Return to Me
| Return to Me | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Bonnie Hunt |
| Produced by | Jennie Lew Tugend |
| Screenplay by | Bonnie Hunt Don Lake |
| Story by | Bonnie Hunt Don Lake Andrew Stern Samantha Goodman |
| Starring |
David Duchovny Minnie Driver Carroll O'Connor Robert Loggia David Alan Grier Bonnie Hunt James Belushi Joely Richardson |
| Music by | Danny DiMinno Carmen Lombardo Nicholas Pike |
| Cinematography | László Kovács |
| Edited by | Garth Craven |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $24 million |
| Box office | $36,609,995 |
Return to Me is a 2000 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Bonnie Hunt and starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. It was filmed in Chicago in 1999, and released in April 2000. It was Carroll O'Connor's final film before his death the following year.
Bob and Elizabeth Rueland (David Duchovny and Joely Richardson) both work — Bob as an architect, Elizabeth as a zoologist — at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. One night after a fundraiser for a new primate house Elizabeth is killed in a car accident, and her heart is transplanted to Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver), who has suffered from heart disease since the age of 14 and is near death. The surgery is successful and Grace, an artist, is able to live a normal life for the first time. She plans to make her first airplane trip to Italy to paint, and her best friend Megan Dayton (Bonnie Hunt) encourages her to begin dating, although Grace is self-conscious about the long surgery scar on her chest. She also has written a letter thanking the family of their lost love one for the heart she received. It takes her over a year to finally find the courage to mail the letter.
A year later Bob, who has been working on the primate house that Elizabeth raised money for, remains depressed. He recognizes that he must resume his life as he becomes frustrated seeing that his dog hasn't gotten over the loss either. His friend, Charlie (David Allen Grier), organizes a blind date for him at a restaurant. Despite the fact that his blind date is a nightmare, he finds that he is more interested in the waitress — Grace, who is also the granddaughter of the restaurant's owner, Marty O'Reilly (Carroll O'Connor).
Although they are both unaware of the connection they have through Elizabeth's heart, Bob and Grace begin to date. As they grow closer together, Grace is reluctant to tell Bob about her medical history. After several months of dating, Grace finally decides to tell Bob about her transplant. However, before she gets the chance, she finds in his house the letter that she had sent several months earlier. Horrified by the discovery, Grace flees and tells Megan what has happened. Megan's husband (Jim Belushi) becomes infuriated as he has misunderstood the situation and thinks Bob is married. Megan then explains the situation to him in six monosyllables: "Grace has Bob's dead wife's heart!"
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