Soft-boiled crime and a little skin

"The Big Bounce" is the latest Elmore Leonard movie adaptation. Leonard is renown for his popular crime-oriented novels, which have always provided terrific tales full of fascinating, well-fleshed characters and deliciously entertaining plots. His stories have translated quite well to the big screen ("Get Shorty" and "Out of Sight").

One famous exception was the original adaptation of "The Big Bounce" which came out in 1969 and reportedly was so bad, Leonard walked out on the film 15 minutes into the premier screening. In this new adaptation, he might actually make it all the way through. Maybe.

In this soft-boiled crime tale, Owen Wilson ("The Royal Tenenbaums") plays Jack Ryan (no, not the same guy from the Tom Clancy novels), a petty criminal and drifter surf bum. His life's path has led him to the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where he whiles his days away surfing when not working on small-time criminal scores - a breaking and entering here, a petty thievery there.

Jack gets involved with a beautiful femme fatale, Nancy Hayes, played by newcomer Sara Foster. While Foster is a decent actor, she is mostly in the movie for her physical attributes, which are frequently on display throughout the movie. As such, Jack quickly becomes completely enamored by her "emaciated Molly Sims" look, and she decides to take advantage of him.

Nancy, who has been a criminal delinquent since her early teen years, wants to land a major score to the tune of $200,000. Her plan is to rip off Ray Ritchie (Gary Sinise), her rich and crooked real estate developer boyfriend.

But Nancy can't do it alone and needs an accomplice, someone who might know a thing or two about breaking and entering and purloining other people's property. Enter Jack.

It's blatantly obvious that Nancy is only looking to manipulate him into helping her with the scheme. Well, obvious to everyone except Jack, of course. And thus, this one-sided romance develops: Together, they go skinny-dipping, they steal a car, they break into a stranger's house. It was unclear whether they were practicing for their upcoming criminal venture, or if they were going through some strange underworld courtship ritual.

In any event, their plan to steal the $200,000 is clever and well thought out. But of course, it's not foolproof, as circumstances and the characters surrounding the pair muck things up. And typical of a Leonard novel, the story line revolves around the mix up and how the situation eventually plays out. Unfortunately, it all ends in a pathetically obvious "surprise ending."

Director George Armitage, who did masterful work previously in "Gross Pointe Blank," doesn't have much to work with here. The screenplay adaptation is simplistic and has no trust in the intelligence of movie audiences.

The movie, therefore, has to rely on the performances of its cast. Wilson's laid-back charm and Foster's model looks are appropriate, but not good enough to carry this film. Meanwhile, the surrounding cast adds only a smidgen of flavor and nuance to the story. Morgan Freeman is enjoyable as a less-than-upstanding judge who seems to take an interest in Jack as a mentor might. Charlie Sheen makes an appearance as Ray's blockhead lackey.

Despite the high level of talent, the movie is a woefully average. It's way too easy to stomach and offers very little substance. It has the depth of a repeat episode of "CSI" or "Law and Order," and there's nothing memorable about it. Once the credits roll, it quickly dissipates from the mind.

If crime does pay, in the case of "The Big Bounce," it's only minimum wage.

(Check tomorrow's Daily Journal for the movie review of "The Perfect Score.")