The Rebound

Plot

A housewife and mother of two, Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones), discovers that her husband has been unfaithful. After a hasty divorce, she moves to New York City with her young son and daughter. There, they begin a new life. Sandy rents an apartment above a coffee house and befriends one of the baristas, Aram Finklestein (Justin Bartha). At age 25, Aram is not sure what he wants to do with his life having just separated (his wife was a French woman who married him for a green card). Despite having a college degree, he is aimless and gets a job at a women's center. During a self-defense class at the women's center where Aram plays the perpetrator, Sandy unleashes an "ocean of anger" on him. The next day, she goes to the coffeeshop to apologize to him and asks him to babysit her kids. He becomes a full-time nanny for the family and develops a close-knit relationship with the children; and a chemistry starts to brew between Aram and Sandy, ensuing in an awkward sexual encounter that the children come to know about.

Notwithstanding, they start to date; and, after two months, they seem perfect together. One day, Sandy feels nauseated and suspects she is pregnant. Aram is thrilled and looks forward to raising a child with her. A doctor confirms that Sandy is pregnant, but it is an ectopic pregnancy and will result in a miscarriage. As they leave the doctor, a fight breaks out between Aram and Sandy, with the latter confirming that she thinks it's ludicrous that the two of them, with an age difference of 15 years, would ever be happy together. After the break up, Aram decides to travel the world and to experience new things. Sandy is promoted at her sports news job to anchor.

After five years, the two meet again in a chance encounter at a Chinese restaurant. Aram reveals he has adopted a young boy from Bangladesh and is still single. Sandy, who is celebrating another promotion with her children and a colleague, invites Aram and his family to join them. The film ends as the two hold hands underneath the table whilst their children start to bond implying that went on to rekindle their relationship.

Cast

This was Alice Playten's last role before her death in 2011.

Critical response

The Rebound received generally negative reviews from film critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 42% based on reviews from 24 critics, with 10 positive reviews and 14 negative.

Jon Frosch, said: "Saddling two game actors with a tone-deaf, charmless script, the film makes recent J.Lo vehicle The Back-up Plan look like Billy Wilder in comparison." Alex Zane said: "These are characters who seem very real. It's their imperfections, not contrived plot points, that drive the story."

Box office

The film grossed $21,790,414 worldwide.