Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Feast Of Love takes an interesting look at love - all kinds of love.  We see long-term love that has overcome tragedy and continues to thrive, even if it got dented a bit along the way.  We see brand new, love-at-first-sight love.  And we see the sad story of a man searching for love who just can't see the truth about the people he loves, and thus he finds himself on the losing end of love.

This movie is a romantic drama, not a romantic comedy.  Although there are one or two light-hearted moments, this movie has a serious tone to it.  So, don't go in expecting to laugh.  You'll be more likely to cry.

Morgan Freeman plays, well, the same role he always plays.  He's the kindly, wise professor.  In this case, he's also the movie's narrator, which I found irritating.  Mostly because his narrative really didn't add anything to the movie, it just interrupted it a few times.  But when he's not narrating, he's simply being Harry, married for many years to Esther (Jane Alexander).  We see a certain unspoken distance between them, and it's a while before we understand why. 

Harry's friend Bradley is another story altogether.  Greg Kinear plays the ever-faithful husband, who wants so badly to have the picture-perfect marriage.  But he's completely blind to what is painfully obvious to everyone else - his wife's in love with someone else.  And once that marriage is over, Harry meets Diana, and tries again.  But his next attempt at love doesn't work too well, either.  For the same reason - he wants so badly to be in love that he just can't see beyond the surface of his relationship.  Not even to notice that he never actually had Diana.

Finally, there's Oscar and Chloe.  Played beautifully by Toby Hemingway and Alexa Davalos, the two fall instantly in love.  With many obstacles to overcome, these two young adults share a beautiful love, and teach the older folks a thing or two along the way.

I liked the poignancy of the film.  Nothing is held back.  We see it all.  The good and the bad.  There's quite a bit of sex and nudity, as might be expected in a movie of this genre.  So be forewarned if that's not your thing.  And there are blatant, raw emotions on display.  Most notably when Diana (Radha Mitchell) has her scenes, both with Bradley, and David (Billy Burke).

And I'm glad that if Bradley has to take so many tries to finally get love right, at least there weren't any little kids to get hurt in the mix.  In other words, I'm thankful that it's only the adults that are so screwed up.

What I absolutely hated, though, was the timeline.  Way too much takes place over an 18 month period.  It simply doesn't ring true, for me.  And if someone does get divorced, meet someone, get married, get divorced, meet someone, etc, all in that small a timeframe, he kind of gets what he deserves, if it doesn't work out.   I might act upon my love-at-first-sight feelings the first time around.  But if it didn't work out, I sure hope I'd learn a lesson or two, and maybe take my time the next time.

One last criticism - there's some stuff that goes on regarding a dog that I really detested.  First of all, the circumstances are such that bringing the dog home in the first place was definitely the wrong move.  But what takes place afterwards is also wrong.  Dogs are living beings and deserve to be treated with respect, not used as bargaining chips.

Still, this is a beautiful movie, that tugs at the heartstrings just a little bit.  It's memorable, for sure, and contains a few really nice messages about love. The performances were incredible, especially by Hemingway and Davalos, who portrayed young love so perfectly.

I recommend this movie, for adults only.  There's nothing here that would interest a kid.  But adults in the mood for a serious look at love should give this one a try.

Recommended: Yes

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age