3.5 of 5 paws

Anyway, the work of 32-year-old director/writer Ben Younger (Boiler Room), Prime goes like this: Rafi Gardet (Uma Thurman) meets sexy younger boy David Bloomberg (Bryan Greenberg) shortly after leaving a painful divorce, and the two start a fling that eventually turns into love.

The catch is that Rafi has a therapist, Lisa (Meryl Streep), on whom she is heavily reliant and who turns out to be David's overbearing mother.

But only Lisa realizes this, and she decides not to tell Rafi or David and continues Rafi's therapy with the hope that it's just a fling.

Instead, the relationship develops further and things begin to get icky. Alas, comedy ensues. Lisa finds herself listening to Rafi complain about David's unsupportive mother and, worse yet, give detailed accounts of the loads of sex she is having with David. It's funny, it works, it's even believable.

As for the leading ladies, I usually think highly of Thurman and Streep and appreciate their choices in work. Prime is new territory for both of them and, unfortunately, not great forays for either. Thurman is miscast, and I just don't buy Streep as Lisa Metzger: "Jewish Mother extraordinaire."

Streep is basically Hollywood's best actress, which would normally tempt me to believe I was just "misunderstanding" something by not loving her performance. This is kind of the case because it's not necessarily only her performance I don't like; it's the way the character is written.

It's one thing to play on the whole overbearing, ethnic -- in this case Jewish -- mother thing, but this Ma is a straight-up walking stereotype.

Furthermore, the depiction of the Jewish parents/grandparents/children is disappointing, to say the least.

Younger's take on the dynamics of a Jewish family, more specifically the ideals about marrying out of faith, become really annoying and borderline offensive. Not to mention that that there are definitely a few jokes in the movie that, I'm willing to bet on my mother's Matzah Balls, probably don't register with non-Jewish viewers.

It's one thing to point out that yes, like many other small ethnic groups, Jewish parents are inclined to prefer that their children date and marry within the faith. But it's just a whole other thing to make them seem ethnocentric and "anti-anything out of the realm of the Upper West Side Jewish Community Center."

As someone who grew up with your average, run-of-the-mill set of slightly delusional Jewish parents, I do see some of the references and understand where the writing came from.

However, it's too much; it's like all the mothers of all the Jewish people I know all rolled together into one woman. And that's basically the recipe for stereotypes and it's not a good thing to do, especially when it's about a group that is already constantly stereotyped.

Another slightly different qualm I have with Younger is his obsessive use of flashbacks to things that we, the audience, have already seen. A movie doesn't need flashbacks to remind us of magical moments that happened earlier in the film. If they were truly magical and truly poignant, then we'll remember and carry them at least until the end of the movie.

On a lighter and much prettier note, let's talk about Bryan Greenberg. Someday he will be a movie star.

Seriously, though, even if he and Uma share no chemistry, that's really not his fault, and it's still clearly obvious to me that he has charm, decent acting skill and, ergo, all the makings of a star.

Oh, and he has an amazing body. And he's hotter than a frying pan that's on white-hot fire and about to incinerate. Yes, trust me, he's that sizzlin'.

Prime is a sweet movie. It's written with genuine intentions that just, unfortunately, fall apart at times. But it's the rare Hollywood movie that depicts romantic relationships as not necessarily the end of the search for happiness but as transitions and lessons through which we can learn other types of love. To love and learn, essentially.

A good thing to learn, especially at a tender young college age.