Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck) has just signed a big ad deal. He's flying out of Chicago back to LA, but gets delayed. He meets fellow passengers Greg Janello (Tony Goldwyn) and Mimi Prager (Natasha Henstridge). Greg is a failing writer and he opts to be bumped for a couple of tickets and $200. Buddy tries to do him a favor by switching tickets while staying the night with Mimi. The plane crashes killing everybody on board. The airline gets Buddy to run feel-good ads and it wins a Clio. It crushes him and a drunken Buddy creates a fiasco at the awards. After rehab, he goes to check on Greg's widow Abby (Gwyneth Paltrow) as one of the 12 steps.
First of all, this is hamstrung by a bad title. There is a really heart breaking story in this and it starts off well. However the romance just breaks the movie down to a lesser level. It tries very hard to romanticize this tragedy that it comes off as awkward. The two leads try to do a good job but they are off by a little bit. I'm not sure what most people think about the flirting. It mostly made me feel sad. And the awkward attempts at humor don't help either. This could have been a much better movie if it could have maintained its darker edge.
First of all, this is hamstrung by a bad title. There is a really heart breaking story in this and it starts off well. However the romance just breaks the movie down to a lesser level. It tries very hard to romanticize this tragedy that it comes off as awkward. The two leads try to do a good job but they are off by a little bit. I'm not sure what most people think about the flirting. It mostly made me feel sad. And the awkward attempts at humor don't help either. This could have been a much better movie if it could have maintained its darker edge.