FORCES OF NATURE was like a breath of fresh air. Not because of the leads: Sandra is still stuck in her 'aren't I adorable/don't you just love me' mode, which will doom her to Norma Desmond status in just a few years, and poor Ben is as clueless as ever. But this has such great casting otherwise and tremendous special effects, plus a script that is a lot more thoughtful than you'd expect in a movie like this.
The premise is that Ben, a nervous air passenger at best, decides against flying when the plane he and Sandra are on has a run-in with a flock of birds and almost crashes before leaving the ground. So that leaves him trying to get to Georgia in time for his wedding.
Along the way they have many adventures which, granted, push the grounds of credibility. But a big chunk of the movie deals with what would best be termed magical reality. There's a hailstorm which provides for as magical a scene as I can remember in recent movies. And he gets to Georgia at about the same time a hurricane does, and he and his intended bride and their families try to sort things out while the wind is tossing about umbrellas and table decorations. The logical thing for these characters to do would have been to go inside to talk, but the special effects are so good that we don't realize that conversations in that chaos would be futile until long after the movie has ended.
And FORCES OF NATURE presents further argument that there should be a category of Best Casting at the Academy Awards. The casting in this movie, down to extras who have no dialog but contribute a valuable presence, is superb. It is cast with people who look as if they belong in these places and have lives that would make good movies in and of themselves. Along the way the confused groom-to-be questions couples he meets in his travels, and those encounters are excellent. Best yet, the casting director isn't afraid to show us people of 'senior citizen' status who are still vital and living their lives at full tilt. Given Hollywood's usual worship of youth and terror at showing people past the age of thirty on screen at all, this in and of itself is almost miraculous.
Check out FORCES OF NATURE. In fact, we may go see it again next weekend. It's so good that repeated viewings will probably be even more enjoyable.
The PG-13 rating is for drug use (which could have been cut out with little loss) and one scene involving strong language, and in that scene the character uses the words that even the most genteel of people would have used under those circumstances.
This story has some nice 'life lessons' in it, so take the kids, too.
On a five scale, Pops gives FORCES OF NATURE 4 spinning umbrellas.
