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Prime (2005)

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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:14

Rotten:16

Average Rating:5.7/10

Consensus: Though Streep is dependably terrific in her role, the rest of the movie is too sitcom-ish, and the romance itself is dull.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexual content including dialogue, and for language

Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

Genre: Romance, Theatrical Release

Theatrical Release:Oct 28, 2005 Wide

Box Office: $22,728,025

Synopsis: New York City forms the backdrop for writer/director Ben Younger's (BOILER ROOM) PRIME, a gentle comedy that weaves a tale of two lovers trying to keep the flame alive as an unusual obstacle is... New York City forms the backdrop for writer/director Ben Younger's (BOILER ROOM) PRIME, a gentle comedy that weaves a tale of two lovers trying to keep the flame alive as an unusual obstacle is hurled in their path. Rafi Gardet (Uma Thurman) is a newly divorced 37-year-old career woman who regularly spills her woes to her therapist, Lisa Metzger (Meryl Streep). Rafi's love life takes a sudden upturn when she meets Bryan Greenberg (David Bloomberg), a penniless painter who lives on the Lower East Side with his grandparents and, at 23, is significantly younger than Rafi. Uptown girl Rafi isn't used to such differences in age and location, but the sex is great, and Bryan seems attentive enough, so she jubilantly tells Lisa in passionate detail about their blossoming relationship. The trouble is, the more Rafi tells her, the more Lisa realizes that the hot young boy-toy Rafi is busy seducing on a nightly basis is, in fact, her own son. The problems mount, with Rafi's status as a gentile not going over well with Bryan's Jewish family, and Lisa unable to decide whether to stop the therapy sessions or not. Younger delivers a heady mixture of laughs and salient points in a film that settles snugly into familiar early-21st-century territory for romantic-comedy fans. He peppers the action with product placement, warm pastel colors in spacious FRIENDS-style New York apartments, and bitter recriminations that quickly turn to passionate makeup sex on more than one occasion. The director clearly enjoys a love affair with the city, with swooping shots throughout of the late-night Manhattan skyline providing the perfect setting as his two leads act out their bittersweet union. [More]

Starring: Uma Thurman, Meryl Streep, Bryan Greenberg, Jon Abrahams

Starring: Uma Thurman, Meryl Streep, Bryan Greenberg, Jon Abrahams, Zak Orth

Director: Ben Younger

Director: Ben Younger
Screenwriter: Ben Younger
Producer: Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd
Studio: Universal Pictures

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Release:

Aug 16, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

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Reviews for Prime

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Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
10/07/06
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The writing and direction by Ben Younger is crisp and insightful enough to prevail, and the performances are all very good.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
10/31/05
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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Follows a familiar boy-meets-girl scenario, but Younger turns the routine into combustible fun.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/28/05
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A movie as weirdly titled as it is constructed, the romantic comedy Prime is proof that even the great Meryl Streep occasionally slips up in her acting choices.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
10/28/05
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
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A cut above the formulaic romances Hollywood typically grinds out.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
10/28/05
Ruthe Stein
Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
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A wildly uneven picture that is confused at its core.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
10/28/05
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger
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The sort of movie where all of the best jokes are in the trailer, but these days a romantic comedy with anything worth quoting at all is something of an accomplishment.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
10/28/05
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Occasionally amusing, generally fatuous.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
10/28/05
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
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Once the unlikely premise is established, the movie drags on, injected with one-liners and padded with way too many complicated misunderstandings, reconciliations and breakups.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
10/28/05
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
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It offers an unlikely romance in a somewhat comic situation, finding both humor and emotional truth.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
10/28/05
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News
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All that really keeps Prime from being a one-gag, one-dimensional affair is Streep.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
10/28/05
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
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This soggy, uninspired entertainment seems to demonstrate that director Ben Younger, who did such a terrific job with the stock-swindle movie Boiler Room, doesn't have the chops for a comedy that's trying to be funny and perceptive.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
10/28/05
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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Not quite a romantic comedy, Prime is a hybrid of conflicting tones.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
10/28/05
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post
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Refreshingly bright, unpredictable and intelligent while still offering moments of giddy humor that take you totally by surprise.

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
10/28/05
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
CNN.com
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A surprisingly smart romantic comedy.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
10/28/05
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A film that's often a riot, with laughter growing out of identifiable human behavior.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
10/27/05
Philip Wuntch
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Not quite a romance by numbers, Prime is nevertheless a movie we need like a hole in the head.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
10/27/05
Ben Kenigsberg
Ben Kenigsberg
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Streep's character -- a humorous blend of open-minded therapist and neurotic Jewish mother -- makes the movie worth watching.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
10/27/05
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Thurman's] summery radiance helps make this thin romantic comedy hard to dislike.

comment Comment
10/27/05
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
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As with most contemporary attempts at the kind of sophisticated romantic comedies that used to be Hollywood's specialty of the house, this one shrivels and flames out.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
10/27/05
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
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