The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'rebound' as 'spring back after impact', and after watching
The Rebound that's either a handy explanation for this latest attempt by
Catherine Zeta-Jones to salvage her current flat-lining career, or more likely a succinct description of what happened when you smacked your head into the nearest hard surface after sitting through it. I guess you can see what persuaded Zeta-Jones to make it, and perhaps for the money-men to pay for it, as it pays lip-service (no pun intended) to the difficulties of divorced 40ish women as they struggle to come to terms with being back in the workplace, raising children, and handling years away from the dating scene. Unfortunately all those conflicts are neatly swept under the carpet by an instantaneous job, an apartment search that seems to last 5 minutes, and the useful baby-sitting appearance of an undirected 25 year old who works in the coffee shop downstairs. Add the quickly realised fact that any men of a similar age to Zeta-Jones who may have have made their way in the world are self-involved idiots (or in the case of John Schneider an actual cartoon), and you're left with, well, not much.
What you are left with is probably the other reason for the movie's existence, the chance for Zeta-Jones to play 'milf' to the coffee shop babysitter, as personified by the unsurprisingly sappy
Justin Bartha, an actor who's range seems to encompass the unfunny sidekick (National Treasure), to the strangely un-missed absentee (The Hangover). In the world of The Rebound however he is practically the modern hero personified as he substitutes any desire to actually do something with becoming the full-time nanny to Zeta-Jones's little moppets (although admittedly one of them is a funny, little dude). With this set-up of close proximity and the dearth of any other decent examples of the male species the inevitable hook-up between them is assured, and plays out in the diminishing manner expected. They're happy, but those around them; family, work colleagues, either view the match with open amusement, or plain disdain. And within the confines of the bedroom the apparent gulf between them is subtlely played out as Zeta-Jones confesses to the serious consequences of a possible pregnancy whilst Bartha sits in bed reading Harry Potter. None of which is helped by Zeta-Jones sleep-walking her way through the entire calamity with the throw-away abandon of a dead-eyed shark.
So, conflict established, how does the writer/director Bart Freudlich solve the conundrum of happiness, age prejudice and the expectations of the world around them? Obviously by sending Bartha on a world-wide journey of self-discovery from the cobbled streets of Paris, to glasses of tea in Istanbul, the multi-coloured celebrations of India, and the mainstay of many a lost soul; teaching some African children. That the journey takes 5 years, and that when he bumps into Zeta-Jones back in New York he's crossed the threshold into his 30s and is therefore socially acceptable as a mate is just fortunate I guess. Disclaimer: There is no mention of the extra's or the visual quality of The Rebound because Momentum decided only to send us the DVD of the film, and not the Blu-ray. Something to hide about it's quality? Probably. So we only have the film to go on and that gets a big thumbs down! The Rebound is released
on Blu-ray today.