Meryl Streep is the closest actress we've got to the great old stars of yesteryear. Bette Davis comes to mind. Meryl was trim and sexy a couple of years a ago in "Adaptation" now in "Prime" she's a matronly Jewish mom filled with sense and sensibility. She is also very funny and the main reason to see this Jewish American farce. When she's on, we're on. I believed and enjoyed her predicament. I only wish the script, dealing with the relationship of Uma Thurman and Bryan Greenberg had been a bit smarter and more engaging. I bought that the sex was great and that Uma was discovering herself through this younger lover but their intimacy is clumsy and their dialogue very slight. It is as if the two Kauffman's of "Adaptation" were at work here and that the scenes involving Meryl were written by one and the scenes with the lovers by the other. The former ones however makes the evening a very pleasant one.
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DICK STEEL26 November 2005Perhaps this was touted as a romantic comedy with a psycho-analytical character thrown in, kind of like Analyse This and Analyse That. Put the characters in a crazy premise, and see how their relationship work out. Meryl Streep stars as Lisa, a psychologist to Uma Thurman's Rafi, who, unknowingly to both, is dating her son David.
Rafi's just been freshly divorced, and has only Lisa to talk to about her problems, and new life found when she met a new man in her life. She lies about David's age (increased it from 23 to 27), and wonders if a younger man would be suitable for her. You know it's situational comedy time when Lisa finds out about the truth, and discovers that she's caught between maternally protecting her son from a non-Jewish girl and frowning upon their relationship, and the conflict of interest between herself as a professional, and her client.
While the trailers seemed to suggest that most of the film will dwell on this aspect, and provide many laughable moments, this film is actually more serious that it looks in examining two major issues - that of religion, and the age gap between lovers.
David is an aspiring artist who's bumming around in life, until he met Rafi and moves in with her. While initially a novelty - Rafi enjoys and exhilarates about the sex and his manhood to Lisa (uh oh), though through cohabitation she starts to discover that David is still immature in his manners, and this gets personified in a hilarious scene where he prefers to spend more time on his Nintendo. Being 37, she feels her biological clock ticking, and wonders if she would be selfish to impose on David and have him grow up quickly. Given the age gap, it's also about sacrifices that one would make to bridge the difference, especially in expectations from the relationship (though in the beginning, it's all about the sex).
Like most romances, boy meets girl, boy woos girl, boy falls out of favour with girl. David has issues with telling his estranged mother about his relationship with Rafi, first because of their 14 year age gap, but more importantly, he knows that religion will play a major part in having her accepted as part of the family. Which makes you wonder about real life romances as well, the role of religion in a relationship, if it has the power to make, or break.
Uma Thurman is already 35, but still looks ravishing on screen, despite a few visible wrinkles. Newcomer (well, TV veteran) Bryan Greenberg holds his own as the young adult David Bloomberg, especially against veteran Meryl Streep.
Prime is a bittersweet tale, and I find it set in realism. Gone are the overplayed lovey-dovey moments, and I welcome the fact that with every relationship there are issues, and the major ones are the obstacles which determine if the relationship can survive, or not. -
siderite18 December 2005This is a situational movie. People get into and out of interesting situations and you might be amused by it, feel romantic or feel bad, but this does not define the romantic comedy genre as I see it. You don't watch this movie to feel good about the romantic endeavors that litter your brain but are almost never real, nor do you watch it to laugh at what is going on.
I especially liked the fact that Uma Thruman didn't play the role of the stupid blonde that she got in some of her latest movies and also that the movie tried to capture reality more than fantastic situations that no one can relate to and that always end in happy ending.
Mix Jewishness, visits to the psychologist, divorcées in the fashion business having gay friends and dating younger guys and you get ... New York. :) Well, this is a good movie. A lot of the clichés one would expect in a New Yorkish movie are broken or not existent and the ones that are left are well blended into the plot.
