Prime :: Wessex Scene Online

Prime

2nd November 2006
Kate Davies

About this film

Title	Prime
Director	Ben Younger
Release Date	12 May 2006
Certificate
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Our Rating	2.8/5.0

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More by Kate Davies

On first glance, Prime looked like another run-of-the-mill chick flick. Don’t get me wrong, I am a self-confessed girly girl, but even by my standards, this seemed too much.

On first glance, Prime looked like yet another run-of-the-mill chick flick. Don’t get me wrong, I am a self-confessed girly girl who usually revels in the chick flick genre, but this just looked… well, even by standards, silly and girly. So, a couple of Saturday nights ago, at one of those girly occasions where you eat your weight in ice cream and condemn all the men of this world to the scrap heap (its sad but true!) when my chum whipped this very DVD out of her bag, I can’t say I held out much hope.

The premise of the film is ridiculous and calculated. The pretentiously named Raphael (Thurman), a thirty-something singleton in NYC, fears she will never find love again after a messy divorce leaves her fragile and in need of therapy, courtesy of Streep’s character, Jewish shrink Lisa. Imagine her surprise when love blossoms in the most unlikely of places (doesn’t it always?!), and she falls hook, line and sinker for David (Greenberg), a 23-year -old whipper-snapper 15 years her junior. Rafi(as she like to be known) is totally digging all the hot 23-year-old action, until, Lisa realises during a counselling session, that Rafi’s hot young thing is actually her precious son! She decides to keep schtum and attempts to continue on as Rafi’s therapist, but it isn’t always easy. ‘Here we go,’ I hear you cry, as hilarity ensues!

Despite this highly orchestrated set-up, Prime was not half as bad as I originally expected. Thurman’s character is pretty likeable, despite her silly name. And (I’m about to get a bit mushy here) her relationship with David is more than a little heart-warming. They are just so cute together; it sort of made me want to cry! It’s also refreshing to see the gender roles reversed in a portrayal of a relationship with a substantial age gap. You genuinely feel for them as they come to terms with the true obstacle in their relationship, which far from being David’s strict mother (who only wants her boy to marry a jew, you see); is in fact that Rafi’s biological clock is a-tickin’ while David is a 23 year old artist with his whole life in front of him.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, the film does have some laugh out loud moments, mostly provided courtesy of Streep who is on excellent form despite the fact her character has been lumped in an slightly stereotypical box. Best moment was probably her reaction as a clueless Rafi waxes lyrical on the merits of David’s none-too-small manhood. No mother wants to hear that!

However, while Prime was not half as bad as I first anticipated, it’s still not exactly a must-see movie. It’s exceptionally slushy, very silly, and more than a little predictable. However, if you find yourself at a loss of an evening, surrounded by chums and ice cream there are worse things you could do than curl up with this sweet rom-com.