Message in a Bottle

"A story of love lost and found."

1999 2h 11m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 862

RomanceDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A woman finds a romantic letter in a bottle washed ashore and tracks down the author, a widowed shipbuilder whose wife died tragically early. As a deep and mutual attraction blossoms, the man struggles to make peace with his past so that he can move on and find happiness.

“A story of love lost and found.”

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Cast

Kevin Costner
Garrett Blake
Robin Wright
Theresa Osborne
Paul Newman
Dodge Blake
John Savage
Johnny Land
Illeana Douglas
Lina Paul
Robbie Coltrane
Charlie Toschi
Jesse James
Jason Osborne
Bethel Leslie
Marta Land

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Luis Mandoki
Writers: Gerald Di Pego
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

27 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Luis Mandoki, shot by Caleb Deschanel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Gabriel Yared. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Steven Weisberg shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kevin Costner and Robin Wright and Paul Newman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A story of love lost and found.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0139462 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Luis Mandoki directs. Caleb Deschanel behind the camera. Gabriel Yared scores. Steven Weisberg cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
227 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Luis Mandoki, shot by Caleb Deschanel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Gabriel Yared. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Steven Weisberg shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Kevin Costner and Robin Wright and Paul Newman carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "A story of love lost and found.".
8IMDB entry: tt0139462 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel
Original score: Gabriel Yared
Editing: Steven Weisberg
Production design: Jeffrey Beecroft
Stunt coordinator: Norman Howell
Runtime: 131 min · 2h 11m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $80,000,000
Box office: $118,880,016
Return: 149% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Message in a Bottle (1999)

Also by

Luis Mandoki

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2020-06-29
★ 5/10
Enjoyable, but contrived, love story with some very puzzling questions While on vacation in the Northeast a researcher for the Chicago Tribune (Robin Wright Penn) finds a romantic message in a bottle that is truly moving. After her editor prints the letter it becomes a hit and she travels to North Carolina to find the man who wrote the message (Keven Costner). Paul Newman is on hand as the latter’s father while John Savage plays his angry brother-in-law. "Message in a Bottle" (1999) is an entertaining drama/romance with quality actors and East Coast locations. Unfortunately, parts of the contrived plot are too much of a stretch and some seriously perplexing questions are raised that I can’t detail without spoiling the movie for first-time viewers. Write me and I’ll share them with you. Thankfully, there’s too much good to write the movie off as worthless. For instance, there’s a well-done subplot that has to do with manly antagonism and reconciliation. The average male has too much machismo to voice sappy apologies, but they clearly apologize & reconcile in less direct ways. Just read between the lines. When Theresa asks Garrett, "Will you come and visit me,'' Roger Ebert complained about the (supposed) lousy writing of the latter’s response: "You mean, inland?'' I guess he failed to notice that Garrett had a smirk on his face and was playing with Theresa wherein she giggled. Some people complain that the film was shot in Maine while the story takes place in The Outer Banks, North Carolina, which looks nothing like Maine and insults the intelligence of the viewer. In the producers’ defense, they tried to shoot in a couple places further south, but couldn’t get permits and so had to settle for Maine (Bath, New Harbor, Phippsburg & Portland). Yet the coastal scenery isn’t much of a focus, so it’s not that big of a deal. If it really bugs you, just imagine that Garrett throws the bottles into the ocean in Maine and Theresa finds the initial message while vacationing in Nova Scotia; problem solved. The film runs 2 hours, 6 minutes, and was shot in Maine and Chicago, plus some stuff done at Falls Lake, Backlot, Universal Studios, Southern Cal. GRADE: C

Production companies