User Reviews

I went into the movie with low expectations. Wasn't hard, given it has been slammed by most critics and the pretentious on RottonTomatoes. This was not helped by a rushed, detached start which made me feel doubtful that the movie would pick up from there.

However, The Rebound quickly takes a swift turn for the feel-good drama and I was very impressed as it became not only a light romantic comedy but more a well-thought, rounded character drama with all sorts of little sub-plots, rich character development, great performances, and a genuine likability to every part of the movie. It was just very well done and the rest did not feel rushed at all. If only it had been about 10 minutes longer at the start to get us to really feel that too, instead of brushing aside the seriousness of it as if it were a slapstick laugh-job, it would've scored another star or two.

Definitely go see it if you liked "500 Days Of Summer". And go see "500 Days of Summer" if you haven't already. Are you kidding me?!

The REBOUND is a romantic comedy, that follows the story of Sandy (Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones – Chicago, The Mask of Zorro series, Entrapment, Traffic) as a happily contented wife and mother – that one day comes across a revealing video on her computer of her husband having an affair with another woman. She leaves the family home and takes her two children to start afresh in New York – looking for work within her favourite pastime (sports statistics) – and living in an apartment above a coffee shop.

At the same time, Aram (Justin Bartha) – who works in the coffee shop, is just getting over his new french bride dumping him - as soon as she's achieved her "green card" status.

Sandy and Aram lives get more and more interwoven when she needs a baby sitter and they gradually get closer and closer.

Her friends want Sandy to start dating again – and Aram's parents want him to make more of himself – all claiming that they are both on the rebound … but, there is much more going on ...

Adequately directed by Bart Freundlich, and very well acted by the Main leads – this story moves along well and is one of the better chick flicks out there – and, as always, it stands or falls on the chemistry of the main actors (which works in this case) – and as usual all the best one-liners come from the two children

"Sometimes you need to travel the world - to discover what you really needed all along was right here at home …"

I would say that for it class and genre, that this would be a successful movie and is recommended as a romantic comedy

Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a very organized, type A mother who adores her two kids. However, she catches her husband in an act of infidelity on a webcam and decides to change her life in a major way. Instead of the suburbs, she moves her family into an apartment above a Manhattan coffee shop & starts a job search. Meanwhile, getting-a-divorce Aram (Justin Bartha) is a barista at the cafe, despite having a college degree, which displeases his extremely pushy parents (Art Garfunkel and Joanna Gleason). On their advice, Aram tries a part time stint at a woman's issues agency, where he has to dress up in a protected suit and let the women vent their angers on him! One of them happens to be our Sandy, naturally. All too soon, these two meet again when she returns to her department. Needing a babysitter one day, she asks Aram to help her out. The two children, a boy and a girl, adore him so before long Aram is installed as the nanny. Also, despite the decade of age difference between S and A, they have eyes for each other. Something may be approaching, in terms of a relationship, but how can it survive when it is more of a "rebound" coupling? This is a nice flick, written and directed by a respected indie filmmaker, Bart Freundlich. He himself is married to Julianna Moore, who is a few years older than her husband. Therefore, he has good insight into a May-September relationship. Zeta-Jones and Bartha, who seem an odd couple at first evaluation, give nice performances as the afflicted twosome while all other cast members do a nice job, too. Sets, costumes, and photography are likewise quite attractive. The resolution is admirable, as it strikes a balance between a ride into the sunset and an unhappy finish. The only minor criticism is that there is some salty dialogue and scenarios that won't please the G-rated crowd, so stay away from it, if this applies to you. That said, most romcom fans will like it just fine.

for a person who never have special feeling toward Catherine Zeta-Jones, this piece of work of her playing a middle aged mother is truly the best one from her career as far as I believe. Justin Bartha is also the main reason makes this story believable. one of the great example of how right casts can push a B level of the production, script and its director to even possibly work. there are some good moments but most of the time one just so much hope the director can go deeper and build on characters in a much more personal angles, sadly he did't. without these two main actors, the movie would be a 4-5 out of 10 piece of work.

