Cast
Dutch Van Den Broeck (Harrison Ford)
Kay Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas)
George Beaufort (Dennis Haysbert)
Carl Broman (Sydney Pollack)
Alcee (Charles S. Dutton)
Directed by Sydney Pollack Written by Warren Adler and Kurt Luedtke
Rated R for brief violence, sexuality, and language
Running Time: 132 minutes Distributed by Columbia

Random Hearts is a film that opens nice, but ends very soft and dull. Dutch Van Den Broeck (Ford) is a hard nosed and very smart internal affairs officer. Kay Chandler (Thomas) is a respectable and hardworking Congresswoman. Dutch and Kay would have never met if it were a perfect world. However, a tragic accident involving affair between Dutch and Kay's spouses leads them to trying to solve the unanswered questions of the affair. Dutch and Kay develop a strong and unique relationship that teaches them to overcome the lies and deception that surround them.

Random Hearts is a different type of story, but the overall film does let audiences down after starting off pretty well. The first hour of the film is strong, but then the film drags itself slowly into the credits.

The acting in Random Hearts is the strength of the film. Dutch is a different type of character that might lead people to question Harrison Ford's decision of taking the role. Nevertheless, Harrison Ford is still the "John Wayne" of our generation. Ford relies more on his facial expressions and eyes to show his anger rather than his body actions. Kristin Scott Thomas is just as genuine as Ford is in this film. The two actors have very nice intense chemistry that really shapes each actor's performance. Outside of Ford and Thomas, the rest of the cast is not that effective at all. Dennis Haysbert, who plays a corrupt cop that has Dutch on his tail, is very mild. Sydney Pollack, who also directed the film, was very weak and unimportant as Kay's campaign promoter. Pollack did an okay acting jobs in Eyes Wide Shut and A Civil Action, but when he is directing and film, he should stay behind the camera.

Speaking of Pollack, the direction was traditional with nice transitional shots. Pollack's directing credits include Sabrina, The Firm, and Out of Africa. I like some of Pollack's work, but some of his films, like Random Hearts and The Firm just drag on and on.

Warren Alder and Kurt Luedtke wrote Random Hearts. The script's strength is the relationship between the two lead characters. However, the script is full of irrelevant aspects, such as Dutch's pursuit of George, the corrupt cop. Also, the script should have been cut by 30-35 minutes.

I enjoyed the acting and the first hour of Random Hearts, but the film just falls apart, by weak scenes thrown in towards the end and the length of the film. Also, I became restless as to why Dutch kept trying to find this answer and that answer.

Report Card Grade: C-

Beastman's Movie Reviews