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Prime starring Uma Thurman, Bryan Greenberg & Meryl Streep: A Good Romantic Comedy That Becomes Better With (Your) Age

Posted on October 16, 2016 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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Prime 2005 movie poster
Prime (aff. link) poster via flixter.

Beautiful, recently divorced, emotionally raw 37-year-old Rafi (Uma Thurman) works in fashion and heals herself through therapy sessions with her psychiatrist Lisa Metzger (Meryl Streep).

Lisa is a devout Jew in her personal life who’s not thrilled that her 23-year-old son David (Bryan Greenberg) wants to be an artist, holds menial jobs and lives with his maternal grandparents. David also seems a bit more lax about his religion and doesn’t have a serious girlfriend.

Not knowing their connection, Rafi and David start dating. Rafi says she is dating a 27-year-old to Lisa, and David also tells his mother that he is also dating a 27-year-old. Happy for Rafi, Lisa encourages her relationship. However, as a mother, she is really upset David is dating a non-Jewish woman “4 years older” than him.

As Rafi shares their most intimate moments, they start falling for each other. But with more details and Rafi admitting his real age, Lisa puts it all together. So what the hell is she going to do now?

*
Prime is a thoughtful, sincere and hilarious romantic comedy. You have the classic disapproving mother-in-law conflict tripled by making the potential in-law from a different religion and the therapist. Add 14 years of age difference, and we’ve all got some thinking to do. Especially sometimes since David acts his age (and not in a good way), and Rafi is craving for a baby.

I sincerely recommend it. And Meryl Streep is just hilarious.

*
Spoilers Ahead: More About Prime (and Why It Gets Better As You Age)

When I first saw Prime (2005), I was about David’s age. And like David, I was a lot more optimistic. And unlike Rafi, I didn’t really want kids, so I was disappointed by the ending. And being a romantic impaired my judgment. I thought the film was okay, but it needed a happy ending.

But seeing it again it at 31, closer to Rafi’s age than David’s, I think the movie is great as it is. Honestly, I’m a bit freaked out at the idea of dating a 23-year-old even though I’m younger than Ravi, don’t mind a fling and still don’t want any kids!

As much as age is just a number in theory, and we are likely to break or bend our own rules when it comes to strong romantic connections, it is easier to see the ending as “right” and not as a disappointment.

Then there is the fact that this is Lisa’s story, as much as it is Rafi and David’s. While they both learn things about themselves, relationships and what they need to do in life, Lisa learns to give David a bit more freedom. She learns that the extreme gap between how she treats her patients and how she treats her family needs to be smaller, and that David needs a different route than her to be happy. And that’s okay.

*

So a lot of romance, comedy and character growth will warm up your heart. Give Prime a shot. Written and directed by Ben Younger.

Also on Uma Thurman

The Life Before Her Eyes starring Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood

Beautiful Girls starring Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Natalie Portman and Mira Sorvino

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: ben younger, Bryan Greenberg, meryl streep, Prime, prime movie, prime movie review, Uma Thurman

Lions for Lambs starring Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford & Andrew Garfield

Posted on September 30, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Lions For Lambs starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Andrew Garfield and Peter Berg
Lions For Lambs starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Andrew Garfield and Peter Berg. Directed by Robert Redford. From 2007.

4 adjectives: Solid, smart, gripping and thought-provoking.

Don’t you love it when you can say these about a movie? The movie was made in 2007. 3 years later, it is still very relevant.

The movie follows three different storylines:

*Reporter Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) interviews Senator Irving (Tom Cruise) in his office.

*Professor Malley (Robert Redford) is talking to a student –Todd (Andrew Garfield) – in his office.

*And in Afghanistan, a group of American soldiers are leaving the “base” for another mission.Peter Berg plays Lt. Col. Falco and he is in charge.

The mission has started a couple of minutes before Irving started speaking to Janine. His purpose and demands are clear. He wants the story to be done by Janine, supporting this mission. Even though Janine tries to question motives and reminds him of the past mistakes, Irving makes great confrontations himself.

At the university, we find out that Todd used to be a great student but he seems indifferent, cynical and apolitical. As their meeting progresses, both Todd and the professor make great points on war, politics, individuality and choices.

The mission fails miserably with only two soldiers surviving.  As we watch to see if the rescue team will get there on time, we will get to know more about these two soldiers’ backgrounds…

This movie is simple. It presents you a lot of point-of-views and it gives them well. All the characters seem right. The movie tells a fine story and holds your interest through fine acting, a brilliant battle of wills/points and a really good script. Perfect direction by Redford.

You need to see the movie to see why it is special. I loved finding out why those two soldiers went to battle and the reason was something I hadn’t seen coming…

At 6.2 on IMDB, this movie is one of the most underrated movies I’ve ever seen. It breaks my heart that Fight Club got an 8.8. Yes, F.C was good, really good. But 8.8 for Fight Club and 6.2 for Lions for Lambs? Of course, these movies have nothing in common. Of course, they belong to totally different genres. But to me, humanity and some solid reality check beats originality. I also happened to watch these on the same day. If you have seen Fight Club, you probably remember how Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden kept asking who Edward Norton’s character would want to fight. He even said Gandhi. Well, then. I am making Robert Redford fight David Fincher. And in my club, Robert beat the crap out of Fincher with this one.

