What happened with this movie? How can a film with such great acting (I’ll watch Morgan Freeman do anything!) be so disappointing? Maybe this is one of those films that tried too hard to adapt a book that just wasn’t going to make a good film (see Stephen King’s “It”) or director Robert Benton lost his way in the editing room. Either way, this is a frustrating film to watch.
The first third of the film tests your best puzzle-solving skills as you never know where you are in the film’s timeline. People are meeting, sleeping together, getting married, and getting divorced so quickly you never know how much time has passed. It’s even confusing watching the sex scenes because it’s not clear, at first, who is sleeping with whom. I know one of the themes of this movie is about finding one’s sole mate, but when you confuse the audience to the point of laughter (that’s what happened in my house) it just doesn’t work.
Once the film settles down and all the characters meet their sole mates, the story is actually good. Why? Because the assemble cast delivers a great performance. Freeman is great but so is Greg Kinner as a hapless romantic, Radha Mitchell as a cold adulteress and Toby Hemmingway as a doomed lover. Two performances of note here are given by Alexa Davalos and Jane Alexander who play strong women struggling to overcome loss. Both are subtle, yet powerful performances.
If not for the great acting and strong ending in this film I wouldn’t give it a single projector, but on a slow day with nothing else to do, it might make an ok rental.
Rating: 
1/2
Film’s Website: http://www.feastoflovefilm.com/
Bay Area Film Fan 
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