Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

intuitivegoddess so incredibly excruciating to watch. My partner and I went in expecting to relate because of our history, but just torture to watch. Beyond bad casting, felt none of the characters were believable together. Awkward, was not moved in any way. Truly only watched to the end as it was such a train wreck....stay at home , watch TV Yes we did laugh, once.....when we thought it could not get any worse, wait for it....it got worse....is this why Littlefinger was killed off , and as punishment landed this role....

Mark Turner Hollywood loves to use a recurring theme when it comes to marriage. They seem to have this idea that the best way to solve marriage problems is to have an affair. I'm not sure if it's because there are so many failed marriages there or that there is so much rampant cheating going on there or what. But every so often a movie comes out pushing this idea. THE LOVERS is the newest example.Michael and Mary (Tracy Letts and Debra Winger) are a middle aged couple for whom the spark has gone out of their relationship. Each day is filled with the same old same old, work, home, dinner, bed. Romance is a thing of the past. But they have something in common they aren't aware of. Both of them are having affairs.Much of what I just wrote is assumed as we go along. The first moments of the film are of each individual with the person they are having an affair with. Both are promising that they are going to leave the other spouse but want to put it off until they have a chance to talk with their son who is coming home for the weekend from college.Both are having affairs with what appear to be much younger people. In Michael's case it is a young ballet dancer. Of all the characters in the film she is the most irrational and explosive. She seems to have fits of rage that made me as a viewer wonder where the attraction came from unless it was all physical.In the case of Mary her lover is a writer. While we witness to two romantically involved we also get to see that side of him. He discusses his writer's block with her and later in the film is reading something he's just written. Her attraction seems both physical and mental.But something happens. One morning before their son comes home they wake in bed together, in that semi-groggy state of mind we all do in the morning, and without realizing just who they are with they kiss. Their eyes open, they both jump out of bed and begin getting ready for work. But as they do so they find themselves drawn to one another and jump back in bed.Over the next few days both are dealing with this new sense of vigor and attraction to one another. At the same time their lovers are feeling ignored and threatened. It's not that they are aware of what has happened but they notice something is different. Each continues to put pressure on Michael and Mary to end it and be with them instead.The story comes to a head when their son gets home. He's warned his girlfriend to expect them not to be a very caring couple. When he sees them together this way he isn't sure what to expect. Could it be that things have been straightened out? Could they have rediscovered what it was that drew them together in the first place? And will they stay or go? The movie is entertaining and well-made on all fronts. It's well shot and directed, moves along at a steady pace and never seems to drag. The acting is more believable than one would expect. It's good to see Winger back in front of a camera again since her output has decreased over the past 8 years or so. Perhaps the only thing that felt intrusive in the film was the music, odd since there is a whole segment in the extras about scoring this film. It's like the classic old movie melodramas where the tones rise and fall with the emotions on display. At time that got in the way of things for me.The only other thing that bothered me was the fact that both seem to work at jobs where it's nothing for them to leave for hours at a time to have affairs or not come home on time on a near daily basis. Not only that their respective lovers have no problem showing up where they work with no reason to do so other than to see them. For me that made parts of the movie unbelievable.Still, it is an interesting movie and will hold your attention start to finish. There are moments that might bring a tear to your eye and moments that will make you laugh out loud. And for many it will make you wonder if you don't pay enough attention to your spouse and show them that even after all this time there is still love between the two of you. With any luck that will be the thing that sticks with most viewers instead of thinking that sleeping with someone else will help your marriage.

anthonyjlangford A middle age couple are in the throes of an affair. Both of them.The subtleties of a middle age relationship will be wasted on the young. Having read the negative reviews here, there's no doubting the reviewer's age. They've completely missed the point. That's fine. It's not for them. I may have felt the same way, once.For everyone else, this is subtle, poignant, witty, truthful and very funny. It takes you to places you expect, in a natural but charming way and then surprises you. It's a very delicate balance, pulled off beautifully by writer and director. And what a superb cast. All four of the main parts are played to perfection. These are no hacks. A top notch class act. The Lovers is a wonderfully fresh film for a mature audience. About time.

popcorninhell Infidelity in cinema is nothing new. Much like the boiling conflicts of war or the inevitable fissures of generations old and new, the inherent drama of infidelity has always been one of those clear cut and elemental driving forces that has the immediacy to color an entire movie. Reaction to it is almost automatic and the story, depending on who's telling it always seems to virtually write itself. Yet in the case of The Lovers, infidelity is less the flash of conflict as it is the strangely reserved starting point to a story about human peculiarities.The esteemed Debra Winger and acclaimed playwright/due paying bit actor Tracy Letts play Mary and Michael, a middle-aged married couple whose loveless marriage is nearing its dispassionate end. Both barely hide their constant trysts with their respective inamoratos, both of whom are artists and both of whom remind Michael and Mary of who they once were. In the weeks before their estranged son Joel (Ross) is to visit, both simultaneously resolve to end their marriage. Yet as they come closer to the brink of separation, eros takes a hold of them, leading to an impulsive romance.The beauty of The Lovers is it twists and turns in surprising yet painfully human ways. Every time you think you have a firm understanding of the characters at play, something unexpected yet so emphatically human breaches through and the movie gainfully searches for a new dynamic. It's all to our delight. Behind the film's reserved almost dusty demeanor lies a barely hidden heart threatening to burst at the seams. The film for the most part stays true to its quiet composure. Yet in a few key moments the movie almost seems to glitter with the emotional resonance reserved to it welling romantic score.Director Azazel Jacobs does wonders with his workmanlike camera-work. It's purposeful fluidity and literate use of space sells a particular kind of drollness. One that can take the innate beauty of Southern California and make it fade in the background against two deeply flawed characters and their increasingly desperate counterparts. Yet what sells The Lovers's admittedly indie aesthetic, is the film's central foursome; Letts, Winger, Aiden Gillen and Melora Walters. Their reactions to the duplicity, then the double duplicity carries the entirety of the script in their eyes, their body-language, their placement in the room. One could put the film on mute and gleam everything apart from the names.The film as a whole is meant to be a meditation on mature love; a prospect that sometimes falters under the weight of the film's melancholy tone. This is not to say the tone is the problem but rather The Lovers's beat-by-beat story flirts a little too much with melodrama for something not to eventually give. And yes, the movie risks breaking down completely during its final act with the arrival of a coarse Tyler Ross, who slumps in the middle of the film's delicate and disquieting frame, and call out its bulls**t with the subtlety of a bullhorn.Thanks to the unforced earnestness of Winger and Letts (and an oddly perfect song selection), The Lovers finds it within itself to bounce back like a seasoned dancer after a minor trip. What results, may not be the most well-observed study of needy, perilously unhappy people. Yet considering how counterfeit a lot of movies feel nowadays it's nice to see something that attempts to find the audacity in the littlest of moments.