Forces of Nature (1999)

Directed by Bronwen Hughes
Written by Marc Lawrence
Starring Ben Affleck, Sandra Bullock, Maura Tierney, Steve Zahn, Blythe Danner

My Advice: Wait and Rent It.

Ben Holmes (Affleck) is a nice guy.  He's scheduled to marry Bridget (Tierney), who's a nice girl.  It can't get any better.  However, while on his way from New York to Savannah to get married he runs into calamity after cataclysm...and then there's the beautiful and mysterious Sarah (Bullock), who's he stuck travelling with.  Things become suddenly somewhat...less than simple.

This is a mildly amusing film that becomes funny as hell in some moments--a sequence inside a strip club in particular.  It has two leads which actually work well together, Affleck being his typical nice guy Affleck self we've seen before and Bullock actually getting to stretch her acting legs a bit.  Unfortunately, some of the sights and characters along the way are much more interesting than the couple in question.  Everywhere Ben goes he winds up getting advice on marriage--and for the most part, the advice is to run away screaming.  Almost every one of these is delivered with perfection by a horde of bit players and they provide the most consistent amusement.  Steve Hytner as a Snap-On Tools rep is particularly vehement about the whole thing.

Other than the play on the respective fears both male and female of getting hitched, there's the usual cavalcade of standard (and sometimes sub-standard) comic misunderstandings, farcical situations, and token serious moments--all predictable and all managably watchable.  Still, hampering the film's success is a less than completely satisfying wrap-up which I would discuss in detail here but that would be spoiling it.  All in all, a decent film, especially for a date, but one that will work just fine if it's pausable at home.