The soundtrack is outdated, but the movie's still good

Rating: 7/10 (23 September 2002)

I saw this movie when it was first released and didn't really care for it. Well, basically I was still in grade school and didn't care for anything that wasn't loaded with action or comedy. I gave this movie another try when it came on Cinemax and recorded it on tape. It's a very impressive film that's both suspenseful and romantic, without being over-the-top. The only thing that really bugged me was the soundtrack. My cousins upstairs bought the soundtrack and would listen to it constantly, so I'm pretty much tired of hearing every single one of those songs.
Kevin Costner gives an engaging, charismatic performance. Whitney Houston is not a terrific actress, but she can pull of a dramatic line without making me burst into laughter. So I gotta give her a little bit of credit, being that this was her first performance. I've seen much worse. And it's nice to see Whitney looking very pretty, as opposed to now where she's destroying herself with drugs. And though the relationship was between a white man and a black woman, the film didn't get preachy about it.

I just think Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote the script) should've just made Whitney's character a singer, since we never see her act in this film. We never see clips of her films. All we see her do is sing. So why not make her a singer and have the climax at the Grammy Awards? Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the film. It works well as both a love story and a thriller. And unlike most romantic films, the two characters don't constantly jump into bed together and the sex is left to the imagination. We actually feel some real chemistry, through dialogue and character development.

My score: 7 (out of 10)