While on vacation, a single mother identified as Theresa discovers a 'message in a bottle' on the shore that has moving honest words of love addressed to a woman named Catherine
The trail leads her to a sailboat builder named Garrett and also to his father, Dodge in a small North Carolina coastal town
It turns out that Catherine is Garret's deceased wife, and the intriguing letters were written, two years earlier, after her decease
Some people find the one true love of their lives, if they're fortunate enough
Luis Mandoki's film, in part, turns out to be a choice about what occurs when a person finds that right kind of love, then when he is faced with the impossible, and then when he is given the right to continue with his life and is brave enough to love again no matter how unpleasant his grief is
As a reclusive widower, Garret was still in deep pain, and entirely devoted to Catherine's memory
He had hard time letting go of the past
Catherine was dead but not forgotten and was simply everywhere
As a sailor Costner didn't inherit the charm of Newman
He was drawn to Penn by her smile, her beauty, even her mistakes
Robin Wright Penn was beautiful, delicate and sweet as Theresa
She soon insinuates her way into Garret's life
Her expectations were always too high
Since the beginning, she just had to meet the person that wrote those letters
Her life was changed by them
Eventually when she met Garret that morning, she accepted, without hesitation, to step aboard
Paul Newman as Dodge liked Theresa instantly
He saw in her the key to his son's emotional recovery
With a very nice music, and a stunning coastal photographyalso the ocean scenes are wonderfully taken"Message in a Bottle" is definitely a weepy melodrama and a must see for those who believe, or don't, in love
