Rating: R
Genre:
Romance
Release Date: 01/12/1999
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DDS
Run Time: 103 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: GT Media
Screenwriters
Ted Tally and
Alvin Sargent adapted the novel by
Glenn Savan into this intelligent
comedy-drama about a May-December
romance where the woman is the senior partner.
James Spader is
Max Baron, a 27-year-old St. Louis advertising executive who has completely shut himself off from the world in the two years since the auto accident death of his wife. When he meets free-spirited, 43-year-old burger joint waitress
Nora Baker (
Susan Sarandon), his attraction to the earthy, outspoken woman is immediate and overpowering. The difference in age isn't their only obstacle happiness:
Nora's into
Marilyn Monroe, drinking beer, and lives in Dogtown, the city's low-rent district, while
Max is cultured, sophisticated, and wealthy. Despite their differences,
Max and
Nora are alike in their suffering and in their deep need for connection, but their charged relationship is put to the emotional test when it becomes clear that
Max is hiding his affair with
Nora from his upper middle-class, Jewish social circle.
White Palace co-stars
Renée Taylor,
Eileen Brennan,
Kathy Bates,
Jason Alexander, and
Corey Parker.
~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide