Dir/scr: Ben Younger. US. 2005. 105mins.

It's doubtful that Prime, Ben Younger's bittersweet comedyabout the age-gap love affair between an older woman and a younger man, willgenerate as much interest as the recent nuptials of DemiMoore and Ashton Kutcher.

Neither as broadly comic noras sophomorically crude as Meet The Parents, it mines similar territory, namely,parental interference and a clash of cultures. But while this Oct 28 release in the US will obviously skew to femaledemographics, it is somewhat unclear as to who exactly will constitute itsaudience.

Fans of Thurman's more recentwork with Quentin Tarantino will find nothing of interest, while there's littleenough meat to appeal to more mature audiences possibly drawn by the presenceof Meryl Streep.

The comic side of theJewish-Gentile division will also be lost on many audiences, especially thoseoutside the US.

Thirty-seven year old Rafi (Thurman, looking ravishing) is seeing a therapist tohelp her deal with her loveless marriage and recent divorce. When she meetsDavid Bloomberg (Greenberg), her life starts to look up. There is one gnawingproblem, however: David is only 23, a recent university graduate who stilllives with his grandparents.

Therapist Lisa Metzger (Streep) encourages Rafi to forgetany problems about the generation gap and just enjoy the relationship. ButLisa's laissez-faire attitude goes out of the window when she realises that Rafi's boyfriend is her own son.

Initially Lisa tells neitherpatient nor offspring of her involvement, not wishing to harm the therapist-clientrelationship - until the love match becomes serious enough to conflict with herdesire for David to marry within his own Jewish faith.

Lisa blurts out the truth andsevers her ties to Rafi, who misses her therapist'sadvice while experiencing the typical relationship problems with David.

While the David-Rafi relationship is integral to the story, Prime's most important relationship is thatbetween Rafi and Lisa, which explains why it playsout more like a chick flick than a date movie.

Writer/director Ben Younger(Boiler Room) is still developing as afilm-maker and, given his relative inexperience, has crafted an acceptablemainstream comedy. But it ultimately suffers the gooey, schmaltzy feel thatafflicts so many romances.

Typical of this is the soapopera montage at the end that reveals David and Rafi's"happy" moments together, now that the two have made the difficultbut mature decision to end their relationship.

Thurman is excellent,effortlessly and believably traversing a wide range of emotions. Streep's character is more of a stereotype, a traditionalJewish mother who comes over as too grating. Greenberg is appealing.

Production companies
Universal Pictures
Stratus Film Co
Team Todd
Younger Than You

US distribution
Universal Pictures

International sales
Focus Features

Executive producers
Mark Gordon
Bob Yari

Producers
Suzanne Todd
Jennifer Todd

Cinematography
William Rexer

Production design
Mark Ricker

Editor
Kristina Boden

Music
Ryan Shore

Main cast
Meryl Street
Uma Thurman
Bryan Greenberg