"Feast of Love"

The Beatles sang "All You Need is Love" and this overly simplistic pattern for life is at the heart of Robert Benton's too-sweet "Feast of Love," in which a number of very good looking adults find themselves in various forms of love.

First and foremost, there's Bradley (Greg Kinnear), the proprietor of a coffee shop in Portland, Ore., called Jitters where most of the folks in this flm gather. He is married to Kathryn (Selma Blair) who early in the film leaves him for Jenny (Stana Katic), a woman who tagged out Kathryn out in a softball game and then immediately comes on to her while everyone in the world, except Bradley, notices. Bradley then marries Diana (Radha Mitchell), a real estate agent who is still in love with the married man with whom she's been having an extended affair.

One day, a young girl named Chloe (Alexa Davalos) walks into the coffee shop and immediately captures the heart of Oscar (Toby Hemingway), the kid Bradley has manning the counter who convinces Bradley to hire Chloe. Then there's Harry Stevenson (Morgan Freeman), the wise old college professor wjo hangs around all these youngsters but never with anyone his own age, and his understanding wife Esther (who, because she's played by the marvelous Jane Alexander, should have had a bigger role).

Story lines are taken up and then forgotten. For example, we never really here of Kathryn and Jenny again after they take up together except for one exploitative scene of them in bed (this film features a number of forced scenes of naked lovemaking couples). There's a silly subplot of how Chloe and Oscar have no money and are forced to make a pornographic film. Chloe gets less money than she thought she would for the film, but that's the last we hear about it. And after they meet, I don't recall another scene that shows them working in the coffee shop. There's an extended sequence in which Bradley steals a dog from an in-law, but nothing ever comes of that misadventure either.

It all seems very superficial. People engage in nefarious activities but suffer no consequences for them. All the loose ends are tied up at the end of this film. It's called "Feast of Love," but actually all we get is some warmed-up leftovers.

Grade: D+