PRIME Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Universal Pictures/Stratus Films
Grade: C
Directed by: Ben Younger
Written by: Ben Younger
Cast: Uma Thurman, Meryl Streep, Bryan Greenberg, Jon
Abrahams, Annie Parisee
Screened at: Loews 84th St., NYC, 10/26/05 The motto on America’s coins, E pluribu unum (One out of many), pays homage to the nature of the U.S. One national culture out of many smaller sub-cultures. In New York City, for example, over two hundred languages are spoken every day. Some families emphasize their special culture forcefully, others are fine with diversity. The question that “Prime” generates is: can a 23-year-old Jewish male and a 37-year-old Christian female get the blessings of the young man’s mom for an inter-cultural marriage? (This is the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” issue.) Age is important as well. While men are expected traditionally to be taller than their female mates and older as well, the bonding of two people who are of the “wrong” age for marriage and the “wrong” religious culture sets the stage for conflicts that could undo their union. “Prime” is about two people who are in the prime. As one of the characters in the movie states, the woman is in her sexual prime at age 37 and the man is in his prime at 23. The Jewish fellow, David Bloomberg (Bryan Greenberg), has fallen for a Christian woman, Rafi Gardet (Uma Thurman). What’s going for them is that they’re both in the arts field; he, a painter, she a fashion photographer. Rafi confides to her psychoanalyst, Lisa Metzger (Meryl Streep), that she has been ecstatic with her new boyfriend, David, a condition she can hardly believe given the disintegration of her nine-year marriage. The humor comes from a situation: Rafi does not realize that coincidentally, her shrink is her new boyfriend’s mother. For her part, Lisa puts 2&2 together when she realizes that she is treating her son’s girlfriend. When Rafi describes the appearance of her boyfriend’s penis and her joy that the two have had sex in every room in her house–doing things she never before imagined–the analyst appears convulsive. Lisa continues to conceal her knowledge while she listens and, given her emotional state on hearing the revelations, she can scarcely hold up her side of the conversation. The movie’s serious problem is that “Prime” is a sitcom just itching to appear on the tube. After all, we’re not in the 1950's when the revelations in Otto Preminger’s “The Moon is Blue”–about a young woman who flaunts her virginity which, in 1953, was considered saucy. One can scarcely believe that writer-director Ben Younger penned the dialogue, when put side-by-side with his vastly superior “Boiler Room” five years ago–an edgy film that dealt with a young guy who wants success without having to work for it and partakes in illegal stock trading. One can also scarcely believe that a cosmopolitan analyst living on the Upper West Side showing no particular signs of religiosity would have conniptions over her son’s joyful unions with a beautiful woman fourteen years his senior. Or that she would sigh deeply, exhale, and take sips of water between each of her patient’s revelations. Director Younger goes for the tired, Jewish sit-com gags like the one about the Bubby (grandma) who hits herself on the head with a pan when she hears something that to her is not kosher. “So I hear you’re going to convert to Judaism?” says another of David’s grandmothers with no reason to think so. Some scenes are reminiscent of a Feydeau farce, as when Lisa and her husband (John Rothman) hide on the floor when they spot the lovers or when Lisa opens and closes doors in her office to prevent her son from seeing her patient, Rafi. From an acting standpoint, Meryl Streep can do no wrong, whether in comedies or dramas, though there’s nothing particularly challenging for her in this pic. Despite age differences, Uma Thurman at 35 and Bryan Greenberg at 20-something do exhibit sufficient chemistry to be credible. A big plus is that all scenes were filmed by William Rexer in New York areas, including Greenpoint, the Bronx, and in stores like Crate and Barrel and Dean and DeLuca. Rated PG-13. 100 minutes © 2005 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online | 
