Random Hearts

Sydney Pollack's uncomfortable, unconvincing, anti-climactic romantic thriller is hardly romantic and even less thrilling. Harrison Ford is Bill "Dutch" Van Den Broeck, an Internal Affairs investigator whose wife dies in a plane crash. When he discovers she was sitting with another man, he becomes obsessed with finding out all he can about his wife's extramarital activities. (It wouldn't be a Ford film without some testosterone, so he's also investigating a crooked-cop scandal that gives him the chance to throw men against cars and kick open doors.)

Turns out the other man was married to New Hampshire congresswoman Kay Spencer-Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas), who apparently didn't like her husband much but thinks Dutch is quite hunky. Their romance is sullied by Kay's distrust of politics, Dutch's distrust of everyone, and the inability of both to leave the past behind. Even with two hours to work with, the character development is minimal, so Ford comes off as a self-absorbed asshole and Thomas closely resembles an infatuated teenager. Torturously adapted from a novel of the same name, the story goes nowhere really slowly: the most exciting part is the mad rush to the restrooms when the theater lights go up. At the Campus, Harbour Mall, Opera House, Showcase, Tri-Boro, and Woonsocket cinemas.
-- Jumana Farouky