Hope Floats Essay, Research Paper
The touching tale of Birdee Pruitt and her family describes the rebuilding of love, trust and hope. Sandra Bullock, who plays the roll of Birdee Pruitt, returns to her hometown of Smithville after a devastating appearance on national TV, when her husband admits he has been unfaithful. The former prom queen must help her daughter with the difficult move and separation from her father as well as learn to see herself as she once did before, which proves to be a difficult task. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from start to finish. The range of emotions it covers from love to utter devastation truly makes it possible for anyone to relate. This is a movie for all ages, which tells a timeless tale of courage and hope. It seems as though Birdee is working to gain back her high school days. She wants to return to her days as the most popular and beautiful girl in the small town of Smithville, Texas. Her glances back to these days give us a great portrayal of Birdee as a young girl. Such as, when we see her cheerleading on the football field as she walks Bernice to school and get a glance to her attitude from prior as she goes to look for a job. She finds that you shouldn t burn your bridges because you just might need them in the future. Gena Rowlands, who portrays Birdee s mother, plays matchmaker throughout the movie. Harry Connick Jr., who plays Justin, the sweet man who is always glad to help out, becomes the object of Birdee s affection. He has been waiting for her since high school and is not about to give up his chance this time.
Hope Floats remains as a great love story but also includes plenty of humor and entertainment. Birdee s mother s quirky habit of stuffing dead animals and dressing them up adds chuckles to the scenes. As well as the efforts made to cheer up Bernice Pruitt when she is down. Birdee and mother act out a hilarious song and dance, with crazy clothes and blacked out teeth. The small touches of humor add much to the movie, as well as bring back memories. Bernice who is dealing with adolescence as well as the breakup of her family adds so much to this movie. She learns to forgive her mother, defend herself from the bully of the school and move on towards the future. Her relationship with her mother grows as she gains courage and strength to move past hard times. The theme of this movie is age. Growth, good times, bad times, memories and the lack there of. Birdee s father who is in a retirement home adds a sentimental feeling to the movie. His memories of Birdee and how he sees Bernice in her add to the struggling mother-daughter relationship, which seems to have lost something with the separation from Bernices father. Hope Floats ultimately describes a struggle to regain everything Birdee lost with the breakup of her and her husband. It is a movie we can all relate to. Painful relationships, breakups and memories of high school years and how different things used to be. Birdee gains courage, strength and most of all HOPE for a better future to come and the heart to move on.