Hope Floats, and Mae Rises to the Top
Film: Hope Floats (1998). Young Actress: Mae Whitman, age 9.
After she discovers that her husband has been cheating on her with her best friend, Birdee (Sandra Bullock, Premonition) and her young daughter Bernice (Mae) relocate from Chicago to Birdee's hometown in rural Texas, where they move in with Birdee's mom (Gena Rowlands, Paulie). Birdee eventually finds love again with a man in a cowboy hat who slow-dances with her to a Garth Brooks song, but Bernice resents her mom's new boyfriend and continues to carry a torch for her father, convinced that he'll come to get her.
The plot might sound like your average chick flick film, and in many ways, it is. The adult cast is good, especially Bullock, and the romantic storyline is done well enough, but it's just been done a million times before, and here, it comes with an abundance of country accents, country music song sequences, and shots of cow pastures and similar farming scenes.
"Don't look back, sweetheart," Birdee tells Bernice when she turns around in her seat during the drive from Chicago to Texas.
Probably the most unique thing about Hope Floats is how the movie treats its two kids, Bernice and her cousin Travis (Cameron Finley). Their issues - school bullies, parental abandonment, and their grandmother's death - are handled just as seriously as the adults', and Mae and Cameron both deliver strong performances to go with them. (They were both nominated for Young Artist Awards for this movie. Mae won hers, but Cameron lost to Liam Aiken for Stepmom.) Mae is very good at showing that Bernice loves her mom but also blames her, not her dad, for her parents' divorce.
To me, Mae's performance here is markedly different from When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), in which she was so young that was probably just passively being filmed, rather than actively portraying a character. (I doubt if Mae can even remember making that movie now.) But in Hope Floats, she is older and seems to understand what acting is and how to do it well. A few scenes are over-the-top, worst of all the final scene between Bernice and her dad, where he drives away from her as she runs after his car crying and screaming, "No, Daddy, take me with you!" - but we certainly can't blame that on Mae, who was only following direction.
Bernice and her friend Kristen (Christina Stojanovich). You just gotta love how Mae's hair is falling in her face here.
Other reviews of Mae's films: When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), The DUFF (2015).
After she discovers that her husband has been cheating on her with her best friend, Birdee (Sandra Bullock, Premonition) and her young daughter Bernice (Mae) relocate from Chicago to Birdee's hometown in rural Texas, where they move in with Birdee's mom (Gena Rowlands, Paulie). Birdee eventually finds love again with a man in a cowboy hat who slow-dances with her to a Garth Brooks song, but Bernice resents her mom's new boyfriend and continues to carry a torch for her father, convinced that he'll come to get her.
The plot might sound like your average chick flick film, and in many ways, it is. The adult cast is good, especially Bullock, and the romantic storyline is done well enough, but it's just been done a million times before, and here, it comes with an abundance of country accents, country music song sequences, and shots of cow pastures and similar farming scenes.
"Don't look back, sweetheart," Birdee tells Bernice when she turns around in her seat during the drive from Chicago to Texas.
Probably the most unique thing about Hope Floats is how the movie treats its two kids, Bernice and her cousin Travis (Cameron Finley). Their issues - school bullies, parental abandonment, and their grandmother's death - are handled just as seriously as the adults', and Mae and Cameron both deliver strong performances to go with them. (They were both nominated for Young Artist Awards for this movie. Mae won hers, but Cameron lost to Liam Aiken for Stepmom.) Mae is very good at showing that Bernice loves her mom but also blames her, not her dad, for her parents' divorce.
To me, Mae's performance here is markedly different from When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), in which she was so young that was probably just passively being filmed, rather than actively portraying a character. (I doubt if Mae can even remember making that movie now.) But in Hope Floats, she is older and seems to understand what acting is and how to do it well. A few scenes are over-the-top, worst of all the final scene between Bernice and her dad, where he drives away from her as she runs after his car crying and screaming, "No, Daddy, take me with you!" - but we certainly can't blame that on Mae, who was only following direction.
Bernice and her friend Kristen (Christina Stojanovich). You just gotta love how Mae's hair is falling in her face here.
Other reviews of Mae's films: When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), The DUFF (2015).