Every movie has its specific set of audience, and this one too has a particular set. It is a sensitive but sexy movie about a woman in her forties and her post-divorce encounters with different feelings like hatred, low self-esteem, domestic problems and her personal life. Amidst all the things going wrong with a woman who is in a situation where she had been cheated by her husband, she finds something which perhaps is the most important thing in this world, "Friendship". Catherine Zeta Jones looks lovely throughout. I literally fell in love with her after watching the movie. Not just because she is beautiful but the emotions portrayed by her are extremely believable and life like. She portrays the role presented to her with perfection and looks plausible as a single mother raising two kids. Moreover, No matter what others say, I feel the chemistry between her and Justin Bartha (The Hangover Groom), if not tremendously magical, was just right for the movie. The movie is never uninteresting and did keep me glued to the screen. It makes you smile in places with some witty and amusing scenes and also imparts some wisdom about life and any relationship. I wouldn't say that it is something worth not missing but if you are a planning on watching it, I guarantee you that your ninety minutes would not be wasted.

Suburban mom Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) finds evidence of her husband Frank cheating on her son's birthday party video. She takes her 2 kids to live in the city while she's getting a divorce. She takes a fact checking job on a sport channel. She's compulsively organized and had spent all her spare time compiling sports data. Aram Finklestein (Justin Bartha) is 24 and still recovering from the breakup of his marriage to a French girl who only wanted him for a green card. He's working at a coffee shop but his aimless lifestyle concerns his parents. Sandy moves into the apartment above the coffee shop. He babysits her kids. She starts writing sports stories. He starts working as her nanny. Eventually they date. Only they're both on the rebound or are they?

Both Catherine and Justin are perfectly nice actors portraying perfectly nice characters. There isn't much in terms of hurdles other than their age difference. Catherine is so hot that her age doesn't necessarily matter at least to the audience. Written/directed by Bart Freundlich, the movie shows more competence than anything extraordinary. The romance is as predictable as it gets. The comedy has a couple of charming chuckles. This is a mildly amusing rom-com.

Courtesy of indie filmmaker Bart Freundlich, who gave us the wonderful "The Myth of Fingerprints," this is not a romantic comedy (as it was heavily promoted at least in German speaking territories) but a drama with humorous undertones. Two bruised souls, a mother of two, who recently separated from her cheating husband, and a young(er) man, whose ex-girlfriend basically used him to get a green card, meet, then meet again during a women's self defense class (arguably the seriously funniest bit in the entire movie) and finally they agree on a business arrangement: he is gonna watch the kids while she is trying to get her life back on track. Zeta-Jones and Bartha carry the film almost single-handedly with finely attuned, irresistible performances. They're helped by a great supporting cast of living, breathing human beings - not a single caricature in sight. Turning a genre on its ear...refreshing.

This is one of the best romantic comedies I have seen in years. I went to see this with a friend of mine who's in his upper thirties and I'm in my mid twenties and we both laughed so hard. There's none of the commercial, fake feel some romantic comedies have, or the ones that try to be funny and are not, this is a daring romantic comedy, really in tune with our times that breaks with some stereotypes.

Great acting, both by the adults and the kids (you can't help falling in love with Justin Bartha and this is some of the best performances I've seen from Catherine Zeta Jones, like a million times better than Intolerable Cruelty), interesting storyline, nice imagery of New York City and a movie I want to see again!

I hope it gets a wide release soon.

Justin Bartha finally bags a lead role and what's better than teaming up with the ever green Catherine Zeta Jones Douglas. A decent drama comedy and romance with unexpected dialogs - reflection of reality is a bit scary. You don't get a lot of movies like this one these days. Every time you see something close to reality, you get grossed out or end up calling it "weird" and the romantic parts from this movie is nicely done as well. With a wide range of cast including ART GARFUNKEL have all done a great job. Highly recommended! I'm very happy for talented Justin Bartha as I've been waiting to see him in movies that offer him good roles and more screen time.

This was your average chick-flick, nothing remarkable but ultimately not boring either. Its described as a "sexy romantic comedy" and its moderately entertaining with a few funny moments and likable characters in Catherine Zeta-Jones and Justin Bartha who provide a somewhat intriguing romance with the whole older woman-younger guy hook.

