Feast of Love 9/28Director: Robert Benton. Screenplay: Allison Burnett, based on the novel by Charles Baxter. Cinematography: Kramer Morgenthau. Film editing: Andrew Mondshein. Production design: Missy Stewart. Music: Stephen Trask. Producers: Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg. With: Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell, Billy Burke, Selma Blair, Alexa Davalos, Toby Hemingway, Stana Katic, Jane Alexander, Fred Ward, Erika Marozsán, Margo Martindale, Missi Pyle, Shannon Lucio, Alex Mentzel, Julie Vhay. USA. 100 min. 2007.
Experiences of love, romance, and heartbreak circulate among a number of colorful characters who live separate lives in their modest Oregon community but are somehow united by their shared humanity. Sound familiar? So will the movie.
The cast is fine: Morgan Freeman and Jane Alexander as a lovable professor and his lovable wife; Greg Kinnear as a wistful businessman (Kinnear is tops at wistfulness, but enough already!) and Selma Blair as his estranged spouse; Radha Mitchell as a feisty real-estate agent and Billy Burke as her adulterous boyfriend; et cetera. Robert Benton is a capable director whose films rarely generate much dramatic excitement. Despite its promising performers, this one is as forgettable as any he’s made. – David Sterritt
