Though it follows a standard movie formula and predictable plot twists, the film Hope Floats is saved in part by the above-average performance of Sandra Bullock, portraying a separated woman who finds her way back to her hometown in Texas, daughter in tow. The soundtrack seems to follow in due course, a collection of country and rock (thanks to the Rolling Stones) acts adding shades of twang to songs that, for the most part, all sound fairly familiar. The duds of the bunch, Bryan Adams's "When You Love Someone" and Sheryl Crow's "In Need," are saved in large part by some surprise keepers, courtesy of Garth Brooks, the Mavericks, and Gillian Welch. The covers are interesting enough. Brooks's take on Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" is modest and pithy and a far cry from the overblown Trisha Yearwood performance of the same tune that codas the collection. --Jason Verlinde