I did want to see how this was going to play out, if and how our couple would get together in the end. I thought the choice the writers came up with was realistic except for the "son" angle.

The story follows Zeta-Jones as a 40 something woman who moves to New York City with her two children after discovering her husbands affair. After several disastrous attempts at dating 'Sandy' realizes that she has developed feelings for the 25 year old former barista she befriended and hired as a nanny. Can they overlook the generation gap and forge a lasting bond or do they both have some growing up to do? 9/7/15

While the title may be a tad misleading, Bart Freundlich's 'The Rebound' is a refreshing romantic comedy that centres around a forty-something single mother and a 24-year old singleton. Unlike most traditional Hollywood movies of this genre, much of the humour here is subtle and it balances off well with the rest.

Freundlich also addresses the issue of age-stereotype and how it affects people. When Aram calls Sandy an ageist, it may appear petty but there is some truth to it as she just couldn't see him outside the stereotype even though her concerns are justified to an extent.

On the technical side, it's a decently made little film. The setting is New York and Freundlich cleverly steers clear of exposing too many postcard images of the city. Refreshingly paired Justin Bartha and Catherine Zeta-Jones form a very likable and convincing couple on screen. Zeta-Jones displays her growth as an actress in a mature performance and Bartha is excellent as the kind-hearted young man who's going through a lot (split up from his wife, unemployment etc) and yet decides to do the generous thing. The supporting cast is mostly adequate. Joanna Gleason is brilliant with her downplayed performance.

Overall, 'The Rebound' is a delight to watch while, at the same time it presents some interesting issues regarding age and gender stereotype. It's a great date movie and something worth considering for a rainy day.

Everything in this movie was well done including the hardest part... ending, but though it was a good ending it wasn't enough good compared to the rest, beginning, middle and especially the culmination. But maybe, it was me who was unable to connect enough with the end and felt it was a bit cheesy, so that is why I say it's good ending and probably faithful, successfully escaping the clichés.

The whole movie is unique for the genre He represents, from the basic story, an older woman (but very hot) and younger man are having a relationship. Next, the humor is sharper than usual, romance is not rushed too soon, is not cheesy though on moments is flirting with it, and the characters (including the supporting ones) and connections between them are well developed and full of real emotions.

The Rebound seems to be a prefect name of this movie. Though this movie contains a typical storyline which could have been expected for its genre, but the most striking thing that appealed me is how one would grow in love and involve in the self-knowing phenomenon. It turns out that whatever one is doing is merely due to his conception of love. As most of people would call it; love can do amazing things and surely it does. I love the scene where they start to look out (arom touring across the world and sandy involved in her work which she wanted to do) with something missing in their hearts and the urge of having their loved one by their side while celebrating, confronting pain, and small moments in life etc. But the point in love I reckon it always teaches you to grow stronger either you have them by your side or not. Rebound as it named can be taken in a notion for bouncing from the person you love and discover the meaning of your life.

Okay well as a guy who for many years now has dated and been with older women I just had to go and watch this film. Not only does it star two great actors, Catharine Zeta Zones and Justin Barber but there are also two amazing young kids that add to the humour and inspiration behind the story. As you can tell from the films trailer it's about a lad who is in his early 20's and becomes attracted to a newly separated woman in her late 40's. There are many websites and viewers that have tried slating this film but personally I think that's just down to the way the public look at older younger relationships. For a comedy film based around the term older younger relationship it was very funny and reminded me a lot of the 80's comedy films from John Hughes, go watch this film if you're after a fun and frantic 95mins of comedy.

"The Rebound" starts with a lame, double-meaning title, ventures into the cringe-worthy territory of romantic comedy, and then somehow finds two characters that are not overdone. Catherine Zeta-Jones is Sandy, fresh off a divorce, starting a new job as a sports writer, and trying to meet a man. (Have you figured out the cleverness of the title?) Justin Bartha is Aram, a twenty-something trying to find himself under the annoyance of his wealthy, conservative parents.

I didn't mean to imply that the characters had never been done before, just that they haven't been done too often. As you can guess, despite how attractive Zeta-Jones is, she can't find a decent guy. And despite how smart Aram is, he's comfortable just being the nanny to Sandy's kids. Oh, and of course, they eventually realize that they want each other.

