Feast Of Love

Review by Sean Lynch

It's becoming quite apparent in Hollywood that if you place Morgan Freeman in any role, of any movie - he will bring it a touch of believability, warmth and class.

It doesn't matter how bad it is (Evan Almighty), as long as he delivers those lines softly and slowly, you will believe whatever the hell he wants you to.

In short, the guy is wisdom in a conveniently packaged human body.

With this in mind, it's hard to give an accurate report as to whether Feast of Love is actually any good. Because in the hands of anyone else, the woefully cheesy & philosophical dialogue would be considered for some kind of "Most-Likely-To-Be-A-Year-12-Media-Assignment" award, but with Freeman behind the words - it all kind of makes sense. Kind of...

As the title suggests, Feast of Love is all about... well, love. The flick follows several characters which often temps the audience into thinking that we may be privy to a cleverly intertwined Pulp Fiction type adventure (however, for some reason, it ends up looking like the writer gave up on such a plan by the half way mark).

Greg Kinnear plays Bradley who believes in the power and beauty of true love. He’s good at falling in love - just with the wrong women (one turns lesbian, the other is a chronic cheater). Bradley’s friend Harry (Morgan Freeman) is happily married to the grandmotherly Esther, but they are dealing with the loss of a different kind of love (the loss of a child, which is never quite explained in any real detail). At the same time, the youthful Oscar (Toby Hemingway) and Chloe (Alexa Davalos) are busy falling in love at first sight and starting their life together, even though the odds (and fate) are against them.

There is plenty that works in Feast of Love, but there is plenty that doesn't. The film, directed by Robert Benton (Kramer Vs Kramer) often veers towards pretty poorly constructed High School play - or at the very least, one of the better written pieces by your local amateur theatre group - except in the place of the local butcher, Greg Kinnear has been cast. And in place of the aging nun-with-dreams-of-acting... well, there's some pretty stunning nude scenes with Rahda Mitchell.

While Feast of Love features some great moments and good performances (Selma Blair remains one of the cutest, yet most under used actresses in Hollywood), the film ultimately tends to dissipate into wave after wave of philosophy that is never really backed up by reality.

I love the idea of love winning through as much as the next man, woman or child - but a 90 minute serve is just a little too much.

If you want reassurance that love exists in a neatly packaged date movie - rent out The Notebook.

2.5 out of 5

Feast of Love
Australian release: TBA
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell, Billy Burke
Director: Robert Benton
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