Return to Me Review

It`s the old story, boy meets girl, only this time with a modern medical difference in Return To Me clip D Architect-builder Bob Rueland, (David Duchovny), is devoted to his lovely zoologist wife, Elizabeth, (Joely Richardson). When she`s killed in an offscreen car crash, her heart is donated to Grace Briggs, (Minnie Driver), who lives with her Irish grandfather, Carroll O`Connor, and works in the bar he operates with his Italian cronies. It`s only a matter of time before Bob and Grace meet... Return To Me is the most mawkish kind of Hollywood pap, the sort of film that even includes a cute gorilla and a cute dog to keep undemanding audiences happy. When you think what Pedro Almodovar did with a similar heart transplant premise in All About My Mother, you despair. You feel embarrassed for the principal actors, although director Bonnie Hunt saves a few good lines for herself and James Belushi, who plays her husband in a few mildly amusing scenes. This is return to sender time,Margaret`s Comments:Three destinies are intertwined in the first half hour of Return to Me... Big-time builder Bob Rueland (David Duchovny ) loses his wife Elizabeth (Joely Richardson) in a car crash. Meanwhile Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver) lies very ill in hospital waiting for a heart transplant. She gets Elizabeth`s. A year later both Bob and Grace can`t seem to find the impetus they need to get their lives moving again - Bob because he`s still bound up with grief, Grace because she`s self-conscious about her huge operation. Grace is supported not only by her grandfather and his mates at the restaurant he co-owns but also by her friend Megan played by Bonnie Hunt and Megan`s husband Joe (Jim Belushi)... it`s not until Bob and Grace actually meet that things start to click...There`s an inherent niceness about this film - there isn`t a mean bone in its body. It follows a fairly predictable trajectory but it has a well-written screenplay as its base - Bonnie Hunt co-wrote it with Don Lake - even though some of the elements are a bit hokey. Joely Richardson gives a brief but charming performance, David Duchovny is empathetic as Bob, Duchovny doesn`t perhaps have a great range but he`s not required to here and Minnie Driver is only occasionally too saccharine for the role of Grace, it`s just a pity about her wardrobe. And the screen lights up whenever Jim Belushi`s around. Return to Me deals with the undercurrents of heart transplants, in classic romantic comedy form. I had a good time with it.