Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Rose Morgan, who still lives with her mother, is a professor of Romantic Literature who desperately longs for passion in her life. Gregory Larkin, a mathematics professor, has been burned by passionate relationships and longs for a sexless union based on friendship and respect.
Barbra Streisand's directorial vehicle is a competent but uneven romantic comedy-drama. The premise of a sexless intellectual marriage is intriguing and allows for some sharp wit, but the film loses its nerve in the third act, retreating into conventional romantic wish-fulfillment. Streisand and Jeff Bridges have an engaging odd-couple chemistry, and Lauren Bacall delivers a scene-stealing supporting turn. Visually, the film is flatly shot with little cinematic ambition beyond a standard TV-movie look. The ending feels rushed and emotionally unearned, undermining the more nuanced relationship dynamics established earlier. It occupies a distinctive niche as a Streisand passion project with genuine intellectual pretensions, but never fully transcends its glossy Hollywood rom-com trappings.