Broken Bridges
(2006/DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: C
At the
end of May, 2006, while attending a screening for another movie, I remember a
man handing out fliers in the lobby of the theater for a special test
screening to be held June 1 for a movie called Broken Bridges starring Toby Keith
and Kelly Preston. The studio was obviously gauging
audience reaction in different middle-American markets to see how wide
they would release Country & Western star Keith's first starring vehicle.
Thirteen
weeks later, during the early September box-office doldrums, Broken Bridges arrived with
little advertising in this medium-sized market at one multiplex
that's way outside the city, where it played for a week.
Clearly the audience ratings from those test screenings earlier in
the summer didn't inspire enough confidence in the powers that be to
give the film a wide release. Instead, they would open the picture
on a very limited number of screens in mostly rural areas where Keith's
music is most popular.
The
theatrical release of Broken Bridges
was one of those token theatrical runs just to be able to say the film played
in theaters when it came to DVD, thus avoiding that direct-to-DVD stigma.
The film
itself, a co-production of Paramount and Country Music Television, isn't
bad. It's just one of those innocuous, average movies with domestic
situations and pat resolutions we've seen a hundred times before; the kind
of trite material that seems better suited for the small
screen than the big screen.
Keith
plays Bo Price, a slumping country music star with an alcohol problem who
returns to his small Tennessee hometown for the first time in years when his
younger brother dies in an Army training accident. Also killed in
the same accident is the younger brother of Miami TV reporter Angela
Delton (Kelly Preston), who hails from the same hometown as Bo.
Angela also returns home for the first time in years, but with her
16-year-old daughter, Dixie (Lindsey Haun), who was fathered out of
wedlock by Bo when he and Angela were high-school sweethearts.
Bo ran
away, leaving Angela to raise Dixie on her own. But Angela also left
home before having her child, and rarely returned. Angela has never
forgiven Bo, just as Angela's crusty father, Jake (Burt Reynolds), has
never forgiven her -- you don't have to be Nostradamus to predict there
will be lots of hugs and forgiveness following the initially awkward reunions.
Keith
doesn't do badly in the movie. He seems to know he's not much of an
actor, so he plays it as low-key as possible. And Haun, also in her
feature film debut, is cute and likable as his estranged teenaged
daughter. Preston, who was noteworthy merely for her
attractive looks early in her career, has developed into a good
little actress, and again proves she deserves to be a bigger star.
And the frequently underrated Reynolds gives an affecting performance as a
sad, embittered man who's too proud to show his true emotions.
Paramount's
DVD version of Broken Bridges
presents the movie in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround sound. The picture exhibits the sometimes
grainy look of movies done in HD. Extras include interviews with
cast and crew, behind-the-scenes footage and a concert video starring
Keith promoting Ford Trucks.
-
Chuck O'Leary
