The story of the mismatched couple who are forced to make a trip together and who gradually come to control their animadversions is a familiar one. Usually, not always, it's a man and woman. Frequently, one is stodgy and the other reckless.I mention, only in passing, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, "Something Wild," "The Palm Beach Story," "It Happened One Night," and all the "Road To --" movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Maybe if we could suddenly discover all of Aristophanes' missing plays there'd be one about a mismatched couple trying to find their way to Cloud Cuckoo Land.So, is it possible to breathe ANY fresh life into this near-cadaver, shuddering, Cheyne-Stokes breathing setting in, boxcars ready to form, ready to be transfigured? Yes. "Forces of Nature" does a pretty good job of resuscitation. There are moments that are forced and silly -- jumping into a pool, standing on the roof of a passenger train and shouting life-accepting exclamations -- but for the most part it's funny.The stodgy character who is afraid of flying, of water, and of disrupting his wedding plans, is Ben Affleck. The liberating life force is Sandra Bullock. Each plays off the other and the supporting cast is unimpeachable. Maura Tierney as the impatient and ever more frightened bride-to-be is outstanding. The role combines comedy and pathos. Blythe Danner, Gwynneth Paltrow's mother, is 58 years old and delicious.It's competently directed by Bronwyn Hughes and the script by Marc Lawrence shows some keen wit. It may not end the way you think.

Take two Hollywood performers at their peak, place them in a romantic comedy loosely inspired by the riotous Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and watch the fireworks FAIL to ignite. Ben Affleck is a rigid businessman who finds his efforts to make it home to Savannah in time for his nuptials with Maura Tierney constantly confounded by the weather, mechanical failures, coincidence and the temptations provided by wacky free spirit Sandra Bullock, who keeps getting thrown together with him.Singularly Bullock and Affleck can be very entertaining, but together they do not have much spark between them. They come off more as a brother/sister pairing than potential romantics. Part of the problem is certainly the writing. Affleck's character is written as such a stick and Bullock is stuck playing such an offbeat stock character that the audience is never allowed to warm up to them. The less said about Tierney as Affleck's colorless fiancée, the better. Their misadventures grow tedious fairly quickly and events are not helped by Bronwen Hughes' uneven direction. Hughes either concludes scenes before they have built up a head of steam or allows them to drag on forever. For instance, the events at the hotel where Affleck and Bullock really start to bond and then run into acquaintances of his runs on and on and on. Meanwhile, a potentially hilarious sequence where, to earn money, Affleck reluctantly has to do a strip tease at a gay bar abruptly concludes right when it was starting to hit its comic high point. And these are only two examples. Hughes does not seem to understand what works and what does not. As such, we get a romance that is not particularly romantic, and a comedy with some scattered laughs that dry up long before the film has reached the two-thirds mark. I would venture to say there is not a smile to be had anywhere in the final third of this film.Another issue that fails is the ending. It probably sounds very mature on paper and it is certainly a non-Hollywood climax, but it is incredibly dull and renders the majority of the preceding scenes pointless. In a romantic comedy, one should never introduce a female character that is more colorful and appealing than the woman with whom the leading man ends up with (and vice versa). That is exactly what the writers have done here. They manipulate two characters together for romance and then in the final moments of the film, they have Affleck do an abrupt about-face and declare his undying love for Tierney, while a wise-beyond-her-years Bullock slinks off alone into the sunset. Affleck needs to sell us wholesale that the sight of Tierney alone has made him fall back in love with her (after a scant moment before he was planning on breaking off their engagement) and it is beyond both the actor and the screenplay to convince the audience of this. Rather than making it seem like Affleck is a great guy, it makes him seem more than a tad fickle. The next time he is stuck away from his beloved Tierney for a day or so, is he going to have another crisis of love? Does Tierney need to be in his line of sight in order for him to maintain the love affair with her? The entire scenario is just plain foolish. Affleck and Bullock have been much better elsewhere, and fans would be advised to find those other efforts.

Both Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock are extremely appealing, attractive people. The idea of an out-of-control wild woman and a straight-laced businessman (okay, "jacket copywriter") getting together was a fun idea. But, sorry, that's about as far as the fun went.I felt every single emotion in this film was manipulated, either through heavy-handed music (the scene where Ben as "Ben" turns on the radio in the cheap hotel room and hears, but of course, "Love the One You're With") or pound-over-the-head foreshadowing (Ben's fiancée's old boyfriend). We are asked to believe that Sandra and Ben are going to stand on top of a train and shout into the open wilderness, and then, when the train locks itself to the next section, that they don't go flying off into the river below to certain deaths.We are asked to believe that, when desperate for money, they just happen to walk into the one gay bar in the sleaziest part of town and that, of course, Ben will be forced to strip for money to buy a cheap car to take them back to their destination.We are asked to believe many things that are far too coincidental. So, most of the movie doesn't work.But the main problem is: In the beginning of the movie when Ben and "Sarah" (Sandra") are on the plane which runs into trouble before it even takes off due to some retarded seagulls, everyone is roughed up a little and Ben accidentally smashes Sarah's head with his notebook computer. Later, after everyone has been safely evacuated, Ben is hauling Sarah over his arm, getting her to a doctor or stretcher, or whatever the hell he thought he was going to do.Then, when he calls his fiancée to let her know he is okay, Sarah rushes the phone booth (but three minutes before she had been on a stretcher) and tells him, "You saved my life!" and kisses him madly. I'm sorry, what did he do to "save" her life? Nothing. So, the "inciting event" of the movie fails.Also, the endless jokes about marriage being a prison, and loving one person is like wearing the same clothes for the next 25 years... they wear thin quickly.Yes, Sandra is funny. She is glittering and gorgeous and has a movie star face and knows how to deliver a punch line (and a good swift kick if needed); yes, Ben is cute and adorable and he always looks like everything that comes down the line is a surprise and that he'd rather be in an episode of "Leave it to Beaver," but, oh well, he is thinking, "This is life and I guess I better learn how to catch the curveballs!"... but, that aside, who cares? The ending was absolutely unacceptable; I didn't buy his speech to his fiancée for one second, nor did I think all the endless babbling about meeting someone and loving someone at the end was necessary. I can't believe the test audiences did not all at once storm out of the theater when the "big surprise" is revealed at the end. I was extremely disappointed. Another thing that was truly upsetting was, couldn't they think of ANY other name for Ben Affleck's character except "Ben"? How pathetic. Yes, it was a clever idea to combine "force of nature" with natural disaster and with Sandy Bullock's big, fabulous personality and gorgeous glamor girl looks. But ultimately, this movie fails on almost every level. I'm really sorry to say so because I'm a big Sandy fan, and am beginning to appreciate Ben as well. Well, at least they're both pretty to look at.

I cannot imagine anything that would be more fun than taking a road-trip with Sarah Lewis (Sandra Bullock). That is why I really think this film is worth watching. Ben Holmes (Ben Affleck) got something that very few of us ever get to experience - a couple of days with someone who will truly liberate us from our staid conventions and open our eyes to a world that we never knew even existed.Working with the developmentally disabled, I have to constantly remember that I cannot say they don't want to live or work or do something until I have exposed them to that opportunity and let them make an informed choice.How many times have we made choices without knowing all the opens - or even that there are options. Ben got the opportunity to make an informed choice. I am not saying I would have made his choice, but he knew what he was doing.Don't watch this movie looking for a comedy, even though it is funny; don't watch it looking for romance, even though there is plenty to see; but watch it to open your eyes to another world and ask yourself if your world is really what you want.