Fake Comedy - It's a Tragedy

The other night I came across the movie Prime on HBO. You may remember this movie - it came out last year and stars Uma Thurman as a wealthy power-exec in Manhattan with a few abandonment issues over her ex-husband who cheated on and left her. But she's working things out with her therapist - played by Meryl Streep - when she falls in love with David, a 24-year-old painter - played by Bryan Greenberg - more than 10 years younger than her - and Streep's son to boot. And wackiness ensues, right?

I caught the movie about halfway through, so I can't attest to how much hilarity the first hour held. But as for the second half, I can tell you I didn't come as close to cracking a smile as shedding a tear. By the way, consider this your official spoiler alert - the rest of this post will disclose the ending of the movie.

The previews for this movie were a montage of awkward situations, like Meryl Streep diving out of sight in Pottery Barn to preserve her role as Thurman's therapist when the happy couple is lurking in the bedding section just across the way. In fact, the movie poster bills it "A Therapeutic New Comedy" and shows Streep with a slapstick look of shock and disapproval on her face.

But the truth was that Uma Thurman was in a truly heartbreaking situation. And when Streep reveals who she is, Thurman loses her therapist, Streep her patient, and the mother-son relationship is left in shambles. After a string of break ups and reuniting, Thurman and Greenberg's characters decide to call it quits - after all, Thurman definitely wants a baby and Greenberg has too much life to live to be complicated by love and family.

I might have enjoyed this movie if I hadn't anticipated being in stitches. But as it was, I kept waiting for the faint hope to blossom into resolution with some witty dialogue and big hugs at the end. Instead, I was left out in the cold with Greenberg, looking through a cafe window at Thurman who looked rather wan and sad and then fade to dark.

I felt the same way about In Good Company, starring Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid. Even its tagline, "He's rich, young and handsome. He's in love with you and he's your dad's boss." promises a movie of comedic situation and clever comebacks. In the end, you're left feeling so desperately sad for Grace's character - whose life is never quite as funny as the movie tries to make it - and with a fragile hope that he's finally found some direction. But a comedy it is not.

This false billing is such an annoyance. I want to know what I'm watching. And I'm not going to be turned off by a movie just because it doesn't deliver sketch comedy on a platter. I'm a girl of varied tastes - I can handle the drama. But if you tell me it's a comedy, I better laugh so hard I cry. Not just cry.