2K Replay: PRIME

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Best Actress” (Meryl Streep) at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards. She lost to Joan Plowright in Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont.

• Best Scene/Moment: There’s no real standout scene or moment, so I’ll go with the meet cute between Uma Thurman and Bryan Greenberg at the movie theater because it’s a rep theater and I like rep theaters.

• Best Song: “She’s Got Me” by Daniel Merriweather.

• Best Merch: A “PRIME - Lobby Cards Set - Uma Thurman, Meryl Streep” for $24.99. I’m picking this solely because the lobby cards are German and one says “Couch Gefluster” which means “whispering on the couch.” That’s the title of this movie in Germany, which is awesome. It’s a better title than Prime, which I guess means that Thurman and Greenberg’s characters are in their sexual prime but I’m not 100% sure.

• Director Grade: Prime was directed by Ben Younger.
Great Movies: Boiler Room
Good Movies: Prime
OK Movies: Bleed for This
Bad Movies: N/A
Unseen By Me: N/A
Overall Grade: B+

• Double It with This 2005 Movie: Be Cool

• Year 2005 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Monster-in-Law, The Producers, The Wedding Date

• Never Talk to Strangers or Prime? Prime, but just barely.

• Mall Movie? Nope. This is a romantic comedy for adults. They wouldn’t want to walk through a mall for this. It would play at the fancy theater in town.

• Only in 2005: Everything related to the Jon Abrahams character.

• Scene Stealer: Ato Essandoh.

• I Miss: Ben Younger movies.

• I Don’t Miss: The Jon Abrahams character.

• 2005 Crush: Uma Thurman.

• 2025 Crush: Annie Parisse.

• What I Thought in 2005: I remember liking Prime at the time (can’t remember if I saw it in theaters or on DVD). I was curious about it because I was such a big fan of Boiler Room, Ben Younger’s debut feature. Prime was quite a departure from Boiler Room since it’s a straightforward romantic comedy, but it has a lot of heart and Jewish culture humor, which is always a bonus.

• What I Think in 2025: It’s still pretty good but not as good as I remember. The therapist/patient angle feels contrived and unnecessary since the movie is more about how age differences and conflicting religious backgrounds can affect romantic relationships. The performances by the three leads (Uma Thurman, Meryl Streep, Bryan Greenberg) are solid, which makes the movie work overall since it doesn’t often get distracted from them other than the awful Jon Abrahams scenes which feel shoehorned in from a DTV American Pie sequel.