HE FELL IN LOVE FOR THE FIRST TIME… SHE FELL IN LOVE FOREVER.
48-year-old restaurant owner Will Keane (Richard Gere) falls in love with a 21-year-old hat designer (Winona Ryder), but she eventually tells him that she is dying. Ryder looks appropriately anemic, but this film hardly gives a credible portrayal of the illness. The plot has been lifted from countless old Hollywood weepies and the romance fails to engage us. Do we honestly care if Gere’s playboy learns how to love? Nah. Elaine Stritch is fine, the movie is beautifully shot, but everything else is dull.
2000-U.S. 105 min. Color. Directed by Joan Chen. Cast: Richard Gere (Will Keane), Winona Ryder (Charlotte Fielding), Anthony LaPaglia (John), Elaine Stritch, Vera Farmiga, Sherry Stringfield… Mary Beth Hurt, J.K. Simmons.
