I loved the movie. I don't claim that it's perfect or even that it's great art. I don't care. I feel that it conveyed the longing for love better than almost anything I've seen.Vincent Spano's ethnic looks and convincing innocence are a winning combination in this one. Corey Haim was one of the only other people of that era who could convey fresh innocence, ableit in a younger form. But here, Spano does it as a graduate student.Virginia Madsen is stunningly fresh-faced and seems to have no makeup on.Most of these reviews have been about Peter O'toole. OK, first off, we should be aware that those of us who are not English are intrigued by his English accent, because to us it seems charming. To a Brit, it may seem rather normal and not affect their impression at all.But for me it wasn't his accent that exuded charm. It was his facial expressions when he was listening to someone else talk. His portrayal of the character's empathy and loneliness was brilliant.I also enjoyed the woodsy college setting of U.C. Santa Cruz, the classical music, the portrayal of a professor's lifestyle, and the beach setting.People are complaining about the soundtrack, but I liked it. It fit the time period and added to the wonderment of fresh love.I did feel like there were some awkward acting moments for both Spano and Hemingway, but I got through them. I think they should have made the Mariel Hemingway character a bit older and sweeter, so that perhaps O'toole really could have taken her seriously and it wouldn't have creeped us out.The message that we are much more than our bodily form came across with feeling,without slamming home the point.What I also noticed, that no one else has mentioned, is the cycle of life. O'toole had his chance for young love and now it was someone else's chance. You can't go backward. There will always be a new young person in front of you, living out what you once had, or perhaps what you never had and wish you could have another chance at. Such is life.

It had been years since I saw this film - I forgot how much I loved it.This film features a great performance from its cast most especially that of Peter O'Toole & Virginia Madsen.O'Toole is magic in this film, the emotion he feels at the loss of his late wife all apparent yet he is torn with the emotions he now feels for Hemingway's "Meli". Hemingway also is very good in this film, as the comical nymphomaniac ...Madsen in this film she is as beautiful and magical as she was in the 80s as she is radiant now in recent films.This is fiction, a movie, but you feel as if the love between Madsen and Vincent Spano is real. You laugh when they laugh you are heartbroken when they are heartbroken. You feel their love and you feel their pain.David Ogden Stiers gives a good performance as the stuffy but talented villain too.I liked this film when I first saw it and that has not changed I love this film. Is it for everyone? Possibly not as people are different their tastes different but for most movie lovers this film is worth watching. Heartwarming and heartfelt you will laugh you will cry.

I really tried to like this film about a doctor who has the possibility of a new life with a young woman if he can comes to terms with the death of his wife. I suppose this was to play like a quirky light romantic comedy but the theme is a little uncomfortable for me.But putting that aside, I found the dialog was too much like a stage play despite being based on a novel and also,the mediocre acting was embarrassing to watch especially by the young lead Vincent Spano.I have been sort of trying to catch up on all the eighties movies I missed during that decade. It has been my pet peeve that eighties nostalgia buffs seem to focus on the same core canon of films usually featuring the brat pack actors and actresses and neglecting the other films like Creator that have fallen through the cracks. But in the case of this feature I have to say I can understand it. Not all of these eighties films were magical and Creator is proof of this.

This movie is at times a wild 80s college sex comedy, others a sweet romantic one... Then it has moments of serious drama and then sprinkles in dashes of science fiction... It is so uneven its almost ridiculous.But I would hardly rank it as one of the worst films I've ever seen except of course for the fact that they casted Peter O'Toole.There is absolutely nothing for him to work with here. Poor dialog, poor performances to work off of, poor everything... And yet he's fantastic... There is not one good thing about his part and yet he makes it work if only on pure charm alone.The fact that he was so able to achieve so much with so little shines a spotlight on how greatly everyone else in this film failed, making it seem even worse than I suppose it actually is...If any other actor was in O'Toole's role, I would have forgotten this movie as crap and never thought of it again, but a fine performance by Peter O'Toole despite all odds ensures that I'll remember this film for a long time to come... If only as a film that, maybe, could have been good if anyone involved in it was nearly half as good as Peter O'Toole.