I must admit that a friend picked out this movie at the video store. Having seen the preview, I was not at all interested in a movie I thought was going to be a ridiculous slapstick comedy. Imagine my surprise when what I saw was actually a pretty good movie that explores the nature of intimate relationships, romantic and otherwise. The trailer would have you believe this movie focuses on a therapist (Meryl Streep) finding out that her patient's younger lover, about whom the patient (Uma Thurman) shares extremely intimate details, is in fact the therapist's son, and madcap comedy situations would ensue the therapist hiding behind potted plants in stores to catch glimpses of this woman and her son together, etc. That's not what this movie is at all. The major scene in the preview with the therapist hiding etc. is only one tiny little piece of this movie. Instead, this movie focuses on the relationship between Rafi (the "older woman" at 37) and her new boyfriend David (the "younger man" at 23), the relationship between Rafi and her therapist Lisa (who, unbeknownst to Rafi, happens to be David's mother), the mother-son relationship between David and Lisa, and the complications that can come from having multiple intimate roles in someone's life.
The movie explores the pitfalls of a relationship between people who are at different stages in their lives Rafi at 37 is ready to start a family, whereas David at 23 may not be so ready to settle down and have kids; Rafi's friends have nice weekend houses in the Hamptons while David's friends still go to underground clubs. The movie also explores the hypocrisy of saying one thing (Lisa as the therapist telling Rafi to "go for it" while Lisa is still unaware the younger man is her own son) and your actual expectations (Lisa as the mother at one point insisting to her son the relationship with Rafi is pointless because he needs to eventually marry a young, Jewish woman), as well as the boundaries of intimacy (can Lisa the mother hear the details from Rafi that Lisa the therapist would normally have no problem hearing; can Lisa become a friend of her son's girlfriend having been her therapist.)
There is quite a bit of soul-searching on everyone's part; Lisa the therapist questions staying with a patient she knows is dating her son as well as her ongoing criticisms of her son's life; David is searching for his own identity, what he wants to do with his life, and his reasons for being with Rafi; while Rafi is struggling with asserting herself for what she wants and as well as questioning her relationship with a younger man. This movie is a pretty honest exploration of the question "is love enough?" This is not earth-shattering by any means, but it's actually interesting and well-thought. It's worth a $4 or $5 rental, although I wouldn't buy it. Think of this as a thinking person's romantic comedy.
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