Harry is an older rich man who never dated a woman over 30. After suffering a heart attack when staying at the house of his recent girlfriend, Marin, he starts having feelings for her mother Erica. This is the short synopsis of this movie. It actually is a great idea. Nothing over the top original, but in our time when women over 40 are considered sexless and are usually not the main characters in romantic movies it is a refreshing change.
Take the story and add the remarkable cast: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves, Amanda Peet and Frances McDormand. One would think that this movie would be absolutely outstanding, right? Unfortunately this is not the case.
How was it possible to take all those positive factors and turn into this irritating and boring movie? First of all, it just doesn't make sense. No, no, I am not saying that it is unrealistic for a man to fall in love with a woman who is closer to his age or that a man can't fall in love with a woman 15 years older than him. This can happen and it does happen. But why did any of this particular people fall in love with each other? I understand that Dr. Mercer is a fan of Erica's work but this alone isn't a good reason to be in love. Nothing happened between them that would make me think "ah, I see!". Same goes for Harry and Erica. And I mean it both ways. It is especially hard for me to understand why a woman like Erica would go after a man like Harry. Why would she choose him over Dr. Mercer? Here is a guy who cares for her but instead she wants to be with a man who is incapable of relationships. Is it because he is so great at messaging her online? I didn't see any reason of why she would feel such a strong connection to him. Of course it is just a romantic comedy, no need to expect it being too deep, but if it went on and on for two hours I would hope to at least see the reason behind her actions.
Erica's character is pretty horribly done. She doesn't seem like a woman falling in love but more like a teenager. I am not saying that women in their 50's can't have the great feeling of love. Of course they do, it can go on until we die. But her character seems to be completely incapable of handling it. It is as if she has no life and experience whatsoever. Her being all hysterical, rambling and going crazy seems to only be possible if one is 13 and has never felt love, heard of love or has no understanding of human emotions or even of her own. Her crying scenes irritate me, the scenes where she talks about loves make me cringe. It is a horribly developed character and a badly written dialogue.
I also have no clue how Diane Keaton got a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for this. There is no arguing that she is a remarkable actress with a big number of great performances under her belt, but this sure wasn't one of them.
Frances McDormant did a good job, luckily for her she only had a few short scenes. And she did them well, especially the one where she basically tells us all the message of the movie.
Jack Nicholson was just playing himself.
Amanda Peet's character is also useless. She keeps on telling us all why she isn't having relationships as if she already has figured it all out after some therapy. And then listening to her mom's tearful nonsense ramblings she suddenly starts also acting like that. Silly!
The only good thing were the scenes of Erica's play. With a bunch of Harrys dancing on the strange with their naked bums. I also applaud Diane Keaton for her naked scene, especially since she has a great body that many women 20 years younger than her would be jealous of.
This movie had potential. It is nice to have love stories with characters over 40 because these people still exist as well, but what is not nice is to simply take a teenage love story and cast people over 50 into it because it is not believable nor worth watching, for any age group.
Take the story and add the remarkable cast: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves, Amanda Peet and Frances McDormand. One would think that this movie would be absolutely outstanding, right? Unfortunately this is not the case.
How was it possible to take all those positive factors and turn into this irritating and boring movie? First of all, it just doesn't make sense. No, no, I am not saying that it is unrealistic for a man to fall in love with a woman who is closer to his age or that a man can't fall in love with a woman 15 years older than him. This can happen and it does happen. But why did any of this particular people fall in love with each other? I understand that Dr. Mercer is a fan of Erica's work but this alone isn't a good reason to be in love. Nothing happened between them that would make me think "ah, I see!". Same goes for Harry and Erica. And I mean it both ways. It is especially hard for me to understand why a woman like Erica would go after a man like Harry. Why would she choose him over Dr. Mercer? Here is a guy who cares for her but instead she wants to be with a man who is incapable of relationships. Is it because he is so great at messaging her online? I didn't see any reason of why she would feel such a strong connection to him. Of course it is just a romantic comedy, no need to expect it being too deep, but if it went on and on for two hours I would hope to at least see the reason behind her actions.
Erica's character is pretty horribly done. She doesn't seem like a woman falling in love but more like a teenager. I am not saying that women in their 50's can't have the great feeling of love. Of course they do, it can go on until we die. But her character seems to be completely incapable of handling it. It is as if she has no life and experience whatsoever. Her being all hysterical, rambling and going crazy seems to only be possible if one is 13 and has never felt love, heard of love or has no understanding of human emotions or even of her own. Her crying scenes irritate me, the scenes where she talks about loves make me cringe. It is a horribly developed character and a badly written dialogue.
I also have no clue how Diane Keaton got a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for this. There is no arguing that she is a remarkable actress with a big number of great performances under her belt, but this sure wasn't one of them.
Frances McDormant did a good job, luckily for her she only had a few short scenes. And she did them well, especially the one where she basically tells us all the message of the movie.
Jack Nicholson was just playing himself.
Amanda Peet's character is also useless. She keeps on telling us all why she isn't having relationships as if she already has figured it all out after some therapy. And then listening to her mom's tearful nonsense ramblings she suddenly starts also acting like that. Silly!
The only good thing were the scenes of Erica's play. With a bunch of Harrys dancing on the strange with their naked bums. I also applaud Diane Keaton for her naked scene, especially since she has a great body that many women 20 years younger than her would be jealous of.
This movie had potential. It is nice to have love stories with characters over 40 because these people still exist as well, but what is not nice is to simply take a teenage love story and cast people over 50 into it because it is not believable nor worth watching, for any age group.