The script was written by someone on opium, how else to explain the psychobabble about relationship between men and women.I know of many stressed-out white men with a family, young children and a nice house, who remember nostalgically a carefree trip while they were young and single. A good number even take a trip with their buddies and without their wives to briefly re-live the single life while in their 40's male midlife crisis. But to leave all that behind for a brief Menage-a-Trois with a promiscuos young blonde on a distant Philippine island? Then there is a bamboo Tower of Babel built to "kiss the sky" complete with a monk and language barriers...a metaphor for what, exactly. After the tower collapses in a heavy rainfall the monk doles out some Buddhist wisdom about "finding paradise only in your heart." Ouch.This is a movie for men whose physical passion has left their marriage as they reach middle age and lose the energy to cavort from sunup to sundown chasing women while drinking and taking drugs. But they can dream, can't they?Most movies have a "turning point" in the third act to resolve the problem laid out in the first and second act. Here Jeff inexplicably jumps into bed with a photographer on the very night he returns to vainly rekindle the Menage-a-Trois. Is he just plain stupid, given the blonde rents a room nearby in the same hotel? The writer must have overdosed on opium at that point.

Comments from other reviewers lead me to believe that this movie has some resonance for mid-life challenged males. Who am I to argue with that? But for everyone else, this is just pathetic and embarrassing nonsense. A very low budget film that (obviously) went direct to video and never went near a theatre. My husband rented it because the box said something about a "menage a trois" and he thought it would have some sex scenes. Well, it does, but they are so boring and tame that they would be laughed off a daytime soap opera. Sheryl Lee is very attractive in a down-to-earth way, but William Petersen (CSI) and Gary Cole (One Hour Photo) are tired and out of shape and have this hang dog look to them that suggests the whole enterprise is just plain embarrassing...which it is.I find nothing sympathetic in the plight of fabulously successful and wealthy white upper class men who abandon their wives and children, take their life savings and go to the Phillipines to blow $200,000 on A.) debauchery and B.) building some kind of God-awful bamboo structure that is supposed to be a motel or bed&breakfast or something. The plot and dialogue are so lame and unbelievable it is hard to imagine the actors finding this project palatable so I have to figure they wanted the free trip to the Phillipines. Trust me, this one won't be appearing on anybody's career resume.Despite the potentially gorgeous surroundings, the cinematography is very poor and of a TV movie quality. It was apparently filmed on location in the Phillipines, but you'd hardly know it, it could have been filmed in Hawaii or even Florida. The use of Leonard Cohen songs throughout is done poorly...the songs don't have any relevance to the actions going on and seem to be just plunked into place.Terrance Stamp has a small, lame part as a Buddhist monk who is inexplicably allowed to have sex and drink alcohol. There are so many low points in this movie, I would be cruel to list them all, but the worst is when all the main characters are swimming nude, and they stand up in shallow water to greet the monk...we are forced to view their saggy, pudgy naked behinds and trust me, it's not a pretty moment.A film utterly devoid of sympathetic emotion, and out of touch with any reality I'm aware of (but then I am not a bored, rich white male). The use of titillation (a three way!) to try and sell this bloated tripe is just out and out pathetic. This is a huge waste of time to sit through, even if it pops up on cable, so I suggest you avoid it. You have better things to do with your time.

This film's underlying idea is about two middle-aged friends who find themselves in male menopause at the same time, and decide the thing to do is to change their lives completely. An interesting idea, but one that has been the basis of plenty of films. The thing is that they decide to do this by building themselves a large structure in the Philippines, where they can escape the outside world by means of sharing the attentions of one woman they both find attractive (of course, they swear they won't be jealous of each other, they are all just so damn spiritual), as well as the company of a dubious Zen Buddhist monk, played by Terence Stamp, who should have known better.Had the makers of this film treated their antics in a humorous way, this might have been an enjoyable romantic comedy. Instead, they treat the whole matter with ponderous earnestness, with the three main characters sprouting clichés of trivial spiritual `wisdom' right and left; one is taken aback by the possibility that the script writers actually took all this rubbish seriously. So, what could have been a pleasant film ends up as a ponderous, crashing bore.

I do not understand the rating for this one - I rated it an 8.My guess is that women will not enjoy this movie, not to mention men who only like movies with a lot of action or comedy. This movie is definitely a talk-fest, but if you are interested in philosophy (why am I here?), you should like this one.Men - I do not recommend watching this with your significant other. If you do, be prepared to say "I would never do that" and "I do not identify with these guys at all", otherwise, many arguments are predicted.