Proof of Life (2000)

Film: Proof of Life (2000)

Stars: Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse, Pamela Reed, David Caruso

Director: Taylor Hackford 

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2024 (and now 2025) Saturdays with the Stars series, we are looking at the women who were once crowned as "America's Sweethearts" and the careers that inspired that title (and what happened when they eventually lost it to a new generation).  This month, our focus is on Meg Ryan: click here to learn more about Ms. Ryan (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

By 2000, Meg Ryan had been a consistent box office presence for a decade, regularly making hits in a variety of genres (but usually romances), Ryan was about to commit the most unfortunate of sins-she was going to show that she was human, both by committing adultery (and perhaps more damning in Hollywood, by turning 40).  Ryan, coming off of the twin successes of City of Angels & You've Got Mail in 1998, had a lot of leeway, but on the set of today's film Proof of Life, she found out that leeway had limits.  Despite being in one of several marriages in Hollywood at the time that had dominated public fascination for "proving love works in Hollywood" (along with couples like Susan Sarandon & Tim Robbins and Nicole Kidman & Tom Cruise, both of which would also soon end up on the cutting room floor), she began an affair with her costar Russell Crowe during the filming of Proof of Life, one that leaked to the press, and led to a rare circumstance where the public could very clearly "blame the wife" rather than the husband.  The public crucified Ryan for this, showing that the "girl next door" routine was (in their eyes) a facade, and acted in kind with her career.  And soon, the once teflon actress started to falter.  Hanging Up (a forgotten partnership with Nora Ephron) flopped, and Proof of Life, which had dominated the tabloids for months, soon followed.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about Alice Bowman (Ryan) who has moved to a South American country (in this case a fictional one named Tecala) with her husband Peter (Morse).  They disagree on politics, with Alice an environmentalist who doesn't approve of the oil line her husband is trying to put in the jungle, and it's clear their marriage is on shaky grounds with frequent bickering.  But that changes when Peter is kidnapped, and held for ransom.  When it's revealed the company he works for has lapsed in their ransom insurance, Alice and Peter's sister Janis (Reed) have to hire a man to take care of it, Terry Thorne (Crowe).  Terry is experienced in this field, a battle-tested negotiator, and regularly tries to get "proof of life" to prove that Peter is still alive.  While he successfully negotiates Peter's release, it turns out the ransom is not all they want-they also want an end to the pipeline, which won't happen, so Terry (who has developed reciprocated romantic feelings for Alice) has to go in and free Peter on his own, which he does.  The film ends with Terry telling a crying Alice that she needs to go back to her husband on a soon-to-leave plane, and their romance was only meant to be while he was gone.

If that last scene reminds you of, oh, I don't know, the most famous movie ever made, you'd be correct-this film is attempting to touch the third rail of cinema: do not attempt to turn your movie into Casablanca.  The ending is so obviously cribbed from the classic movie, it borders on parody.  And the reason it does is that Proof of Life is a bad movie.  The film teeters on boredom for hours, regularly not knowing what to do with Alice's character (Ryan seems to be dazed the entire film), and also endlessly finding reasons for the two main characters not to have sex, for fear it'll make the lead character too unlikable (something that the publicists on this film would, admittedly, find out first hand).  David Morse gets the only good part, watching him take on the Victor Laszlo role with great relish, and honestly the movie would've been better just staying with him rather than two actors that were having sex in real life but had zilch chemistry onscreen.  Also, I couldn't quite tell if veteran character actress Pamela Reed was acting in a better movie or a worse movie than Proof of Life, but her performance was so out-of-place to what's happening onscreen she definitely wasn't acting in the same movie as the rest of these actors.

Proof of Life, and the scandal that would ensue, would ruin Meg Ryan's career.  While her husband Dennis Quaid briefly could do no wrong, starring in Best Picture nominee Traffic, the surprise Disney hit The Rookie, and then getting Oscar buzz for his best performance to date in Far from Heaven (say what you will about Quaid's unfortunate politics, an underrated topic about why their marriage may have failed given Ryan's pretty outspoken liberal beliefs, but he's brilliant in Far from Heaven, and as we've established, should've gotten that Oscar nod), Ryan remained forever punished for her infidelity.  Kate & Leopold did decently at the box office, but nowhere near the mammoth amounts she was grossing a few years earlier, and it was the only hit she had in her in the early 2000's, with In the Cut and Against the Ropes being critical & commercial disasters.  Ryan would rarely work after this, largely only making independent films, and only having one mild studio hit with 2008's The Women (which was unfortunately terrible).  By 2023, when she'd be directing herself in a much-discussed comeback bid What Happens Later, it'd flop.  Even in an era where Ryan can present Best Picture at the Oscars ot a standing ovation...audiences have never really warmed to her on their movie screens again.

And with that, we're going to finish up our America's Sweethearts season, right around the time when that title started to lose meaning.  While there were actresses after Roberts', Bullock's, Aniston's & Ryan's runs in the 1990's for the title (the most successful being Reese Witherspoon & Kate Hudson), the trope kind of died with the death of the romantic-comedy, and (like so many things) the rise of the internet.  One wonders if it's even possible in a deeply-divided nation to have an America's Sweetheart that appeals to both sides of the aisle (look at what happened in recent months with Sydney Sweeney, who in a different era would fit the trope perfectly), or if this is just something that Hollywood can't get back.  Tomorrow, we will take one last closing look at Season 6 of Saturdays with the Stars, recapping the best of our (long-gestating) America's Sweetheart years.