Who would have guessed that Don Roos, the writer-director of critically acclaimed The Opposite of Sex, would choose the gimmicky and crowd-pleasing Bounce as his next picture? Surprise. Where Sex was cynical and biting, Bounce is dramatic and quirky. It's a different kind of entertainment, but it's successful nonetheless.

Ben Affleck plays Buddy, a sleazy businessman who gives his plane ticket to an unlucky writer, who then dies when the plane crashes. Unable to shake the guilt and curiosity, he checks up on the guy's widow, Abby (Gwyneth Paltrow) and, of course, ends up falling in love with her.

But the courtship is not a smooth one, as Buddy initially hesitates to date the widow, and then hesitates to tell her the truth. This results in even more anxiety and guilt for Buddy, and when the truth finally does emerge, it naturally threatens the couple's happiness.

It seems difficult to take seriously a film in which the entire plot hangs on a single unlikely occurrence. Yet that doesn't seem to matter. Roos doesn't hide the fact that the plot is hokey, but does a credible job of creating real characters with interesting personalities.

What makes the romance charming is not the mere fact that it's between Affleck and Paltrow, but that their characters have flaws. Abby is a far cry from anyone Paltrow has played before: she's in the recovery process of grief, which has made her a bit jittery. She's a funny character with a rather dorky sense of humor and insecure air, which Paltrow uses to good effect.

While Abby lacks in confidence, Buddy has it in spades. The beginning of the film presents him as a sleazebag, an obnoxious alcoholic who deserves little of his money and success. As the film progresses (and he puts alcohol on the back burner) his softer qualities emerge, and watching him shed his suave charisma is one of the more endearing aspects of the film.

The actors do a fine job of stretching their chops. Paltrow is actually quite good at making her sustained sadness seem genuine, and the awkwardness she exhibits once she's back on the dating scene refreshingly contrasts her more common "cute and perfect" mode. Affleck is also testing new territory by making Buddy a macho drunkard. He's pretty unlikable at the beginning, but by the time he and Abby are together, it's nearly forgotten.

We can thank both Affleck and Paltrow for that. But it would have been nice to see some other actors help them out. While the acting is fine all around, Roos creates few other complex characters for Abby and Buddy to play with. Johnny Galecki has an amusing role as Affleck's gay assistant. He does steal some scenes with clever one-liners, but he's underused. The character of Abby's husband is actually quite interesting, but he can't stick around long for the sake of the plot.

Perhaps the minor characters were lost in the wake of the long romantic plot. Buddy and Abby are a fun pair, but it made me squirm in my seat to watch Affleck wait and wait to let the truth out. Instead of presenting us with excessive unpleasantness, it would have been more effective to allow other characters to pick up the slack.

In the end, though, the film is a triumph for Roos. Rather than banking on the names of his stars to make a generic romantic comedy, he instead molds them into flawed human beings to create high drama.

Paltrow and Affleck are up to the task, and watching them evolve through the strange circumstances of their romance is refreshing. So is the fact that Roos reminds us that in the midst of newfound romance, grief won't necessarily go away. Abby remains afraid to put her children on public transportation. In a world where plane crashes do happen and lives are turned upside down, her path back to a happy life is anything but easy.

Bounce
*** (out of four)

Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck, Johnny Galecki, Natasha Henstridge, Jennifer Grey
Written and Directed by Don Roos
Miramax, PG-13