there are very few romance or romantic comedies, which strike a real note for the audience, or anyone who appreciates reality and decent acting.

This film does have that. Sarandon is very good; she is a "down-at-heel" waitress, almost twenty years older than the character portrayed by Spader. Some of the interactions are amusing and sad. Her drinking, her loss of a child. Spader's background is respectable, white-collar but bored, he meets Sarandon after missing his deceased wife.

Films like this are sometimes underrated. There was not a lot of hype about this film, which is one of the reasons I like it (We do not need Hollywood to tell us what's good, i.e. "The Break Up", which was actually not good).

While the scenes with Spader's relatives were a bit stereotyped, overall there are a few good messages here. Life doesn't always work out how we want, "perfect couples" aren't necessarily happy, and the Spader character was actually quite good, not being the negative insensitive character here. Definitely worth viewing. 8/10.

Having already commented on this one once, I had to comment again as I just watched it again for the umpeenth time. I had rated this about an 8, it's actually more like a 9 and one of my top 50 movies ever. I know everyone has a right to their opinion but this movie is so little known I truly hope at least one person reads some POSITVE reviews on here and gives it a shot.

I do NOT think Sarandon looked unattractive here as people have said but if she did, it really doesn't matter because the focus of the story has little to do with physical attractiveness. The theme here is love-and loving who YOU want to love versus who your friends, family and society wants you to. It's also about identity and about finding out that the person you truly are maybe quite different then who you always thought you were. The film brings to life the characters in the amazing book(I'd recommend the book version of this as well, it's even better then the film). Sarandon gives a luminous performance as Nora, she's the only actress I could ever see in the role anyway. The film is tragic, touching, gloriously acted and brings up some interesting issues of love and identity. I'm amazed this pic isn't better known, I agree very much with Ebert's review particularly(SPOILER)

The last scene that kind of does take credibility away fro the rest of the pic but then again-it maybe a little to Hollywood but the movie did (somewhat) follow the book's ending which was also positive although nowhere near the film's last scene.

I would recommend this to everyone particularly Sarandon fans, fans of the romance Genre, fans of Dramas in General or just people who like to dig up films that are kind of little known. Every time I see this I like it just a little bit more.

While I don't believe the end result for a second, this film will do whatever it takes to make us believe the relationship between 44 year old Nora Baker and 27 year old Max Baron can work. The age-gap isn't as difficult to accept as their ethnic and financial differences. Baron is a wealthy, successful Jewish business exec and Nora is a waitress at a hamburger joint. The film, though, with all it's might, tries to make us believe that, yes, they can still maintain a loving relationship despite all the certain trials that lie ahead. Both have had loss in their life, both find each other attractive, and when they are together the chemistry and passion is simply magnetic. It's the idea of who and what they are outside the personal relationship.

Susan Sarandon's performance as the waitress is a winner because she shows her as fearless, dynamic, and flawed..but she doesn't ask for pity and accepts that life doesn't always deal everyone a great hand. She goes after the younger man, loves him, she is thankful he continues coming by her house to stay. That aggressiveness to go after what she wants without worrying about what others might say(..though, she is very vulnerable and doesn't have faith in the strength of the relationship lasting). Spader finally has a chance to portray a likable character who just wants to feel something again. With Nora, he has that joy and the stars are aligned.

I will say that this film has lots of things going for it. The dialogue does allow Sarandon to expand her character beyond a cliché. You like her despite whatever faults you might see glaringly. Spader is able to expand into uncharted territory as a person we can care about instead of loathe. There's also a marvelous supporting cast which fill the film with color. But, startlingly, this film is also sexually passionate and pulls no punches showing the animal attraction these two have for each other.