When Angel’s father Jake (expertly played by Burt Reynolds) found out Angel was pregnant, he prevented her from leaving all those years ago. Bo was supposed to meet her and they were going to run away together. Bo didn’t come for her, earning his nickname “No-Show” that night. Angel left town anyway, determined not to come back because she couldn’t bear her shame, the rejection, or her father’s stern judgmental disapproval.
Those motivations might seem trivial in major metropolitan areas, but in small towns around this nation, they’re still huge. The problems facing these fractured characters are real, and they’re huge.
Seventeen years later, Angel is a news reporter in Miami and is doing fine, except that she’s not happy and her relationship with her daughter is coming apart at the seams. It’s a typical story these days, and you can almost predict the sugary sweet ending. But that’s what makes these kinds of films and books work. Viewers and readers claim to be put off by the fact that they’re not surprised by the ending, but if they were surprised it would generally mean a reconciliation didn’t take place and they’d be really unhappy then.
Even though I knew mother and daughter would be all right by the end of the film, I still got drawn into the drama of the situation. I felt for both of them because they simply were spending time together without getting to know each other.
Bo’s career has taken him to the top of the music business and dropped him like a hot rock just as quickly. But it was his fault. He started drinking and stopped showing up for concerts. Toby is comfortable in the role, and actually stays off-camera a lot more than I’d expected. In fact, he ends up playing a supporting role in his own movie, which wasn’t what I’d expected at all. That was a surprise.
In his videos and on stage, in the Ford commercials and in some of the phone commercials he was doing with Terry Bradshaw, Toby chews up the terrain. But in Broken Bridges he plays a man humbled by life and the guilt he’s carried for seventeen years. It’s a far softer and gentler role than his fans probably expected as well.
Article comments
1 - elsietee
Yours was the best review I've read! I totally agree with you! I loved it! All 5 times!! LOL! Three thumbs up!!
2 - amy
I really liked this movie, although I only saw 25 minutes of it (i fell asleep) but it showed how a trajedy can bring people together wether they want another person there or not. Lindsay Haun's song is really insprintional. It really applied to me so im totally in love with it. I LOVE THIS MOVIE.
3 - Brandi
Wow....that's all I can say. Just saw this movie yesterday and let me tell you, there are some real tear-jerker moments in it. I really liked this movie a lot because I think that it truly depicts the world today. So many mothers go out on there own to raise a child and so many children often wonder who their father is because of that (actually it could go both ways, maybe the father raised the child). I have always liked country music while my husband is more into classic rock. He even sat down to watch the movie with me. Ofcourse he laughed at me (as usual) when he turned to look at me with tears rolling down my face when Lindsey Haun sang her song "Broken". I absolutely loved the song and I think that people can really relate to the words.