Feast of Love is yet another ode to the staple diet of all good and bad melodramas that keeps the mist in the eyes of romantic souls and provokes jeers among the cynics. Something in the book by Charles Baxter has obviously prompted veteran Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer) to contribute a slice of his own musing on the subject of loving and heartache. Having seen the film, one struggles to understand what exactly sets this particular story apart from a myriad of other texts on the matter but that does not mean that the film is bad. Yes, it flirts alarmingly often with contrived melodrama but more often than not manages to keep a balance between arch cheesiness and genuine storytelling elegance. The film does not have any profound answers to dispense, but it is beautiful to behold and does make a good use of an impressive and lovable cast which does not let itself down.
A motley band of characters are set up to question whether love is worth the effort at the price of the ever-probable journey through the minefield of disappointments and heartache; the answer, of course, sets apart the romantics from the cynics. Facing arguably the toughest ordeal is Harry (Morgan Freeman), a professor on a possibly indefinite leave who comes to question his own beliefs following the death of his only child. While considering whether to return to work he spends a lot of time in a local cafe where he plays soul provider to an assortment of patrons and employees with various interlocking romantic dilemmas. His wisdom seems to be particularly badly needed by cafe owner Bradley (Greg Kinnear) who stays an unwavering romantic despite a series of bizarre jabs he suffers at the hands of faith. His wife Kathryn (Selma Blair) decides that he has never really understood her and leaves him for another, hm, woman. The guy would seemingly never know better: he decides to change his house, falls for the beautiful real estate agent Diana (Radha Mitchell), marries her only to find out that she does not share his idealistic stance on love and actually prefers her married lover (Billy Burke).
Bradley’s coffee shop serves another peculiar romantic vignette – a newcomer to town named Chloe (Alexa Davalos) takes up a job there and almost immediately falls for her colleague Oscar (Toby Hemingway) who happens to be a recovering drug addict. Chloe helps him to summon the courage to leave the house of his hard-drinking father (Fred Ward) and the couple decide to finance their new love nest with a home-made porn film, which, alas, does not sell very well. Indeed the script stacks trials and ordeals for all its characters a bit too diligently, as if to be sure it gets its slight but noble message across: love is too good a thing to pass by despite all the torments and anguish that inadvertently yet inexorably go with it. Still, director Benton not cannot be faulted for a genuine noble sentiment, nor can we blame the cast for going about their parts with straightforward fervor despite the occasional pretentiousness of the script. It is equally probably that one will fall in love with the film or that will reject its quixotic stance – it depends on ones romantic inclinations.
