{"id":32311,"date":"2023-01-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-21T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/?p=32311"},"modified":"2026-04-21T12:25:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:25:05","slug":"review-two-if-by-sea-1996","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/review-two-if-by-sea-1996\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Two if By Sea&#8217; (1996) Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Small-time crook Frank and his long-term girlfriend Roz are on the run with a stolen Matisse painting they plan to sell. While trying to shake the police on their trail, they end up in an affluent seaside town and break into a home of a family away on vacation, posing as friends of the owners who have been asked to house-sit. Rox and Frank attempt to lay low while enjoying the good life, even as the police and Frank&#8217;s angry associates draw near.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Obviously, I love <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/tag\/sandra-bullock\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"601\">Sandra Bullock<\/a>,<\/strong> so I&#8217;m a little surprised at myself for never having seen <em>Two If by Sea<\/em> before now. By 1996 and the film&#8217;s release, she had already skyrocketed to stardom, appearing in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0111257\/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\">Speed<\/a><\/em>, <em>While You Were Sleeping<\/em>, and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0113957\/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\">The Ne<\/a>t<\/em>. <em>Two if by Sea<\/em> seems to be a forgotten blip on Bullock&#8217;s career radar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s probably because it&#8217;s pretty forgettable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, I still found it to be worth a watch. Bullock is adorable as Roz, even if her New York accent is somewhat questionable. She&#8217;s been in this long-term relationship that seems to be going nowhere, and she has much bigger dreams that are beginning to take root while squatting in the kind of house she&#8217;ll probably never be able to afford. Bullock does her best to add an edge to her character &#8211; and the accent &#8211; but she&#8217;s honestly too cute to pull it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I haven&#8217;t seen <strong>Denis Leary<\/strong> in much, but he came across as very&#8230; Denis Leary-y to me. Does that make sense? Thankfully, Leary and Bullock are still cute together, with a decent amount of chemistry that kept you rooting for them, even when Frank is a complete idiot. Their bickering and random shenanigans are entertaining to watch. Throw in Stephan Dillane as a suave, handsome neighbor with designs on Roz, and you&#8217;ve got what is necessary to keep <em>Two if by Sea<\/em> from becoming downright awful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frank&#8217;s dimwitted associates are terrible caricatures of the kind of characters you see in organized crime movies, and their antics drag the movie down quite a bit. I enjoyed Detective O&#8217;Malley (<strong>Yaphet Kotto<\/strong>) trying to track Frank and Roz, although the ending was way too clean, considering the various laws broken throughout the movie. But it&#8217;s a romantic comedy, so&#8230; okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Two if by Sea<\/em> is not great! But hey, it&#8217;s not terrible either, and while this was one of Sandra Bullock&#8217;s lowest-earning films, I do not blame her! She&#8217;s truly the biggest reason to give it a watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Watched:<\/strong> 01\/06\/2023<br><strong>Notable Song<\/strong>: My Whole Life by Bif Naked<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div><div id=\"pb-star-rating-96291b9c681643f3b36d006cc66747ae\" class=\"wp-block-ud-blocks-star-rating\" style=\"--udpb-sr-align:center;--udpb-sr-icon-color:#ffb900;--udpb-sr-icon-size:18px;--udpb-sr-icon-sizeTablet:17px;--udpb-sr-icon-sizeMobile:16px;--udpb-sr-title-color:#000;--udpb-sr-title-size:18px;--udpb-sr-title-size-tablet:17px;--udpb-sr-title-size-mobile:16px\"><div class=\"pb-star-rating-wrapper\"><div class=\"pb-star-rating--title\"><strong>Rating:<\/strong><\/div><div class=\"pb-star-rating--icon\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"fas\" data-icon=\"star\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star fa-w-18 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M259.3 17.8L194 150.2 47.9 171.5c-26.2 3.8-36.7 36.1-17.7 54.6l105.7 103-25 145.5c-4.5 26.3 23.2 46 46.4 33.7L288 439.6l130.7 68.7c23.2 12.2 50.9-7.4 46.4-33.7l-25-145.5 105.7-103c19-18.5 8.5-50.8-17.7-54.6L382 150.2 316.7 17.8c-11.7-23.6-45.6-23.9-57.4 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"fas\" data-icon=\"star\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star fa-w-18 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M259.3 17.8L194 150.2 47.9 171.5c-26.2 3.8-36.7 36.1-17.7 54.6l105.7 103-25 145.5c-4.5 26.3 23.2 46 46.4 33.7L288 439.6l130.7 68.7c23.2 12.2 50.9-7.4 46.4-33.7l-25-145.5 105.7-103c19-18.5 8.5-50.8-17.7-54.6L382 150.2 316.7 17.8c-11.7-23.6-45.6-23.9-57.4 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"fas\" data-icon=\"star\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star fa-w-18 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M259.3 17.8L194 150.2 47.9 171.5c-26.2 3.8-36.7 36.1-17.7 54.6l105.7 103-25 145.5c-4.5 26.3 23.2 46 46.4 33.7L288 439.6l130.7 68.7c23.2 12.2 50.9-7.4 46.4-33.7l-25-145.5 105.7-103c19-18.5 8.5-50.8-17.7-54.6L382 150.2 316.7 17.8c-11.7-23.6-45.6-23.9-57.4 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"star\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star fa-w-18 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M528.1 171.5L382 150.2 316.7 17.8c-11.7-23.6-45.6-23.9-57.4 0L194 150.2 47.9 171.5c-26.2 3.8-36.7 36.1-17.7 54.6l105.7 103-25 145.5c-4.5 26.3 23.2 46 46.4 33.7L288 439.6l130.7 68.7c23.2 12.2 50.9-7.4 46.4-33.7l-25-145.5 105.7-103c19-18.5 8.5-50.8-17.7-54.6zM388.6 312.3l23.7 138.4L288 385.4l-124.3 65.3 23.7-138.4-100.6-98 139-20.2 62.2-126 62.2 126 139 20.2-100.6 98z\"><\/path><\/svg><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"star\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star fa-w-18 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M528.1 171.5L382 150.2 316.7 17.8c-11.7-23.6-45.6-23.9-57.4 0L194 150.2 47.9 171.5c-26.2 3.8-36.7 36.1-17.7 54.6l105.7 103-25 145.5c-4.5 26.3 23.2 46 46.4 33.7L288 439.6l130.7 68.7c23.2 12.2 50.9-7.4 46.4-33.7l-25-145.5 105.7-103c19-18.5 8.5-50.8-17.7-54.6zM388.6 312.3l23.7 138.4L288 385.4l-124.3 65.3 23.7-138.4-100.6-98 139-20.2 62.2-126 62.2 126 139 20.2-100.6 98z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"trailers\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two if By Sea: A couple steals a Matisse painting on contract. They manage to escape the police. The sale takes place 4 days later on an island. Things don&#8217;t go as planned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[487,1],"tags":[1391,3514,3453,3511,3512,3513,3510,3652,601,3509,8536,3508],"class_list":["post-32311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews-t","category-reviews","tag-1391","tag-bill-bennett","tag-denis-leary","tag-jonathan-tucker","tag-lenny-clarke","tag-michael-badalucco","tag-mike-starr","tag-3-stars","tag-sandra-bullock","tag-stephen-dillane","tag-two-if-by-sea","tag-yaphet-kotto"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32311"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81949,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32311\/revisions\/81949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}