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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 52 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 OK for kids 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 91
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Watching Bounce, you look at him (Affleck) and believe how much he's got at stake, and you look at Paltrow and know why. Read full review

  • 80
    Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan

    It's a love story, yes, but one whose sweetness is cut by honest performances, a sharply drawn supporting cast and a fairly serious, yet never self-pitying, tone. Read full review

  • 75
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Carrie Rickey

    Roos introduces the possibility that perhaps two partials add up to the whole truth, and in so doing creates a provocative love story that sticks with you long after the credits roll. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    In movies with this story structure, all depends on the precise timing of the delay and the revelation, and Bounce misses. Not by a lot, but by enough. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Stephen Holden

    Bounce may be far from a great film, but its pleasures are consistent enough to remind you of how few movies nowadays come anywhere close to matching it in intelligence and emotional balance. Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Jay Carr

    Something is missing in Bounce, the muted dynamic of which calls forth a perhaps inevitably muted reaction. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Edward Guthmann

    Surprisingly tepid and soapy. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Susan Wloszczyna

    Truth is, Affleck and Paltrow flunk Chemistry 101. They aren't believable even as a fake couple. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Simultaneously contrived and genuinely felt. Read full review

  • 30
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Affleck and Paltrow, who've been excellent elsewhere, display less chemistry than they've shown in magazine photo shoots. Even Woody and Bo Peep had more going on between them in "Toy Story" than these two manage here. Read full review


Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 14+ Mature story of fate, alcoholism, and love.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Buddy is an alcoholic who makes an embarrassing acceptance speech when his firm gets an advertising award. He goes into rehab. When he gets out, he almost takes a drink. Abby smokes as a way of getting over an addiction to nicotine gum. A character mentions that he's gay. Characters wake up in bed together after a one-night stand. There's brief strong language.
  • Families can talk about how, after someone dies, the survivors may feel angry and guilty. Buddy, Abby, and Abby's son all feel guilty for the death of Abby's husband. How do they show it? How do they resolve it? Both Buddy and Abby lied at their first meeting -- why? And why did Buddy notice the way Abby jumped up to remove the toilet paper from the girl's shoe? What did he learn from that?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Not an issue
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Sad death in plane crash
  • sex false3 Sex: Sexual references and situations, including one-night stand
  • language false3 Language: Brief strong language
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Character abuses alcohol, character tries to give up smoking

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