Theresa Osborne, a former reporter, works as a researcher for the Chicago Tribune. On a trip to Cape Cod, she finds a mysterious, intriguing and typed love letter in a bottle in the sand, addressed to Catherine. She is fascinated by it and shows it to her colleagues. They print it in their newspaper without Theresa's knowledge and receive a multitude of responses.
One of the letters contains an attached letter that was addressed to the same person, on the same letterhead and typed in the same tone. Later, they receive another letter of the same kind from one of the readers that was not addressed to Catherine, but was typed on the same notepad. Eventually, they track down the author with the help of the typewriter and the letterhead used. His name is Garrett Blake, and he lives quietly on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, near his father, Dodge.
Theresa goes to the Outer Banks to research it further, but when she meets him, they are mutually attracted and start becoming better acquainted. She tries to tell him about the original purpose of her visit but fears that she might lose him and postpones it. Along with the literal distance between them — they live hundreds of miles apart — there is another problem: Garrett cannot quite forget Catherine who died, leaving him.
Theresa's career flourishes as the romantic "message in a bottle" tale is told in print without naming names. Garrett makes a trip to Chicago to visit Theresa and her young son. They seem very happy together for a day, but he finds his letters in her nightstand, becomes upset and starts to leave.
When Theresa reveals that there are three letters of the same kind, he becomes intrigued, as he wrote only two of them and comes back to see another letter. The third one, which was not addressed to Catherine, was actually written by Catherine. In that letter, she reveals her love, her knowledge of her impending death, and how she was content with her life with Garrett, however short it might be. He departs with the letter, leaving Theresa in tears.
Garrett moves on with his life and sets things straight with Catherine's family, who had been battling with him for Catherine's artwork. He finishes his personalized boat with the help of Catherine's brother. He names it Catherine in her honor, and sends an invitation to Theresa to visit.
When Theresa goes there, she witnesses Garrett's passionate speech about Catherine. She understands that he still is in love with his late wife, and leaves him, saying that he is welcome to call her when he thinks that he is ready to start a new life.
After that night, Garrett writes a letter to Catherine, puts it in a bottle and goes sailing. A storm breaks out, and Garrett desperately tries to save a family from a sinking boat. He succeeds in saving two of three; however, in the process, he drowns.
Dodge calls Theresa and informs her about Garrett's death. Heartbroken, Theresa goes there to bid farewell. Dodge gives her the letter that Garrett had intended for Catherine, found on his boat. He wrote that he had found someone else; Theresa, who is as dear as Catherine to him. He decides to start a new life with her and asks for Catherine's blessing. Although devastated, Theresa comes back contented, stating that, although this experience left her in grief, it helped her to feel the most important thing in life.
The producers originally planned to film on Tangier Island, Virginia, but the Tangier town council voted against allowing it due to the drinking, swearing and sex in the script.[4]
Warner Bros. tried Martha's Vineyard near Chilmark, Massachusetts, but the Chilmark Conservation Commission turned down a request to build a temporary 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) house on stilts in the dunes near Chilmark Pond.[5]
The film grossed $52.9million in North America, and $66.0million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $118.9million.[3] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $18.9million, finishing first at the box office, knocking Payback from the top spot.[3]
Critical reception
Message in a Bottle received generally negative reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 32% rating, based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's consensus states: "Handsome-looking but dramatically inert, Message in a Bottle maroons a formidable cast in a trite romance that lacks spark."[7]Metacritic reports a 39 out of 100 rating, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[8]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars out of four, praising the lead actors, particularly Newman, who "steals every scene he's in", but criticized the contrived ending.[9]
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called it a "dreary, lachrymose and incredibly poky tear-jerker", but conceded that it had a built-in audience among those who put the book on the bestseller list.[10]
