the tagline on random hearts reads " in a perfect world , they never would have met . " 
in a perfect world , i never would have seen this movie . 
the biggest flaw is that 20 minutes into this film , kay chandler ( kristin scott thomas ) and dutch van den broeck ( harrison ford ) are the only two major characters alive ; resulting in little doubt that they will end up together at some point during the laborious two-hours-and-then-some production . 
dutch is a sergeant in internal affairs at the district of columbia police department . 
kay is a congresswoman from new hampshire . 
although they both think they are happily married , their spouses are cheating with each other behind their backs . 
dutch and kay are soon widowed when a plane goes down carrying their partners ; they subsequently discover the affair . 
the rest of the film is the pointless , unrealistic and often-times boring story of their researching the sexual relationship that they were blind to , and getting to know each other in the process . 
two sub plots are of little help to the already problematic film . 
dutch is trying to arrest a fellow officer , a task that seems rather ordinary for hollywood fare . 
all the great stereotypes get pulled , including my personal favorite of the key witness that makes bail and is murdered soon thereafter . 
kay's distraction from the film's primary focus is her campaign for re-election and attempts to shield her 15 year old daughter from the truth about the father she put on a pedestal . 
these sub plots could have made for semi-interesting points , but the film seems afraid to explore politics or mother-daughter relations in depth , and consequently suffers . 
random hearts' two primary characters seem to live in shells . 
although both kay and dutch are given their own sub plots , they seem to never deal with anyone other than themselves or each other . 
there is plenty of opportunity , dutch having a partner and kay having close friends and her daughter , but the movie shies away from exploring these relationships . 
veteran actor and director of this film sydney pollack , and critically acclaimed up-and-comer dylan baker both have cameo roles , but be careful not to blink too much or you will miss them both . 
other than its weak plot , it is hard to criticize random hearts . 
however , it is also hard to compliment it . 
had the film taken some small risks and more fully explored its extra characters and plots it may have tasted more like a well frosted cake , rather than the dry one that equates to be .