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The Rebound
Score: 82%
Rating: R
Publisher: Fox Home Entertainment
Region: A
Media: Blu-ray/1
Running Time: 95 Mins.
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Features:
  • Interviews with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Justin Bartha, Writer/Director Bart Freundlich, Joanna Gleason, Art Garfunkel, Andrew Cherry and Kelly Gould

Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) has a seemingly perfect life as a housewife in Connecticut. She has two wonderful kids, a beautiful home and a great husband, or so she thinks. When she catches her husband in a sex act with their next door neighbor, during her son's birthday party no less, she splits up with him and she and the kids pack up and head to the Big City. New York City is quite the culture shock, but when she checks out an apartment above a coffee shop, she gets a two-fer. A nice little place to live and, according to the owner of the coffee shop, a built-in babysitter in employee Aram (Justin Bartha). Aram is caught off guard, but agrees to help if needed and Sandy takes the apartment. She quickly gets a job at SNN as a fact-checker, because as it turns out, this little housewife is a sports whiz. While she is trying to focus on her new life, her best friend is trying to get her out on a date. Sandy reluctantly agrees to go out on a set-up date with a handsome chiropractor (John Schneider), and asks Aram to babysit, but things quickly go awry and she happily bails on her date, only to come home and pour her heart out to Aram while drinking copious amounts of vodka.

As it turns out, Aram is great with the kids, Frank Jr. (Andrew Cherry) and Sadie (Kelly Gould), and is also quite capable of rousing Sandy the next morning when her kids think she is dead, although she is merely hung over. He steps up to the plate, taking them to school and back, and he and Sandy spend some time together, finding they have a lot in common, despite their 15-year age difference. They both understand being dumped since Aram is in the process of getting divorced from his French wife who simply needed a green card and left him for her "brother" once the card was in hand. In fact, Aram is so sweet, he can't even bring himself to sign the papers since she'll get kicked out of the country.

The more time Sandy and Aram spend together, the more they find themselves falling for one another, despite the obvious complications, which include Sandy getting promoted at work, while Aram still works at the coffee shop and as her nanny. Needless to say, Aram's parents, (Joanna Gleason and Art Garfunkel) aren't too pleased as they'd like a grandchild and a son whose job has a future. When a pregnancy scare occurs, Sandy and Aram decide to seriously evaluate their relationship. Aram is ready to commit, but Sandy doesn't see a true future for them, despite the fact that both are in love with one another. What seems to be a hopeless situation ends in a truly unusual way, with a time jump and some surprising events. Despite being rather indifferent about the film as it progressed, I really liked how it ended.

The Rebound is a cute romantic comedy about unlikely pairs, and while the cast is a good ensemble of actors, I thought Zeta-Jones was a little over the top at certain times, especially when she had her moments of rage against her ex-husband. It just wasn't believable to me. However, the chemistry between Catherine and Justin did work for the film. John Schneider was hysterical as her lecherous blind date and my favorite character of all was Art Garfunkel as Justin's dad. He was terrific.

The scenes where the film takes us around the world look especially lovely on Blu-ray, but the New York scenery is no slouch, either, and the film's soundtrack is great. As for special features, the only one included is a collection of cast interviews, which clocks in at about 15 minutes. While I enjoyed the interviews, I didn't like the editing, with the interviews being abruptly cut in between questions. It was disconcerting and jarring.

If you are looking for a romantic comedy that's off the beaten path, The Rebound is a cute film. It feels a little forced at times, but it has a nice ending and Justin Bartha is as adorable as always.



-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins
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