Message in a Bottle

1999 "A story of love lost and found."
6.2| 2h11m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 22 February 1999 Released
Producted By: Bel Air Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A woman finds a romantic letter in a bottle washed ashore and tracks down the author, a widowed shipbuilder whose wife died tragically early. As a deep and mutual attraction blossoms, the man struggles to make peace with his past so that he can move on and find happiness.

Genre

Drama, Romance

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Message in a Bottle (1999) is now streaming with subscription on Paramount+

Director

Luis Mandoki

Production Companies

Bel Air Entertainment

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Message in a Bottle Audience Reviews

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
pc95 (Major Spoilers) At over the 2-hour mark this bloated drama directed by Luis Mandoki features an over-the-top monologue from Robin Wright narrating to a string orchestra fading to credit in blaring fashion. "Message in a Bottle" is poorly edited and taken from a novel by Nicholas Sparks. It stars Kevin Costner in his usual light-talking and pause-filled acting and Wright doing a Satisfactory but perfunctory job. Paul Newman thankfully shows up in about 25 min of runtime to breath reality and some spots of fun into this clunky, overlong, paperweight. The director employs intercut cheese-fest MTV music shorts that are so common today, and signal a lack of thought in cinema. Moreover, dialog is weighty and there's too much droning on of the past. By the end, Costners character's demise is an epilogue of the actual story, and an eye-roller. 5/10 - not recommended
JWJanneck SPOILER AHEAD.Imagine this scenario: You are a guy who just had great sex with a hot woman you met a little while back and that you really like, the beginning of a steamy relationship. While she gets cleaned up, you rifle through her stuff to find that you apparently did not meet her by chance as you had thought before, but that she had found some old love letters you wrote to a previous love of yours, and apparently was so taken by them that she tracked you down, romanced you, and, just a few minutes ago, screwed the living daylights out of you. Okay, imagine that? So here's the question: What would a guy in this situation do? If your answer is something like "get all emotional, pack his bags and run away in a huff", then you (a) are most likely a woman and (b) might like this movie.For everybody else who has just the faintest inkling of how men actually work (which somewhat surprisingly does not seem to include the apparently heterosexual male who authored this story, although there is always the possibility that he's just playing to his audience), this is just one cliché too far in a chic flick riddled with bad, bad romanticky stereotypes, super-corny acting, and dull by-the-numbers predictable storytelling.The one faint ray of light in this stinker is Paul Newman --- his role isn't a very big one, it isn't very well written, but he does with it what he can. It's not enough to make this worthwhile, though. Avoid.
Ali Tataroglu The first time I saw this movie was about four years ago in the midnight at home. From then maybe I have watched ten times but never got bored or press forward button.It is a modern but at same time old love story between two lovely people. They live in their own worlds till the girl 'Teresa' (Robin Wright) finds a bottle by the seaside. From the first scene till the end I could not leave my eyes on her. Then I recognized I had seen her before from 'Forest Gump' and 'Last Castle' even she had just a little role in it. Anyway in this movie especially with the dress she wore at Garret's house (Kevin Costner) she was awesome, gorgeous. The house of Garret was so wonderful, a dream house. It is a home near the seaside. You may even listen the sound of waves from the kitchen. I won't tell so much about script of the movie. I am simply someone who is so affected of this movie. The sea, the waves, the yacht, the house, the girl...
anilkumar1262 I had watched this movie 9 years ago when it was released. Then it was mostly one among the many movies to watch during the college days. I watched it again yesterday night with my wife and some family friends. I won't give you the story line and the characters since that's mostly available in all the reviews. What I want to talk about is what it left me with.Message in a bottle (MIAB)is a movie to experience the honesty of real life's twists and turns as we go along. Each characters is honest and sincere (to the extent of being unsure at times) in expressing their challenges. Garret (Kevin Costner) who is still holding on to the yesterday because that gives him comforts and completes his life, in a way. His father, Dodge (Paul Newman), displays his persistence in nudging his son to move along in life and find the courage to face the life (and its unpredictability) yet again. And we have Theresa (Robin Wright Penn), who has lost her love only to find it again. I couldn't help feeling a sense of peace in me after watching the movie. Not because it has some breath taking coastal frames (i would have love to click those shots on my camera; the framing is near perfect), but it allowed me to let go of the notion of holding on to someone to feel the love. Both the lead characters show how to love without boundaries--of time, distances, contrasting lifestyles,and possessing each other. Theresa falls in love with Garret for his love for his wife. For me, it was so pure and honest. She wants him in her life but at the same time respects his love for his wife (who is no more). Garret struggles between his present and past. He doesn't want to let go of either. Isn't it how you or I would have done. The vulnerability, frailty of human nature is very well depicted. Garret can continue to feel the love of his dead wife every moment of his life. Theresa can experience love every moment in her life by setting Garret free to choose between yesterday and tomorrow. As they say, 'If you love something, set it free. If it is yours, it will come back. If it doesn't, it never was!Not to mention the great performances by Kevin Costner, Paul Newman and Robin Wright Penn.Watch it for its honesty and purity. Cheers