Return To Me

      Anytime someone asks me to recommend a good chick flick, Return to Me (2000) is always the first movie that comes to mind.  This is a record breaking movie for me; it has me in tears ten minutes into it.  The first time I watched it, it was more like fifteen minutes in. 
      David Duchovny (The X-Files, Evolution, House of D, The Joneses) is amazing in this movie.  He plays Rob Rueland, my favorite role of his.  The scene when he sits by the front door with the dog …… that gets me every time. He collapses to the floor, the dog comes over and Rob tells him, “she’s not coming home Mel”.  I also love the scene when he yells at Mel, the dog, “Eat in the kitchen like a normal person!”  Such a beautiful mix of comedy and sadness.  Return to Me is one of those movies that you have really got to pay attention to. Every line is so well written.  Even the very first line! Rob says “It’s a shame we’ve gotta’ put roofs on ‘em”  and that comes back around later on. 
       Minnie Driver (GoldenEye, Sleepers, Good Will Hunting, Hard Rain) is simply adorable as Grace. Every single thing she does is wonderful! She is so great in this role. I could never say enough about her.
      Bonnie Hunt (Cars, The Green Mile, Cheaper by the Dozen, Random Hearts) not only is in Return to Me but she also directed it, produced it and co-wrote it. Thank you Bonnie Hunt for such a wonderful movie! She is so awesome.  This was her first time directing.  She does the audio commentary with Don Lake (The Bonnie Hunt show, Life with Bonnie, Cars) who was a co-writer and he has a funny little cameo. 
      The commentary is great! At the beginning Bonnie and Don have a silly little bit about CGI.  Bonnie says “Now this entire crowd is computer generated.” Don says, “No one was there at all?” Bonnie: “No it was an empty room.” Don: “Are you serious?” Bonnie: “No I’m not, those are all real people. I’m sorry. I was trying to act like we were really technically advanced.” Just to give you an idea of what she is like, if you don’t know Bonnie Hunt.  Bonnie used a lot of family members in this movie and she talks about that in the commentary as well.  Her brother, her mother, sisters, nieces and nephews, some crew members kids are all in the movie.  There is a scene where Minnie and Bonnie are with all of Bonnie’s “kids” at the zoo.  Bonnie decided she didn’t want to direct the kids. She wanted to use their real names and just have them behave like kids would.  It is a great scene.  Very real. This is something else she talks about in the commentary. I also found out that John and Joan Cusack’s dad is in the movie. He is a very funny character that makes a “sizable donation” to the zoo and wants to be sure that people know about his “anonymous sizable donation” It’s great!
      My sister has often called me a DVDaholic.  She says I need to join a support group. For as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with movies.  I can remember at the age of 9 or 10 going to see The Man From Snowy River (1982) in the theater. But wait! The Black Stallion (1979) was before that! My mom picked my sisters and I up from school and took us to the theater to see the Black Stallion. At the age of 13 or 14 I remember going to the theater with a group of girlfriends to see Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). These are some of my favorite memories. I can remember going to the video store to rent a VCR and movies. It was so exciting! I remember buying our first VCR with tax return money, and then my dad coming home from work asking me what I was doing.  The VCR had quit working, or a tape got stuck, or something and I had taken it apart to fix it. I couldn’t wait for him to have time. When DVD’s came out I was in heaven with all of the special features.  Behind the Scenes, Gag Reels, Featurettes, Audio Commentaries ……. It’s so cool! I just can’t help devouring it all.
     Sorry, I digress, this is just one of those things that happens to me when watching movies and enjoying all aspects of them.  Back to Return to Me, Jim Belushi (According to Jim, Red Heat, The Defenders, Salvador) plays Bonnie’s husband. He is, well, you know, Jim Belushi, so he’s great.  He improvises a lot, which you found out in the audio commentary, and it is all great stuff that he does. Who would have thought that Jim and Bonnie would make such a perfectly wonderful couple? 
     There are a group of four old men that are such an amazing addition to this movie.  One of those wonderful old men was Carroll O’Connor (In the Heat of the Night, Mad About You, Point Blank, All in the Family). Return to Me was his last film; it was also the last film for Dick Cusack (The Fugitive, High Fidelity, Chain Reaction, While You Were Sleeping).  Well, I think I have gone on long enough.  This is an older movie but a classic in my opinion.  So, if for some odd reason you have never seen it …… do so. And, if you get a chance, watch the special features as well.