This comedy about a therapist whose 23-year-old son, by a quirky twist of fate, begins dating her 37-year-old recently divorced patient, sadly fails to deliver. The chemistry between Uma Thurman and Bryan Greenberg is close to non-existent and feels forced. Meryl Streep�s talents were somewhat wasted on this film � they were better showcased in her role as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. This time playing therapist Lisa Metzger, she is more of a background player rather than a central character.
Rafi (Thurman) and Dave (Greenberg) meet through mutual friends and instantly the sparks fly. In a scene reminiscent of adolescent immaturity, Dave flips through the white pages to search for Rafi�s number. Finding it, he calls her and hangs up the first time and then tries again. This time, he asks her to dinner. Over dinner, they exchange witty repartee, the night is absolutely amazing and the very next day, Rafi tells her therapist/Dave�s mother about her amazing night. Through subsequent sessions, Lisa deduces that the new man in Rafi�s life is her son, but continues to see Rafi as a patient while hiding her knowledge all along.
After the honeymoon period in which Rafi raves to Lisa about how happy she is with Dave and his ability to give her what she has never had in relationships before (we�re not talking just emotionally but also sexually here), the relationship between Dave and Rafi begins to show some wear and tear as biological clocks clash with Nintendo games. At this point my distracted mind began to wonder if Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake ever have these issues, but I suppose the age difference in their case � nine years � isn�t quite as large as the age difference between Rafi and Dave. These issues, compounded with Lisa�s eventual revelation to Rafi that Dave is her son, eventually cause the couple to go on a break. However, they later find their way back to each other and try to make it work, therapist mother and all.
All in all, the cinematography was a bit flat and it was very difficult to sympathize very much with Dave and Rafi. Again here I blame the lack of chemistry between the two apart from the emotions displayed during their love scenes. Meryl Streep as the nagging Jewish mother played her part well, but she really was more impressive in The Devil Wears Prada. Sepia (as opposed to black and white) flashbacks of Dave�s grandmother hitting her head with a frying pan as a way of showing her disapproval of Dave�s past non-Jewish girlfriends seemed glaringly out of place in this type of film.
I think it says enough that I was able to watch this film while multitasking at my computer without missing a beat. |
