Feast Of Love

In Feast of Love a collection of romantically entwined individuals of various ages and stages in life explore love in as many aspects as possible in a single film. There’s the older couple in a sturdy relationship (Morgan Freeman and Jane Alexander), a new couple of young people just starting out (Alexa Davalos and Toby Hemingway), a man who just can’t seem the right woman (Greg Kinnear), and his former paramours embarking on two new relationships of their own (Selma Blair and Radha Mitchell). Adapted from a novel by Charles Baxter, Feast of Love is pure melodrama. It’s more sophisticated than you might expect but there’s really no denying that it specializes in mugging for the camera with doe eyes and sweet smiles. Though tragedy is no solution here. Its darkest moments are its weakest and most contrived. What works is middle of the road, unextraordinary relationship drama, the tender observation of small and truthful details about the lives of these characters. For the most part they are fully realized, smart, and likable individuals who are more than worthy of spending some time with. I just can’t say anything here will leave a lasting imprint or deeply affect a viewer. You’re likely to sympathize with the characters (particularly in the kinder and less manipulatively bleak moments) and there may even be a few tears by the end (it can be quite a weeper at times), but for a film about passion it’s unacceptably demure and complacent. We know the characters feel love because they say so (incessantly), but even though the cast excels at tugging on heart strings and the story chugs along nicely, no one will spend the end of 2007 thinking back on the indelible imprint left on them by Feast of Love. They might recall it being decently enjoyable having been reminded of its existence by a stocked DVD or rental poster. But nothing about the characters or the story truly leaps from the screen and into its audiences hearts, and those elements that do come close can be forgotten in an instant. The film simply sits there, lovely as could be, and as forgettable as vanilla ice cream. If you like melodrama and surrender to the idea that what you’re about to see will be no deeper or more excellent than the most common entries into that oft despised genre then I don’t imagine you’ll have a problem with this. If the thought of unnaturally articulate lovebirds summing up their emotions in neat prose for two hours straight makes you gag then I imagine you’d be better off staying away. What is undeniable either way is that Greg Kinnear could not be a more deserving leading man and should be used much more often in substantial roles like this one. He’s a force of nature dramedy gem that radiates a sense of honesty some of the more vacantly theatrical dialogue here lacks. And he’s certainly no less than matched in earnest by Morgan Freeman who gets playful with his tried and true tough old man with a wise heart bit. The two of them occasionally elevate the material here to great heights, but it’s safe to say this flick is far from revolutionary.

Grade: B