THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1999

'Forces of Nature' does not weather the storm

By Trond M. Vagen

On-Line Forty-Niner

When the forces of good actors collide with the forces of intermediate filmmakers, a film like "Forces of Nature" is born. Original but slow-moving, the film is not quite the hurricane it was meant to be.

Ben (Ben Affleck) is on his way from New York to Savannah, Ga., where he is set to marry his fiancee, Bridget (Maura Tierney). But his plane goes skidding off the runway, the entire airport is one big mess, and pretty soon Ben is stuck in a tiny rented car with his co-passenger Sarah (Sandra Bullock) en route to Savannah.

This leads audience members into a lengthy road movie segment, where one disaster after another take turns in trying to stop Ben and Sarah from getting to their destination. And when Ben starts developing an interest in Sarah, even more trouble abounds.

The middle part of the film, where Ben and Sarah are on the road to their destination, suffers from being too detailed, making the smooth ride of a real road movie into the kind of ride where the children have to pee at every gas station.

One gets the feeling that director Bronwen Hughes could have used the ax more liberally, but got too tied up in the story's details.

An amusing but at times drab romantic comedy, it does have room for some good acting by the main characters. Affleck makes the role his, and seems to enjoy portraying the nervous and uptight Ben.

Whether it is making passionate phone calls to his fiancee or doing a strip-tease in a gay bar, he handles the role with considerable ease. Bullock is wild and refreshing as Sarah, a veritable force of nature of her own.

"Forces" is director Hughes' second movie, and her first take on a romantic comedy. Although parts of the film suffer from a slow pace, she manages to keep its head out of the water in the overall sense.

Given more time and a better script, this movie might have begun to shine.

The movie opens Friday.