Don't listen to the negative reviews

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I cannot understand why a director chooses to take a popular and well loved book and change everything about it. I could live with some elements changing but the foundation of this story is love and letting the past go and neither were portrayed well. Not keeping the letters the same was a huge mistake. Deanna doesn't feature and turning Jeb into a grumpy old man rather than the lovable and wise man featured in the books is beyond me. Kevin becomes jason and is younger so doesn't feature however despite garrets death being an accident there's a letter waiting for him for reasons I cannot comprehend. I do not recommend in any way shape or form watching this movie. Even if it wasn't a book first the movie is full of cliches. Loses it's simple elegance. Awful.

SPOILER AHEAD.Imagine this scenario: You are a guy who just had great sex with a hot woman you met a little while back and that you really like, the beginning of a steamy relationship. While she gets cleaned up, you rifle through her stuff to find that you apparently did not meet her by chance as you had thought before, but that she had found some old love letters you wrote to a previous love of yours, and apparently was so taken by them that she tracked you down, romanced you, and, just a few minutes ago, screwed the living daylights out of you. Okay, imagine that? So here's the question: What would a guy in this situation do? If your answer is something like "get all emotional, pack his bags and run away in a huff", then you (a) are most likely a woman and (b) might like this movie.For everybody else who has just the faintest inkling of how men actually work (which somewhat surprisingly does not seem to include the apparently heterosexual male who authored this story, although there is always the possibility that he's just playing to his audience), this is just one cliché too far in a chic flick riddled with bad, bad romanticky stereotypes, super-corny acting, and dull by-the-numbers predictable storytelling.The one faint ray of light in this stinker is Paul Newman --- his role isn't a very big one, it isn't very well written, but he does with it what he can. It's not enough to make this worthwhile, though. Avoid.

This movie is l o n g, too long, and insulting. Robin Wright is wonderful; Kevin Costner is Kevin Costner; Paul Newman is to be complimented for evolving into a character actor.Any resemblance to a worthwhile experience ends there. In its defense, this movie must have had to end the way it did; it's the adaptation of a book. Thank God it is not another, "The Scarlett Letter" adaptation that makes its own ending! The ending is laughable. I could not believe that the guy would not come wandering out of the waves. Plus...this flick had so many endings, it reminded me of Lord of the Rings, the Return of the King. It just kept going on and on with various endings. It was like a high Roman Catholic wedding mass to a Baptist; you think it's over, gather up your things, and it keeps going! The difference is that such a mass is beautiful; this movie is unbelievably boring.MIAB is actually a character study; best suited to no more than one hour. I think it is just poorly written; there are too many loose ends. Plus, it is HOKEY beyond belief! Anyone, including myself, who would sit through this turkey deserves better! I believe the production company went over its deadline and someone pulled the plug.Well, that's one more good thing...it could still be running.

While strolling on a beach one day Robin Wright Penn finds a letter in a bottle. Back in the old days stranded sailors were known to send distress messages in such items in the hopes the letters would be found and they would be rescued.But this bottle contains a message that's a beautifully composed love letter. Penn's been the odd woman out in a triangle that broke up her marriage and she's a naturally cynical creature. When she shows the letter to her boss editor/columnist Robbie Coltrane who prints it and writes an editorial in praise of it. It gets a really big response from folks touched by it.A little forensic science determines the origin of the letter to be Wilmington, North Carolina and the author to be carpenter/shipbuilder Kevin Costner. A man with that kind of poetry in his soul is guaranteed to move even the once burned Robin Wright Penn.Message In A Bottle is an old fashioned love story guaranteed to melt the most cynical of hearts. Also featured is Paul Newman who is Costner's father who has the wisest old head around. Hard to believe the guy who played Hombre and Cool Hand Luke is now playing wise elderly folks, but Paul Newman grew not just in age, but in expanding his once in a lifetime talent as well.If you think you've seen all the romantic pictures there are and know how this one is coming out then you're in for a shock if you see Message In A Bottle. But it's a worthwhile experience nevertheless.