Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick, Jr. star in this slow-paced romantic drama about a woman who learns on a talk show that her husband is having an affair. Shattered, she takes her daughter and moves back in with her mother in a small town in Texas. There's a good movie under the surface here struggling to get out, but the plethora of predictable dramatic cliches is successful at burying it. The key plot points are anticipated and, when they occur, all too visible. There's also the "bratty kid" factor to contend with, a trend in modern movies that irritates me to no end: kids are allowed to be rude and obnoxious without a single corrective word from the parents.

Except for the bratty kid, Hope Floats is a pleasant enough movie and may please those with patience and an affinity for drama. Myself, I would have preferred some humanity and insight, both of which were conspicuously absent.