There isn't much to say about the plot that wouldn't spoil it, so I will not say anything. Uma Thurman plays well, Merryl Streep is always a good actress, but in this movie manages not the be annoying as well, which I think is a step up for her. My wife asked me to keep it, so I guess if I enjoyed it and also did she, then it's a winner all around. -
Chrysanthepop5 July 2008Though it's tagged as a romantic comedy, 'Prime' falls in between a comedy and a serious drama. What I liked about it is that it's a lot less sugar-coated than the usual romantic comedy flicks and more realistic (but that makes it predictable too). As a director Younger does an adequate job but he could have made the script tighter as 'Prime' does drag in the middle (only to pick up in the end). The dialogues are quite interesting and the therapy sessions are fun to watch but a few of the jokes fall flat. Meryl Streep does a good enough job (but she's not at her best and why are her eyes always reddish?) as Rafi's therapist and David's opinionated mother. Bryan Greenberg holds his own in a film with two established actresses. But, 'Prime' belongs to Uma Thurman all the way. She is simply terrific as the vulnerable Rafi and her transformation up till the end is effectively portrayed. On the whole, 'Prime' is a decent film with good performances. Not bad for a one-time watch.
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evanston_dad9 October 2006Midway through "Prime," there's a scene in which Uma Thurman's character, Rafi, comes to her boyfriend's (Bryan Greenberg) house for dinner with his family. His mom, played by Meryl Streep, as usual giving a performance better than the movie it's in, has up until very recently been Rafi's therapist. The women must now navigate very tricky terrain. A relationship that had been maternal in one way has now become maternal in a very different way. The therapist loves Rafi and thinks she's a wonderful person, but she also knows much about her that prospective mothers-in-law don't necessarily know about their sons' girlfriends, things that compound the problems raised by Rafi's not only being 14 years older than the son, but also decidedly NOT Jewish.
I wish more of "Prime" had been about this relationship, the one between Thurman and Streep. As it is, the movie feels like it has two separate halves that the young director/writer Ben Younger doesn't successfully bring together into a comprehensive whole. The rest of the film follows Rafi and her boyfriend as they try to build a relationship despite the age difference. Nothing about this half of the movie is new or fresh, and Younger never convinced me why I should care. I was too distracted by the fact that he had a wonderful actress like Streep in his film and didn't seem to know what to do with her.
"Prime" is far from a bad film, and given its indifferent reception when it was released in theatres, I actually expected it to be worse than it was. But it is a rather half-baked film, and not one you need to spend a lot of mental energy on, which in this case is a criticism, because it raises a lot of interesting ideas that it never explores.
Grade: B- -
"Prime" has a number of things going for it that many romantic comedies these days lack. It features a new permutation on the old mistaken-identity plot: 37-year-old divorcée Rafi (Uma Thurman) starts dating carefree 23-year-old David (Bryan Greenberg), neither of them realizing that he is the son of her therapist Lisa (Meryl Streep). There are moments of real wit, the love story is charming without being sentimentally cloying, and the film takes a pleasingly mature, realistic approach to romance.
However, "Prime" also makes many wrong turns along the way. It's never sure how deeply it wants to explore the serious issues raised by its plotage differences in relationships, inter-religious dating (David is Jewish), and the ethics of Lisa continuing to be Rafi's therapist. Sometimes, it treats these themes with seriocomic intelligence. At other times, it ignores them in favor of sitcom humor involving David's jerky best friend or Rafi's gay co-workers.
"Prime" eventually becomes David's story, focusing on how dating Rafi helps him mature. But this often seems like the wrong choice. Cheerful David is the least conflicted of the three main characters, and Greenberg, while a competent actor, doesn't have Thurman- or Streep- level charisma. Thus, even though this clearly wasn't the intent, many David-centered scenes feel like padding. The best parts of the movie are the scenes between the two actresses: Streep's awkward, pained reactions as Thurman glowingly describes her new boyfriend are priceless. -
christian12319 April 2006Rafi (Uma Thurman) is a 37-year-old recently divorced New York woman who suddenly finds herself in an affair with a much younger painter (Bryan Greenberg). Her therapist (Meryl Streep) offers her full support for the May-December relationship until she finds out that Rafi's new love interest is actually her own son.
