Film Reviews

Feast Of Love

• Rating:
• Director: Robert Benton.
• Starring: Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell, Billy Burke.
• Details: US / 102mins (16).

"I think love is everything; the only meaning we have to this crazy dream." Retired professor Harry Stevenson (Morgan) fills his days by observing the love lives of the inhabitants of his small town, somewhere in Oregon. Harry dispenses advice on life, love, the universe and everything in-between, and no one needs it more than his friend Bradley. A coffee shop owner that puts a massive amount of faith in true love, Bradley (Kinnear) gets a dose of reality when his first wife Kathryn (Selma Blair) leaves him for another woman. Bradley remarries, but his second roll of the dice comes unstuck when real estate agent Diana (Mitchell) has an affair with David (Burke). Kramer Vs Kramer director Robert Benton knows a thing or two about love and the damage done, but in adapting Charles Baxter's novel, Benton's examination of all things love gets a respectable A in pass, but needed a B in honours. Some of Harry's sage-like comments are supposed to be wise, but for the most part come across as silly and, at times, nonsensical: "The end is always right there at the beginning," and "Sometimes you don't know if you've crossed the line until you're already on the other side and by then it's already too late." Oh, that's deep. It's not all terrible though, as it's nice to see Freeman earning his corn again after the dreadful Evan Almighty, and Kinnear has the 'please feel sorry for me' face down to a T.

Review by Gavin Burke