Return to Me: Movie Review, DVD Review (2000)

Directed by Bonnie Hunt, written by Hunt and Don Lake, 115 minutes, rated PG.

(Originally published 2000)

Let’s get the premise right out of the way.

In Bonnie Hunt’s “Return to Me,” a near-dead woman with a failing heart receives the healthy heart of her future boyfriend’s newly dead wife. That’s one big load of cinematic cheese, but the good news here is that it doesn’t clog the film.

The film, which recalls the best romantic comedies of the 1950s, easily could have starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson; it’s exactly the sort of fare that once turned actors into matinee idols. You know none of what unfolds could ever happen, but with a cast as strong and as likable as this, the premise works in spite of itself.

The film stars David Duchovny as Bob, a Chicago architect who is devastated when he loses his wife, Elizabeth (Joely Richardson), in a car wreck. A year passes before he meets Grace (Minnie Driver), the very woman who received Elizabeth’s heart in a speedy transplant.

Of course neither Bob nor Grace know that little tidbit when they meet, but the audience certainly does; within 10 minutes, Hunt makes it clear where this film is going.

Surprisingly, the film’s predictability doesn’t hurt it, and that’s because Hunt chooses to build tension and entertain in other ways. Her focus is on her talented cast, which includes terrific performances from Carroll O’Connor, Robert Loggia, Eddie Jones, William Bronder, Marianne Muellerleile, James Belushi, David Allen Grier and Hunt herself.

What gives “Return” an added lift is the depiction of Grace’s home life, which centers on the Irish-Italian restaurant her family owns. There, in a world that still champions the music of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Vic Damone, the film comes to life in its relationships.

Grade: B+