During the first two acts, Prime is actually a pretty entertaining film. The third act stumbles a bit but the ending is quite good. The reason why Prime works so well is because of Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. The movie's best scenes are the therapy sessions between these two. They're very entertaining to watch together. Uma Thurman is kind of an underrated actress. She has never won an Oscar even though she's very talented. She gives a very good performance here, which is not very surprising. Meryl Streep gives a very funny performance as her therapist. It's too bad that she isn't in the third act as much. Bryan Greenberg was a big miscast and he gives a bad performance. He has no chemistry with Uma and was just very bland.
I'll admit that the film is a little dull since the romance is weak. If someone else had played the role of David then the film would have been better. Also the character David is pretty unlikable so it was hard to root for this relationship to work. The reason why the third act isn't as good is because Meryl Streep is nearly absent and the film focuses on just the relationship between Rafi and David. Since their chemistry is weak, the third act is also pretty weak. The ending is actually pretty good and it doesn't follow the regular formula of romantic comedies. It would have been better if there was more Streep and less Greenberg but Ben Younger had other things in mind. He does an okay job but the romance isn't as good as the relationship between Rafi and Lisa. In the end, Prime is a decent romantic comedy that's worth checking out. Rating 7/10. -
nbwys81714 September 2006Failing to see anything remotely comical about this movie, I found it just rattled out old stereotypes about age and race without confronting these issues in any kind of depth. What was particularly disappointing is to see again that Hollywood still fails to confront the fact that meaningful, long-term relationships exist between partners in which the woman is significantly older than the man (including a large number of theatrical pairings). Not only was the relationship portrayed utterly shallow, but there was no attempt whatsoever to introduce any discussion of how the various obstacles the couple faced might be overcome.
Ultimately, the movie left a string of unanswered 'whys'. Why, for instance, should it be taken for granted that fatherhood would spoil the life of a 24-year-old man, even when he has made the decision himself to go through with it? Why should children be a curse and a life-spoiler? (and is this the message we should be giving young men?) Why should maturity be portrayed as dull and pedestrian, and youth as frivolous and unable to cope with the weightier issues of life? Why did David have to be so pitifully immature when others his age are already in, and enjoying, responsible positions? Does a meaningful, long-term relationship necessarily have to preclude an individual from any kind of adventure of self- realization?
The film might have been improved had David and Rafi achieved any kind of a meaningful conversation, but since they failed to do this, being too preoccupied with bedtime gymnastics or quarreling, we were denied any access to the thought-processes behind the decisions they made, particularly the most important decisions, to go for a baby (on David's part), and to separate. Had the couple been shown debating their issues rationally - instead of simply breaking up every time they hit a problem - the film might have given a helpful insight into the nature of relationships.
Finally, although this film was obviously trying to set up some kind of a 'this is how things really are, folks' ending, I fail to see why relationship failure is any more realistic a conclusion than happily-ever-after. It's just another all-or-nothing, black-and-white Hollywood oversimplification. Surely a more interesting and unusual ending to such a movie would be to show how people somehow manage to muddle through together, not in dramatic epic fireworks, but in finding new and constructive ways to confront their problems. But Hollywood seems to abhor anything that is not either implausibly romantic or utterly hopeless.
In short, this was not a particularly insightful or helpful film. -
tragic_slider25 November 2006I happened to catch the second half on HBO one night. I saw the entire movie a few nights later. I could easily watch it through again -- I was really drawn into the movie. I had to look it up on IMDb just because I was thinking about it so much.
There's a lot of negative reviews here, much more than the movie deserves. Movies are like people -- some you despise, many leave you indifferent, and some just really *click*. My roommate came back from "Saw III" hyper and proclaiming it the "BEST movie EVER!!!" -- I can guarantee you he wouldn't care for this. "Prime" also doesn't have any of the typical emotional manipulations found in your average rom-com. It makes do with much subtler if still dramatic material. For example: the meeting between Rafi and David is low-key, slightly awkward, nothing like, say, the Ferris wheel scene in "The Notebook". Ryan Gosling threatening suicide to get a date is certainly entertaining, but it also leaves me slightly detached, too aware this is a story for my viewing pleasure.
