice realized that it wasn't her mother's fault that Bill left them and that Birdee really does love her. They share a tender, yet humorous moment when Bernice asks Birdee if she's going to marry Justin, to which she replies that she isn't getting married again for a long time. When Birdee asks Bernice if she doesn't like Justin, she says her only real concern is being known as "Bernice Matisse."

Cast

Filming

McCollum-Chapman-Trousdale House in Smithville

Hope Floats was filmed in Smithville, Texas.[2] The home in the movie is the McCollum-Chapman-Trousdale House, built in the Neoclassical style in 1908.[3] The elementary school in the movie is a 1924 high school building.[4] The church used was Saints Peter and Paul Church in Kovar, TX, about 6 miles from Smithville. The church was built in 1921.

The film was choreographed by Patsy Swayze.[5]

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released in 1998 under the production of Don Was. The album included the works of artists such as Garth Brooks, the Rolling Stones, Bryan Adams, Bob Seger, and Sheryl Crow. One of the singles, Brooks' "To Make You Feel My Love", was a Number One single on the Billboard country singles charts in August 1998 and also a Grammy Award nominee in 1999 for Male Country Vocal performance.

Score

Hope Floats:
Original Score Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various
Released 1998
Genre Score
Label RCA Victor
Producer Don Was

Hope Floats: Original Score Soundtrack

  1. "To Make You Feel My Love" – Garth Brooks (3:53)
  2. "In Need" – Sheryl Crow (5:29)
  3. "Honest I Do" – The Rolling Stones (3:55)
  4. "Chances Are" – Bob Seger and Martina McBride (4:17)
  5. "All I Get" – The Mavericks (4:08)
  6. "Paper Wings" – Gillian Welch (3:57)
  7. "Stop! In the Name of Love" – Jonell Mosser with David Campbell (4:31)
  8. "Wither, I'm a Flower" – Whiskeytown (4:53)
  9. "What Makes You Stay" – Deana Carter (4:35)
  10. "To Get Me to You" – Lila McCann (3:50)
  11. "Smile" – Lyle Lovett with David Campbell(3:38)
  12. "When You Love Someone" – Bryan Adams (3:39)
  13. "To Make You Feel My Love" – Trisha Yearwood (2:57)

Reception

Critical response

The film holds a 24% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ↑ "Hope Floats (1998)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. 1998-07-24. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  2. ↑ "City of Smithville - Heart of the Megalopolis". Ci.smithville.tx.us. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  3. ↑ "Hollywood Stars and Smithville, Texas". Blue Eyes and Bluebonnets. 18 January 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  4. ↑ http://www.katyhouse.com/smithville-attractions.htm Archived November 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Kelly, Devin (2013-09-18). "Patsy Swayze, mother of Patrick Swayze, dies at 86". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-10-06.

External links

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