The Rebound (2009) starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Justin Bartha, Andrew Cherry, Kelly Gould, John Schneider, Joanna Gleason, Art Garfunkel directed by Bart Freundlich Movie Review

The Rebound (2009)   4/54/54/54/54/5


Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Rebound (2009)

The Young and the SOM

When forty something Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones - No Reservations) discovers her husband has been unfaithful when she watched the video from their son's birthday party only to see him and her friend in the kitchen, she leaves him and with their children moves to New York City to start a new life. It is there whilst getting a job and finding an apartment that she meets Aram (Justin Bartha - National Treasure: Book of Secrets), who is younger than her but already going through a divorce of his own. Through a series of situations not only does Aram end up becoming a nanny to Sandy's children but they also start dating with both issues of their age difference and being rebounds weighing heavy on them.

I didn't expect much when I sat down to watch "The Rebound" and what I expected was a simple romantic comedy about two people who end up as each others rebounds after failed relationships. Yet that is just a part of this amusing, occasionally beautiful and sometimes touching romantic comedy which touches on aspects of age difference as well as rebound romance. It does end up very compartmentalized which makes it not the smoothest of romantic comedies but then each of those parts work individually before delivering a pleasant ending and in fairness a bit of a surprise one at that.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Justin Bartha in The Rebound (2009)

I mentioned that "The Rebound" is a compartmentalized movie and the first third can be summed up with the phrase MILF. Now I prefer SOM rather than MILF and for those who don't know what SOM means it is Sexy, Older Mum and that is what this first third is about, Sandy being sexy, older and a mum. Most of the humour comes from Sandy finding her way as a single woman, some uneasy dates and hitting the bottle every now and then but it works and it is surprisingly different to what you probably expect.

This first part of "The Rebound" sets up the next as Aram becomes not only a nanny to Sandy's children but one of the family and eventually that leads to them dating. There is plenty which is predictable about it as we have issues of the kids walking in on Aram and Sandy mid sex but it is good fun with plenty of naive questions from the kids. And at the same time it sets up the various other issues because not only do we have the fact that both Sandy and Aram are each other's rebounds but also there is the age difference.

Now I could say that all of this is predictable and it isn't a spoiler if I say that both the age difference and being rebounds causes issues but the way things play out in "The Rebound" is a suprise. Well initially it is a surprise because it feels like it becomes a different movie but then it delivers an unexpected ending one which if you have watched various movies about age differences you won't be expecting. It means that whilst "The Rebound" is a movie of clearly defined sections they end up creating this fun, sweet and touching movie.

What is for certain is that for the first half "The Rebound" relies on Catherine Zeta-Jones being a sexy older mum, although trust me she doesn't look old at all. From scenes featuring Sandy exercising to stripping down to her underwear whilst drunk it is all about Catherine being sexy and it works. That isn't to say that Justin Bartha as Aram is a spare part because his side of the story comes in during that middle section and the third part and it is Bartha's quiet likeability which sells it. And to be honest Zeta-Jones and Bartha work well together delivering a good looking and fun couple.

What this all boils down to is that "The Rebound" is a fun romantic comedy which takes the audience on a nice journey delivering sexy humour but also some touching drama before delivering a pleasant surprise of an ending.

Tags: Age Gap Romances


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