Something's Gotta Give (2003) * * *

Directed by:  Nancy Meyers

Starring:  Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Amanda Peet, Frances McDormand, Keanu Reeves, Jon Favreau

Record company executive Harry Sanborn (Nicholson) has a problem many men would like to have.  He dates younger women and in this particular case, he falls in love with the young woman's mother.   As Something's Gotta Give begins, Sanborn narrates in the way only Nicholson can:  "I'm an expert on younger women since I've been dating them for forty years."   The younger lady he is now dating, Marin (Peet), is taking him to the Hamptons for the weekend to meet her famed playwright mother Erica (Keaton).   Harry and Marin have yet to have sex, but that is supposed to change until Harry suffers a heart attack.   Erica, who isn't thrilled with her daughter dating someone closer to her own age, agrees to nurse Harry back to health while Marin returns to the city.  

Harry's doctor is the young Julian Mercer (Reeves), who cares about Harry while also eyeing Erica, whose work he greatly admires.   Unlike most rival men in romantic comedies, Dr. Mercer is a nice man who of course must ultimately be thrown over in order for Erica and Harry to finally get together.   I know I'm not revealing a spoiler, because anyone sentient person understands what must happen and why.   Nicholson and Keaton have a sweet, but uneasy chemistry with each other.   Erica is hesitant to fall for Harry following her divorce from her first husband, while Harry is reluctant to fall for Erica because she's much older than the women he's used to dating.   In a more typical romantic comedy, Marin would somehow factor into the equation, but once she's out of the picture she mostly stays out, while Julian has no interest in Marin despite their similar ages and that they are a more natural fit.  

Something's Gotta Give doesn't earn points with its plot, but with the moments between Nicholson and Keaton in which they discover things about each other which would make them compatible as lovers and also incompatible.   The movie also follows a recent movie tradition in which the jilted lover all too graciously steps aside so our hero can win back his love.   If anything, Something's Gotta Give shows us that the only thing getting in the way of Erica and Harry hooking up is each other.