Love Comes Lately

Max Kohn (Otto Tausig) is an aging writer, who is experiencing a late-life crisis. His girlfriend (Rhea Perlman) keeps him organized, but is continually suspicious of his flirtatiousness as he travels around the country lecturing on his novels.

Max extends his dreams and experiences into his stories. Casanova he is not, but he has a certain charisma and pleasantness that make him interesting to the ladies. In his dreams and prose, sexual adventures often befall the surrogate Max. In one such adventure, he falls under the spell of his new next door neighbour (Tovah Feldshuh) who seems to be his ideal partner, but, alas, the course of true love never runs smooth. In another, he finds himself in a seedy Florida motel, involved in a domestic dispute between the motel's owner and his estranged wife, as well as the attentions of the frustrated maid. In real life, while giving a lecture, he is reacquainted with a former student (Barbara Hershey), who is now part of the faculty.

An amalgamation of three short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer - The Briefcase, Alone and Old Love - this tale of elderly amour, centering on a Jewish New York author, is sweet enough but slow going.

Tausig is a gentle soul who doesn't project the required sex appeal for the lothario Max. Perlman is a delight, as his long suffering steady, always looking for signs of infidelity, while Hershey (especially) and Feldshuh shine as potential paramours.

One wishes the material were in the hands of Woody Allen, as a leavening of humour would help the proceedings. I am loathe to respond negatively, as Hollywood is so obsessed with youthful couplings and it makes a change to see something that deals with more mature participants.

Alas, the film feels like a rather dull wish-fulfillment fantasy. Letters to Playboy, perhaps, more than literary genius from an elderly New York author.