rzajac Not a perfect flick, but certainly above average. Just a lovely, believable story of boy-girl love transcending class.Good production; crisp writing; good direction and actors who can follow that direction, and then some.The only remonstrance I have is offset by the simplicity of the straight-up story, as it stands: The basic scenario is pretty simple, and I don't consider it a "spoiler" to outline it here: Professional man suffering from personal love-loss meets working class gal 16(?) years his senior. They fall in love. She feels the tension that her class imposes on his social milieu. She splits. He chases her down and takes his class down a notch in a show of good faith. She accepts him back into her life. Happy ending!OK? Simple enough for you? But the saving grace of the flick is that as it proceeds, the writing, direction, and acting are so very strong, that they bear the viewer along like a surging river.So: Check it out.

smatysia James Spader seemed to only play characters who behave in off-beat ways. I suppose that if everything was normal, then there wouldn't be anything to have a movie about, but he corners the the market on creepy obsession. Anyway, aside from that the film isn't particularly bad. And people do fall for spectacularly unsuitable matches all the time. When I first saw this film, I was closer to Max's twenty-seven than to Nora's forty-three, and I understood the characters in a different way than I did yesterday, when Nora is now a young woman to me. She loves Max, but makes no effort to fit in in his world. She is too angry about the class differences. It was/is the way of the world.

nimbus13 The film was not very impressive to me, but Susan Sarandon's characterization was interesting. The actual dialog was a little embarrassing, not the language, but the situations that sometimes take place between other people, that make you want to blend into the scenery and just get out of there. I saw them film some of the outside scenes in St. Louis,including the "White Palace" which was leased from some small burger joint similar in format to the White Castle chain. I worked on the 4th floor of an office building (which apparently no longer exists) overlooking the "Palace".About 3:00 in the afternoon when the sun and weather was just right,the film crew would shoot some footage in the vicinity of the "Palace". For several days all the staff would take a short break and watch. At the director's signal all the period cars, buses, and taxis would start down the street. It was like stepping out of a time machine!However, we never did see the two stars. I think this is what they call an establishing shot.

Howlin Wolf I liked James Spader's performance; demonstrating as it does a vulnerable quality I didn't know he had. All those wistful looks off into the distance, and the general aura of a man beaten down by life make for something that – I have to say - is pretty touching! This softer element he brings to the part was a nice change from seeing him do the sleazeball routine for the umpteenth time... The movie itself is reminiscent of Pretty Woman in spots, and is a pleasant surprise. An offbeat sleeper on Sarandon's resume.It's got that whole 'you can't rationalise who you love' motif, which I'm all too aware of, in my everyday living... (of course)The whole 'keeping things around for show as an empty token of status' philosophy of some of the protagonists pals is a nice comment on the world of yuppie superficiality that James Spader's characters themselves have often been found immersed in. The movie could easily have been just another bland melodrama, but these themes provide a refreshing and unexpected counterpoint.