Other Posts on Robert Redford Movies

3 Movies with Indecent Proposals: The Box, Indecent Proposal and A Perfect Murder

Ordinary People starring Timothy Hutton and Donald Sutherland. Directed by Robert Redford

Other Posts on Tom Cruise and His Movies

Taps starring Timothy Hutton, Tom Cruise and Sean Penn

Knight and Day starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz

Knight and Day Movie, Cast and Crew Trivia

Tom Cruise Trivia: 24 Facts About Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise: Love him? Hate him? Maybe both…

10 Celebrity Couple Break-Ups You May Not Have Seen Coming

4 Good Movies with Awesome Soundtracks: Shoot ‘em up, Jerry Maguire, Reality Bites and Vanilla Sky

Lestat, Dracula and Other Vampires

17 Changes in the Entertainment World: Featuring Tom Cruise, Robert Pattinson, Megan Fox and More

17 Stable Things in the Entertainment World Featuring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Quentin Tarantino and More

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: 2007 robert redford movie, andrew garfield, drama, lions for lambs, lions for lambs movie, meryl streep, meryl streep movies, movies, peter berg, Robert Redford, robert redford films, robert redford movies, Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise movies

It’s Complicated starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and John Krasinski

Posted on June 8, 2010 Written by ripitup

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It' s Complicated starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and John Karasinski
It's Complicated starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and John Krasinski. Written and directed by Nancy Meyers. Nominated for Best Actress and Best Screenplay Golden Globes. Image from: http://api.ning.com/

Jane Adler (Meryl Streep) is a successful restaurant owner. She lives in a beautiful house, has three grown children (played by Zoe Kazan, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Hunter Parrish) great girl friends and a future son-in-love, Harley (John Karasinski) who is already a part of the family. It has taken 10 years but her life is in total balance and comfort. However when she goes to New York for her son Luke’s (Hunter Parrish)’s college graduation, she ends up running into her ex-husband/ the children’s father Jake (Alec Baldwin).

Their twenty-something-year-old marriage has ended when Jake cheated on her with the younger Agness (Lake Bell) and then married her. His relationship with Agness is complicated to say the least: she has a young son from another man and now she is trying to conceive with the 58-year-old Jake. The New York encounter leads to a fun night, followed by sex. Jane is totally freaked out. Her simple life has turned upside down. However, Jake is having the time of his life. Second-time around with Jane is easy-going and a lot of fun. Plus, Jane gets to take revenge: she is now the other woman, just as Agness once has been. However her conscience isn’t that clear. And as if things aren’t weird enough, she realizes she is also attracted to her architect- Adam (Steve Martin) who is building her dream house. Adam is nice, fun and good-looking. Not the mention, he is also divorced and has no problem dating women his age.

So who do you pick? Do you even want to pick? What happens when the kids find out?

This movie is top-notch entertainment. It is a wonderful romantic comedy. It has many emotional moments and more often than not, they are presented in a realistic but funny way. It is not always laugh-out-loud. You will find yourself smiling more often than laughing but it is not to say some scenes won’t bring (laughter) tears to your eyes. Meryl Streep is very likeable and she is at her most beautiful in her 60s. Steve Martin never really had a problem entertaining the movie-goers and while his character is charming and enjoyable, the real comedy was mostly on Alec Baldwin’s character. His Jake is downright hilarious. From his shameless admissions to his faults and flaws, from his acting like a total baby and jealousy crisis, he makes you laugh. It is funny to remember that Alex used to be considered a heartthrob in the 90s. He was fit, looked good and he was married to Kim Basinger. Remember those days? But I think while his looks deteriorated, his acting just got better. My second favorite is Harley- John Karasinski’s loveable son-in-law. He is really nice and he loves the Adler family. But his life gets really complicated as well when he becomes the first to know about the affair. I hadn’t been impressed by him when I watched him in the disaster of a romcom Licence to Wed (also starring Mandy Moore and Robin Williams). However, as he becomes co-pilot to Streep, Baldwin and Martin, he does shine through in his own way.

This movie was made in 2009, another romcom hit by writer/director Nancy Meyers. This is my fourth Nancy Meyers movie and I am one of her biggest fans. Do you recall The Holiday starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black and Rufus Swell? Or What Women Want starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt? Or Something’s Got to Give starring Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves? All these movies have a pattern: They have an original, different and good screenplays, a spot-on direction and an impressive cast. They all balance romance with comedy well and leave you wanting more.I am positively biased when it comes to writer/directors as opposed to writers and directors alone.

6.7 on imdb. 7 from me. And if we compare it to romantic comedies alone, it is easily an 8 or 9.

Favorite scenes:

–          Alec Baldwin gets caught naked to Steve Martin’s webcam.It’s in the trailer

–          Jake, Jane and Harley- smoking pot together in the bathroom

*Fun note: Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin must have loved working together as they presented the 2010’s Academy Awards together. Although, their combined performances in the movie are much funnier.

