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Prime (PG-13, 2005)

common sense media says

Predictable, sexy comedy pushes PG-13 rating.

parents & educators say
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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this movie includes a lot of discussion (though very little imagery) of sexual activity. The protagonist describes her revived sex life to her therapist using explicit language (repeated references to male and female genitals). Characters drink at parties and in their homes.

Positive messages: Characters lie to one another repeatedly, then learn they shouldn't.
Violence: One character throws pies at ex-girlfriends' faces; running gag has a grandmother hitting herself in the head with a frying pan.
Sex: Explicit references for a PG-13. Frequent discussion of sex and genitals; minor imagery, including one bar scene with suggestive dancing.
Language: Frequent sexual profanity.
Consumerism: Starbucks, New York's Cinema Village, Magnolia Bakery, Nintendo, Crate & Barrel.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Drinking at parties, in homes, and at a bar (to the point of drunkenness).
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What to talk about

Talk to your kids
Families can talk about questions of trust and betrayal. How does Lisa betray her patient, Rafi, by not telling her she's David's mother? How does the therapist-patient relationship resemble a parent-child relationship, but how is it also different, with regard to expectations of confidence and honesty?

What's the story?

What's the story?
As PRIME opens, beautiful professional photographer Rafi (Uma Thurman) is newly divorced and worried that she feels "terrible" rather than relieved. Her wise therapist Lisa (Meryl Streep) reassures her that this response is common. Then comes the problem: Rafi meets David (Bryan Greenberg), an aspiring artist who resents his mom's interference in his love life. Their romance begins in some secrecy, which is then extended as she is concerned about their ages: she's 37 and he's 23, a difference that becomes monumental. At first, they educate, or at least entertain, one another: she likes jazz, he likes hip-hop; she introduces him to quail egg sushi and the location of the clitoris, he shares with her his love of Rothko. Things change when Lisa discovers the identity of Rafi's new lover.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 
Sometimes clever but more often unsubtle, Prime combines romantic and family comedy formulas. The relationship between Lisa and Rafi remains more intriguing than the romance, even when it's disturbed by the very foreseeable "twist" that David is Lisa's son. Once that happens, the movie lurches into broad and much less interesting comedy. Lisa strains to maintain the professional relationship, and spends sessions trying not to look appalled at Rafi's elaborate descriptions of David's penis.

Lisa and Rafi's differences constitute a tension that is both familiar and remarkable. That the film has to build up the romance in order to complicate the women's relationship is to its detriment (Streep's mugging for the camera while listening to sex stories becomes increasingly unfunny). When the predictable confrontations finally come around, the film has long since run out of energy. Pretending that David's maturation has been its focus all along, Prime awkwardly loses sight of its more substantive relationship.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Ben Younger
Cast: Bryan Greenberg, Meryl Streep, Uma Thurman
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 105 minutes
Theatrical release: October 28, 2005
DVD release: March 7, 2006
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: sexual content including dialogue, and for language
This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
 
 

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What parents & educators say

Most useful reviews by all members

frogusa005
adult
 
4 star movie, 1 star ending
This was a good movie, and extremely enjoyable and funny, but the ending stunk..it was confusing and dissapointing. Overall a good movie, just needs a new ending!
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moviefanatic411
adult
 
Dumb Ending
The movie was mostly good. But the end was so stupid. I was so disipointed and walked out of there confusied. But overall the movie was pretty good. 14+
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corn
adult
 
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Christc878
adult
 
Meryl Streep makes the movie
The funniest parts were with Rafi and her therapist (Meryl Streep) and we saw those in the previews. I think the sex was over-done only because those scenes could have been substituted with cute scenes depicting the differences between the two: their religion, their social status and age. It was an "OK" movie.
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