The problems are numerous. Including montages that are so poorly edited you have no idea how much time was supposed to have passed, jokes delivered by the supporting cast fall flat, and the tediousness of knowing where they are going but they are taking forever to get there.

However Zeta-Jones and Bartha are able to add likability, freshness and a fun factor to their characters that you find yourself rooting for them and generally enjoying yourself when you're in their presence. With any other actors, "The Rebound" would have been unbearable, but as usual, when you find Oscar-winning actors in a straight-to-DVD indie it can be worth watching.

I admit it, I like movies. A film that transports me to see things in a different way, or inspires me, or explores deep and complex questions where the language of cinema can transcend the limitations of words and other media.

But some people I know don't think like that. What's worse, they're not stupid or uneducated or lacking in taste. They just expect a movie to entertain. Much like food stops you being hungry. You go in the cinema, buy some overpriced sweets, sit down, and switch off your brain. Simple. Maybe they've had a long day. Maybe they're on a date. Maybe they just fancied a night out. They don't care too much about the movie as long as it's easily digestible, starts and finishes at a convenient time, and has free parking nearby.

Is that so wrong? It doesn't even have to be that good, it just has to tick some boxes. A bit like this one.

The Rebound is a light romcom where Sandy (Catherine Zeta Jones) is a beautiful, smart, suburban 40-year-old mother who discovers her husband is cheating on her and takes her two children to New York City for a fresh start. She gets a new job and meets Aram, a sweet twenty four year-old graduate who's at a low point in his life - he found out his French wife of two weeks duped him into marrying so she could get a green card. Aram works at a coffee-shop but is great at babysitting. Eventually the inevitable happens and they hit it off despite the age-differences.

The style has similarities to Sex and the City in pacing and heavy sprinkling of sexual innuendos, but really succeeds around Catherine Zeta-Jones, who soon reminds us she is an Oscar-rated actress even in this most undemanding of roles. Justin Bartha is reasonably amusing as Aram. The other characters are more two-dimensional. Zeta-Jones commands the stage and has some nice fluffiness for us to contemplate meaningfully as we search for the car park ticket on the way out. "I think what's endearing and universal to the piece is that divorce and break-ups don't just happen to women and neither do the emotions that come out of them. The Rebound shows us these events and emotions also happen to men. I also like what the script says about relationships. When they break up everyone thinks there's no hope in hell that you will find love again, but you can."

I am a bit at a loss to explain why a woman who can act, sing and dance as well as Catherine Zeta Jones should put herself through such silliness, but she is quick to explain. "My character goes through this horrific dating process and I've heard countless stories from my girlfriends who are the same age are in this position. When you're married you think your life is complete forever, then you get divorced and you have to start over again and go out into the marketplace, for want of a better word. At some point you just have to laugh at all these situations that happen when your life turns around on a dime and The Rebound helps us see this."

That is just so horrific and I feel deeply moved. I'll get the giant popcorn next time. But to be fair, unlike Sex and the City where males are mere bit-players in the big scheme of things, Aram could strike a chord with any guy that would love to fancy his chances with a woman that is of a considerably different age and richer than he is. Never mind if you can't take her out and pay pay pay in the style she 'deserves' – just go to a really awful theatre where your terrible acting friends are producing a boring play. Being a dream lady, she will not only sit through attentively, be polite to your geeky friends, but practically eat your face off on the dance floor afterwards.

You become parted irrevocably but, as Catherine says, your life will suddenly turn on a dime and the fairy godmother of happy endings will make everything right before you have to get home for the babysitter. Don't tell anyone, but I enjoyed it. I know I shouldn't . . .

One can only pity the creator's of this bomb for simply getting everything wrong.

"The Rebound" is a movie which tries so hard to be smart, funny, romantic, entertaining and heartwarming but falls oh so flat on its face on all accounts.

I was initially tempted to point out its abundant faults and foibles, but honestly, it simply isn't worth the time and effort. The overriding feeling is one of pity for all involved in such a failed effort.

The fact that it has received some favorable reviews on this site indicates the voracious appetite for romantic comedy, even at this lame level.