Ever so often even an average film is improved considerably by the performances of its leads, and the Meryl Streep-Uma Thurman starrer Prime is a good example.
The film’s about 37-year-old divorcee Rafi (played by Thurman), and a good-looking 23-year-old painter David (played by Bryan Greenberg) whom she meets and falls in love almost instantly. But there’s a problem – turns out the the young man in question is the son of Rafi’s shrink, Lisa (played by Meryl Streep).
Avoiding the obvious direction a premise like this would take if it were treated as a rom-com, Prime takes the drama route. And throws up some pertinent, pressing questions.
Essentially there are two big dilemmas that trouble the three protagonists: first, of course, is the age issue. Rafi is way older than her new boyfriend. And two, the whole professional relationship between Rafi and her shrink is upset by the fact that Lisa’s son is dating her patient.
To be entirely honest, I didn’t think this was a great film. But it was engaging to a great extent because the two female leads are fabulous in it.
Only Meryl Streep can make even mundane scenes come to life with her spontaneous performance. And watching the drop-dead gorgeous Uma Thurman deal with such ‘normal’ love problems is possibly reassuring to women everywhere.
Prime is the kind of guilty pleasure you might consider watching on a lazy Sunday afternoon.