"Prime" is the anti-"Grease". There's nothing STYLIZED about it; no fairy-tale ending. If you can do with such accoutrements you'll be sucked in, especially if you can relate to the very upper-middle-class New York viewpoint that permeates it. Another reviewer was quite insightful in comparing it to "Annie Hall".
As for the relentless disparagement of Bryan Greenberg in the male lead: you've got to be kidding me!!!! He doesn't play the role the way, say, a young Al Pacino would play it. His persona is understated, relaxed almost to the point of passivity, slightly unsure, sarcastic and naive and vulnerable all at once. Completely believable as a 23-year-old who would appeal to and be attracted to a 37-yr-old divorcée. A more typical male lead his age wouldn't be dating Uma Thurman, he'd be charming Natalie Portman or Jessica Alba. Take the scene where he's trying to connect with the stoic doorman -- I totally cracked up and at the same time couldn't help but admire how true-to-life it felt. Everything about that scene bespoke an upper-middle-class 20-something living with his grandparents and lacking direction.
Not to mention that the intimacy between Rafi and David felt so natural that I felt convinced that Uma and Bryan had something off-screen during filming. The way they looked at each other, shared each other's space... the lust didn't seem acted, I'll put it that way.
To Ben Younger: despite all the people out there who don't get it, there are some of us who do. You really did an amazing job, and I doubt I'll ever forget "Bubbe" knocking herself with that frying pan... Lol. -
IamaFilmFan28 April 2007I was thinking that maybe Ben Younger wrote and directed this film to honor someone very special in his life. I saw a parallel between David Bloomberg painting portraits of an earlier love in his life and Mr. Younger creating this film. I know writers are able to create characters out of their imagination, but IMHO these characters are too real to be made up.
The story ended as it ended in real life. If he had changed the ending at all, he would not have done what he set out to do; express how important this person was in his life. I think it was great that he could share with all of us this very personal part of his life. I think we can expect great things from this very gifted young man.
Also, I think film made it fairly clear that David could have maintained some kind of a relationship with Rafi, by the way she held his gaze in the final scene. She waited for him to turn and go before she was willing to turn back to her friends. Unfortunately, they needed to grow in ways that would not be possible if they got back together. They both understood that.
Thank you for letting put in my two cents. -
ottumbo8 March 2006This film is abominable. Its primary message is that only people of the same background and the same age can have a long-term relationship. As for the reviews calling this film "hilarious," I have had more laughs at funerals. No wonder this film disappeared from the box office so quickly. The film concerns a 37-year-old woman (Thurman) who is getting over a divorce and going to a therapist (Streep). In a very uninteresting scene, she becomes involved with a 23-year old man (Greenberg) who happens to be the son of the therapist. Streep's facial contortions as she discovers this unpleasantness comprise the film's best moments, and indicate how one-dimensional this film is. To fill out the time, the film has countless shots of Thurman and Greenberg making out and taking their tops off. There are also some very uninteresting subplots involving idiotic friends. In addition, Greenberg's character is unrealistic. A childlike boy who spends his time watching television or playing video games, he has nonetheless managed to paint about a thousand masterpieces without a shred of art instruction, but for some reason his family (yes, his therapist mother included) disapprove of his artistic bent. As for the other characters, none possess any qualities that would set them apart from cardboard cutouts. I wish Hollywood films would mature to the level of European films, which are capable of handling relationships of people from different ages and backgrounds in an adult manner. I regret having wasted my time seeing this film.
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ciuca21 May 2006Prime stars Deer Hunter actress Meryl Streep and Pulp Fiction actress Uma Thurman. It was written and directed by Boiler Room writer/director Ben Younger. I thought this movie was really good. The acting by Streep and Thurman was incredible. And the story was genius with an unexpected ending.
I'm sure you know the typical rom-com. Two people meet, have a great time together, something gets in the way, they break up, they get back together, and they get married and have lots of sex and babies and everything is just wonderful. Well this is different. Halfway through you are just positively convinced that this is how Prime is going to end. But it doesn't. That's all I'm going to say; see for yourself.
Meryl Streep was hilarious as the Jewish mother/shrink. I loved her. Besides the un-clichéd ending, she is the highlight of the movie.