Other Posts feat. Alec Baldwin

17 Changes in the Entertainment World: Featuring Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Megan Fox and More

My Sister’s Keeper starring  Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Jason Patric and Alec Baldwin

The Good Shepherd starring Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie and Alec Baldwin

Here are some other romcoms you might enjoy:

It’s a boy/girl thing

Playing by Heart

Enchanted

Just Like Heaven

Pretty Woman

Penelope

He’s just not that into you

Overboard

The Ugly Truth

Yours, mine and ours

You’ve Got Mail

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Alec Baldwin, Caitlin Fitzgerald, comedy, Hunter Parrish, It's complicated, John Krasinski, Lake Bell, meryl streep, Nancy Meyers, romance, Steve Martin, Zoe Kazan

Golden Globes Highlights – Ricky Gervais

Posted on February 1, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Golden Globes 2010 Host Ricky Gervais
Ricky was a hilarious host, just as expected.

Golden Globes can be more fun for movie fans than the oscars, especially if you are not in the film industry. There are many nominations for actors and even best actor is given separately to musical/comedy and drama. So you get to see a lot of celebrities that you like, both nominated and presenting

Obviously hosts really make or break these shows and I really loved Rick Gervais’ jokes. He was truly funny. I’ll share some of my favorites in bit

Sure, Avatar got a lot of awards, and not surprisingly, also got the best director. But I haven’t seen it yet and I am much more interested in other movies. Plus, everybody else talks about Avatar anyway.

Favorite Winners:

The Hangover
You can't get funnier than The Hangover.

The Hangover: Got best film in comedy/musical. 500 Days of Summer was also nominated and while it is a sweet movie, it was more emotional than funny whereas The Hangover cracked me up at almost every scene and it is as funny as a comedy can ever get. So I am really happy about the award.

Robert Downey Jr.: Robert got best actor with Sherlock Holmes. I am really looking forward to seeing it but Robert Downey shines through whatever role he is in. So even with just the trailer, I know he deserved it.

Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
Jeff Bridges won best actor for Crazy Heart.

Jeff Bridges: Jeff Bridges is such a good actor that he can rise above even the crappiest of scripts. Don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t actually pick crappy scripts. I am not sure about what awards Jeff won or didn’t win up to now, but I have never seen a crowd so happy and supportive of any other winner, not even about Martin Scorsese’s Cecille B. DeMille award. But then again, maybe they are just used to Martin getting lifetime achievements all the time. When Jeff got to the stage, he even joked that the audience totally killed underappreciated status. I have always respected and admired Bridges. Some actors evoke that to you. It was just so sweet he thanked his wife first- they have been married for 33 years by the way. His whole presence on stage was one more proof that Jeff is altogether something else.

Merly Streep: I like her. She is fun, pretty, gracious, totally unpretentious and a total chameleon of an actress. One of my friends even said she should just quit acting because she gets the award almost every time she is nominated. Mind you, he wasn’t suggesting she didn’t deserve it. He just thought other actresses didn’t have a chance. Well, he is right. Hell, she had two nominations one for Julie & Julia and one for “It’s Complicated”, a film by Nancy Meyers- a writer/director I am also a fan of. Looking forward to see it. I know, I know- I am behind my movies this year. No worries, I will catch up.

So the Ricky jokes I love?

They were all really funny, but these are my absolute favorites:

* Paul McCartney: Well, while Steve Carrell of course got his share about The Office, Paul McCartney got teased about his expensive divorce (Gervais suggested he flew first class and Paul had to fly coach).

* Mel Gibson: Ricky Gervais kept drinking beer and of course he didn’t let that one go without a joke: “I like my drink as much as the next guy, unless the next guy is Mel Gibson.” Guess who the next presenter was? Mel Gibson came, pretending to be drunk. It was a great moment.

*Colin Farrell: Ricky Gervais went all “serious” about how he didn’t like stereotypes, especially the one about the Irish being rowdy drunks who swear a lot. Then he announced Colin Farrell and everyone was laughing their butts off. If you didn’t laugh, that’s because you didn’t see any Colin interviews.

Gerard Butler at Golden Globes
Gerard Butler at Golden Globes

* Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston: “Actors leaving their roles behind: He was going on about how actors were chameleons who left their past roles behind completely”.  Then, he announced the next presenters: “Rachel from Friends and the bloke from 300!!”

**

Priceless. Try to find the show, especially if you like your awards shows and Ricky.

Posts about the actors featured:

1) Mel Gibson:

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/edge-of-darkness/

http://cinemaroll.com/cinemarolling/11-great-mel-gibson-films-you-should-consider-watching/

2) Jennifer Aniston

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/derailed/

3) Gerard Butler

https://pinartarhan.com/blog/gerard-butler/

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Gerard Butler, golde globes winners, golden globes, jeff bridges, Jennifer Aniston, Mel Gibson, meryl streep, Ricky Gervais, robert downey jr, sherlock holmes

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