Prime (Movie)

Written and Directed by Ben Younger
Rafi Gardet - Uma Thurman
Lisa Metzger - Meryl Streep
David Bloomberg - Bryan Greenberg

Casting can make or break a movie and in the case of Prime it definitely makes it.

Uma Thurman plays Rafi Gardet, a recently divorced women in her late thirties who is seeing a psychoanalyst to help her through her troubled times. The psychoanalyst, Lisa Metzger, played by Meryl Streep has a good relationship with Rafi and in some ways they appear to be more like mother and daughter then doctor and patient.
Rafi is somewhat depressed about the future and things appear bleak until she meets what she believes is the perfect man. The only problem is that he is much younger then her.

She continues to attend her therapy sessions, expressing her concerns about the age difference in the relationship and sharing with Lisa all the steamy details of her sex life. Lisa encourages her. Telling her that she deserves the best and that the age difference is not a problem. With her approval Rafi moves forward and things are going great until one day, Lisa discovers that the man that Rafi has been dating is her son. Then the fun begins.

As I said in the beginning, casting makes this movie. Uma Thurman is totally believable as the older women that a young man might get hooked on (hell, she’d be totally believable as the younger women that an older man might get hooked on, but enough of my problems).

Meryl Streep, who I usually think is overrated, is just perfect as the frumpy but concerned psychoanalyst / mother. You can really sense her inner turmoil as she deals with what she thinks is best for the son she loves and what is best for the patient who has become like a daughter to her.

While doing some background research on this film I noticed that it had a fairly low rating from reviewers on the Internet Movie Database. The biggest complaint that people expressed about this movie is that they didn’t like the ending and that it spoiled the rest of the file for them. If you like your movies to be in the mold of “Pretty Women” where everyone lives happily ever after, then you probably won’t be happy this movie. On the other hand, if you have no problem with a little realism in the movies you attend, this film will probably work for you.

9 out of 10 Stars

Posted by Al on 01/11/10 at 06:19 PM in Movies