Overall I thought this was a really good movie. It was one of the few movies where I didn't look at the clock to figure how much time there is left of the movie. It was entertaining and cliché-free. I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it. -
Smells_Like_Cheese16 July 2006My friend and I just watched "Prime", I seriously didn't want to watch it because I heard nothing but bad reviews on this movie. As you can tell on IMDb, the movie has some haters as well. But I thought this movie was funny, realistic, and very heart touching. Despite I felt it had some mixed messages, it still went on realistically.
I think the reason why I enjoyed the film so much is because I could relate. The last relationship I had was pretty much the same, only my ex was older than I was and he was Jewish, as I am Catholic. So, I felt so much for Uma, I mean, what is age or religion? It doesn't seem to be such a big deal at first, but when it gets serious, it gets scary.
I loved the sessions between Uma and Meryl, it was very funny seeing Meryl's reactions to her son's "gift" in bed. I thought Prime was very entertaining and should be given a better chance by viewers.
7/10 -
ldavis-215 April 2006Caught this on PPV, and was bored out of my skull from the first 10 minutes! I suppose Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman were trying to "pay it forward" by helping a budding film maker. But calling Ben Younger a film maker is like calling Dick Cheney a crack shot!
Where do I begin? The cat is let out of the bag WAY too soon. The paintings are too expertly done. Dave says what Pie Guy does isn't funny, but they stay buds. Dave ditches his girl hoping to score with Rafi. Rafi's gay friends reek of ugly stereotypes. Dave throws a fit because Rafi expects him to act like a grown-up. Dave is over Rafi the second he hits the dance floor. Rafi gets cheesed when she learns Dave is dating. Pie Guy finally gets his, but we don't see him get his. Just as Dave decides to get serious, Rafi dumps him.
Bryan Greenberg: do humanity a favor and go back to your day job! I SO wanted Uma to go into "Kill Bill" mode, and shred this no-talent twit to ribbons!
About the whole "stick with your own kind" thing: maybe 50 years ago, but nobody cares today, certainly not your therapist. Lisa is not only a bigot of the worst sort (Dave bristled at taking his black girlfriend home, knowing that Mother would not approve), but she's totally unprofessional.
If Younger can get a budget and A-list cast for this "comedy," then there's hope for those with actual talent! -
melmarq12 November 2005I was initially reluctant to watch this film but my girlfriend wanted to check it out. After seeing it I must admit that the film did surpass my expectations - primarily since I felt that it was not really a "chick-flick" per se. The film tends to center around the guy 100% of the time. Call it a "guy-flick" from a woman's perspective. While I'm not at all a Meryl Streep fan, I felt that she carried the movie for the time that she was on the screen. Uma Thurman can't help but be the stunningly beautiful Uma Thurman that she always is. Without spoiling anything, I think that the ending was perfectly real compared to most romantic comedies that have been released in the past. This film was one of the more pleasant surprises for me this year. At the very least it will make for a great DVD rental if you're a guy who is as reluctant to see it as I was originally.
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chelseajmbelehar26 April 2022This was a good Friday at home movie. I really liked how it was easy to fallow with some funny family humor involved. Age difference is a thing but this.. This was funny, weird and all around entertaining.
I do like at the end when they did not end up together because it was believable. Sometimes things don't workout and its nice you can give a nod to the person in public and get one back. Believable but not an all star winning movie. Just something good to curl up with after a hard day. -
PeterWilliamson9 September 2007I was looking forward to Prime thinking it would be another brilliant Uma Thurman movie but it turned out to fail as a romantic comedy. Very few romantic comedies are successful at the moment, so I'm not usually surprised when I watch one that isn't that funny, but Uma Thurman and Merryl Streep would of been able to deliver something hilarious.
