minnyca It had been years since I saw this film - I forgot how much I loved it.This film features a great performance from its cast most especially that of Peter O'Toole & Virginia Madsen.O'Toole is magic in this film, the emotion he feels at the loss of his late wife all apparent yet he is torn with the emotions he now feels for Hemingway's "Meli". Hemingway also is very good in this film, as the comical nymphomaniac ...Madsen in this film she is as beautiful and magical as she was in the 80s as she is radiant now in recent films.This is fiction, a movie, but you feel as if the love between Madsen and Vincent Spano is real. You laugh when they laugh you are heartbroken when they are heartbroken. You feel their love and you feel their pain.David Ogden Stiers gives a good performance as the stuffy but talented villain too.I liked this film when I first saw it and that has not changed I love this film. Is it for everyone? Possibly not as people are different their tastes different but for most movie lovers this film is worth watching. Heartwarming and heartfelt you will laugh you will cry.

kayaker36 What's good about this picture? Some beautiful Santa Barbara backgrounds--where the cliffs meet the sea--and a couple of the supporting performances. A young Virginia Madsen is radiant as the student love interest to Vincent Spano. David Ogden Steiers is natural-- for once--and entirely credible as a neurologist and perennial adversary to the O'Toole character.Everything else is bad. Peter O'Toole looks like Death--cadaverously thin, pale as a corpse, full of jerky movements. He's fifty years old, for Pete's sake, and we're supposed to buy a romance between him and the nineteen year old free spirit **cum** egg donor played by Mariel Hemingway? And where Hugh Laurie ("House" on the Fox TV series) is eccentric, but undeniably macho in sneakers and tee shirt, O'Toole sports a Lord Fauntleroy wardrobe and is decidedly light in his loafers.Vincent Spano in the juvenile role tries hard but needs acting lessons. Tall, but no Ryan O'Neill with that prominent nose and eyes set too close together. And whose gay idea was it to put the short shorts on **him** for the lyrical, young-lovers-frolicking-on-the-beach scene?The script is another problem; not the story which at least is out of the ordinary but the dialog. There is just too much of it. O'Toole's character, in an Etonian accent, talks and talks and talks some more, about everything, ultimately about nothing. As a doctor he has even less credibility than as a love object.Regular viewers of the immensely popular series "House, M.D." will recognize the debt it owes to this movie.

lueschow This is a wonderful movie that focuses on character development. The characters are quirky and entertaining. The science in this movie is relatively weak but this movie isn't about science. This is about love, loss, and coming to terms with the curves life throws you.Peter O'tool is Brilliant... I repeat Brilliant in this movie Muriel Hemmingway (Melly) is wonderfully portrayed and the rest of the actors/actresses played at the top of their game on this movie.Grab your girlfriend/boyfriend turn down the lights pop some popcorn and enjoy the show.Warning: There is some foul language and nudity in this movie so I don't recommend watching it with your 10 year old.

DrPostman I don't rate films often, but the rating (5.8) seemed so low to me that I had to offer a comment or two. This film is a true gem, and one of the best films I have ever seen Peter O'Toole act in. David Ogden Stiers is great as a "bad guy" who isn't bad at all. Virginia Madsen is absolutely gorgeous (it has been years since I last saw this film but I still remember that shower scene). Even Hemmingway, who I don't usually like, puts in a good performance. This is a very touching romance story, that also deals a lot with letting go, but not giving up. It also doesn't get too preachy about the morals of genetic engineering. I did keep thinking through the film that even if he could bring his wife back it still wouldn't be the person he loved so much, no matter how much he wanted that. A great film that deserves a better rating.