I am a devoted Uma Thurman fan, I think she was brilliant in both Kill Bills and great in My Super Ex Girlfriend, but this movie is, in my opinion, only just worth watching as a comedy. There were some scenes that would give a few laughs but I'm disappointed in the rest of the movie's humour. However the romance side of it is done very well. A classic story with a couple of twists about an older sensible woman looking to settle down meets a young guy who wants a good time. They start to go out not knowing that the guy's mother is the woman's shrink. -
selafabello11 April 2007I was hoping this movie would be really good because I really like Bryan Greenberg who plays the lead role. But, it wasn't really up to par. I don't think there was enough chemistry between Uma Thermon and Bryan Greenberg; they seemed sort of awkward together. I liked the supporting characters. Merle Stripe did a great job with her role. I think the script was a little weak parts of it were unbelievable. I thought the music was good and I liked the friend who threw the pies in the faces. I thought that part was funny. I think the best part of the movie was the end that part seemed very realistic. Another part I really liked was that Bryan Greenberg lives with his grandparents.This was not the best movie I've ever seen, but it was enjoyable.
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bumblebee100124 July 2006I thought this was possibly the most excruciatingly painful movie I had seen in a long time. It is really terrible and considering the quality of the cast that was surprising.
The characters are manipulative and tiring - the whole movie is so contrived that it actually makes you squirm. I didn't realise until the end when they show a 'this was our relationship' montage which scenes the director had even meant to be romantic.
It is not really funny and to be honest rather than being a movie about a relationship between an older woman and younger man, at times the movie seemed to be more about the difficulties of people of different faiths trying to work out a relationship.
If you think it is cute and endearing that a man has never cleaned his ears in his life then go and see this move - otherwise run for the hills!!! -
botner15 October 2005A great, great movie, especially when one considers the stinkers that usually litter the romantic comedy landscape.
This movie was smart, funny and most importantly, REAL. The cheese is held to a minimum and characters do and say things that real people say. No monologues that sound like they were cribbed from 'Chicken Soup for the Soul', just real people reacting to each other and their circumstances.
Meryl Streep is great in this (and this is coming from a straight, twenty-something male) and Uma Thurman and Brian Greenberg have a real chemistry together. There are some real classic lines in this and it's a million times funnier and smarter than say, 'Monster in Law' or 'Just Like Heaven'.
As one who usually cringes my way through 9 out of 10 'chick flicks' this is the rare one out the ten that passes muster, and does so in a big way. I fear that this movie will be overshadowed by a bunch of other new releases when it comes out, but this one really deserves an audience.
Very underrated. One of the better films I've seen all year. -
screenwriter-141 November 2005PRIME brings the gorgeous Uma Thurman back onto the screen in a delightful role played against the comedic talents of the formidable Meryl Streep in a very entertaining film with wonderful shots of New York. And watch out, Bryan Greenberg is gonna be big, as his role of the son on his own journey to find himself is a great introduction to a young man that will go places.
With that said, "enough already" with the Jewish angst and the typical Jewish Mother via Meryl Streep who can't see what she is doing to her son by not letting him go about his own life. Greenberg brings such a tenderness to his role, not losing his masculinity along with the way, by wanting to become a Painter, but also wanting to please his Mother. Trust me, that's impossible.
When Uma and Bryan are on the screen, their scenes are magical, filled with tenderness, love, a dash of raw sex, and the combination of watching both take a journey to find themselves. The last scene will always play in my mind when Bryan wipes the frost away from the window of the restaurant, to reveal the beauty and translucence of Uma's face filled with joy, love, and the sense of knowing she did the right thing for Bryan.
PRIME has its moments, some over done, but when you see the beauty of Uma Thurman and the handsome, intelligent face of Bryan Greenberg, you know all is well with Ben Younger and his vision for his film. -
bobbyparsons25 May 2006Prime is the worst movie I've seen in the last year. When I first heard of this movie I couldn't wait to rent it because the previews made it sound hilarious. I was enjoying it for the first 20 minutes, and then I was put to sleep. This is a comedy, and I didn't laugh a single time. I was also put off by all of the flat religious jokes. The last 30 minutes is a jumbled up mess. It's like it didn't know how to end so it just kept going, and going, and going. If I had the choice of either digging a ditch, or watching prime I'd dig a ditch. The lead actor is very stale. At times you want to strangle him because he's so bad of an actor. I read a previous reviewer state this felt like a Woody Allen movie. I agree, and it's the worst I've seen.
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uncle_kyle22 September 2005This movie was the opener for the San Diego Film Festival. It was amazing. I thought it was just going to be another "let's find out about ourselves" romantic drama, but it was engrossing from the start. It's funny throughout, without resorting to slapstick (not that there's anything wrong with that, just that slapstick tends to be overused). The characters are realistic, each reacting to the other in believable ways, but it ends up with mostly hilarious outcomes.
No spoilers here, but the rough idea is that an older, just-divorced woman (Uma Thurman) gets romantically involved with a much younger man (Bryan Greenberg). At the same time, she's working out her guilt over dating this younger guy with her therapist (Meryl Streep). But everyone's got a lot more depth than you'd expect and there's a lot more going on than just this surface activity. I think what I liked most about this premise is that it's complex but not contrived. And I liked how the story developed - it just flowed naturally from what each character seemed to want or need.
This is a well-put-together movie. The script (Ben Younger, also the director) is really tight - characters say things that you can believe, never more than they need to, and you always feel you got a bit more truth out of every scene. And just about every single line is perfect. I wouldn't say that about many movies. Younger said in comments afterwards that he worked on the script for 8 years. I believe it. It's really that good.
The actors were incredible. All the leads (Meryl Streep, Uma Thurman, Bryan Greenberg) were wonderful, as were the supporting roles. When I think of Meryl Streep, I think of heavy dramas, but here I saw just how funny she could be. I loved the exchanges between Streep and Thurman's characters, and between Thurman and Greenberg. You just feel like you're a part of what's going on and can't stop watching. Everyone seemed to be performing at their peak in this movie.
I can't recommend this one highly enough. I think most adults, particularly those 25+, will enjoy it. It's not really a chick-flick. It's sort of like Chasing Amy, L.A. Story or When Harry Met Sally in its honesty. It's funnier than just about any movie I can think of, regardless of genre (that includes movies like As Good as it Gets, The Ref, Blazing Saddles, O Brother Where Art Thou, Grosse Pointe Blank, Sixteen Candles), and provides powerful insights into relationships.
I hope Younger does more good work like this in the future, it's nice to see a movie that's worth the ticket price! -
ferguson-630 September 2005Greetings again from the darkness. There is very little doubt that some of the most screwed up people are psychiatrists and psychologists. Since so many in Hollywood experience this first hand, there is quite a record of films that make this point. Writer and Director Ben Younger ("Boiler Room") takes a slightly different approach with his wonderful premise of older client dating the therapist's younger son and the pain and suffering (and humor) that comes with this knowledge. Throw in a little religious guilt, unsupported artistic ability and a recent divorce and the roller coaster ride begins! The terrific cast includes relative newcomer Bryan Greenberg who pulls off the young, sensitive artist-in-love with an older woman pretty well; Uma Thurman (sans Samurai sword); and living legend Meryl Streep as the mother / therapist. The interaction between Uma and Greenberg provide some great moments, but by far the best scenes occur during sessions between Uma and Meryl. They have a real chemistry and are both incredibly talented so it makes for real viewing pleasure.
The weakness in the film comes from the attempts at sophomoric humor including Jon Abrahams ("Boston Public"). These scenes are to reinforce the fact that Greenberg's character is only 23 and he is prone to dumb friends and immature moments. These moments are much better captured in Greenberg's scenes with Uma and Meryl. Also, there was a real let down with the writing during the scenes where Uma finally goes to dinner with Greenberg's family. This should have been the highlight of the movie both from poignancy and humor. Instead it fell flat.
Still, any film showing Uma and Meryl in prime form deserves a viewing. Toss in an up-and-coming hunk and some tremendous shots of New York City and there is something for everyone. -
billion_mucks2 November 2007Don't trust this film. Or way better, trust it. It promises to be a mediocre comedy, without substance (And so I've realized) somewhat intolerant. The fact that Meryl Streep is in the cast nothing much improves; the movie is sour, repeats its formula over and over again, and in no way is funny. Two lines maybe will force you a smirk. The word for this film is "Mediocre". Another shallow attempt from Hollywood's romantic comedies.
This film is asking to get a ground to stay on; a home. When seeing it, you will open the door of "Mediocre Comedies attempt" straight on to this movie.