The movie is true enough to its characters that at one point, when Harry and Erica both find themselves crying at the same time, we find ourselves surprisingly moved by this recognition of their humanity. And when Harry goes back to his old ways, as we know he must, we're moved again, this time by how lonely he feels, and how sad it is when he plays his old tapes. Harry and Erica are convincing characters, at least in the world of romantic comedy.

It's Dr. Mercer who seems like nothing more than a walking plot complication. We don't believe or understand his relationship with Erica, and it must be said that a young man who would propose marriage to a woman 25 years his senior and fly to Paris with her, plan marriage, and yet immediately surrender her to his rival without a struggle (out of good manners and breeding, it would seem) has desires that are all too easily contained. There is a sexual mystery surrounding the whole situation. Harry doesn't know (for sure) whether Erica and young Dr. Mercer have had sex, which perhaps makes the situation easier for him; in the Hamptons, a virgin is anyone who hasn't slept with anyone you know since you met them.

A movie like this depends crucially on its stars. To complain that Nicholson is playing "himself" -- or that Keaton is also playing a character very much like her public persona -- is missing the point. Part of the appeal depends on the movie's teasing confusion of reality and fiction. Harry defends himself by telling Erica, "I have never lied to you. I have always told you some version of the truth," and we smile at the backward morality in that statement; we wonder if Nicholson himself contributed that line to the screenplay. We are meant to wonder.

The film's nudity observes the usual double standard; we get three opportunities for a leisurely study of Nicholson's butt, but the nude shot of Diane Keaton is so brief it falls only a frame this side of subliminal. Their faces are more interesting, anyway.

"At 50," Orwell tells us, "every man has the face he deserves." I don't know what Harry and Erica did to deserve theirs, but they didn't skip any payments. They bring so much experience, knowledge and humor to their characters that the film works in ways the screenplay might not have even hoped for.

Note: The paintings in the Hamptons house are by Jack Vettriano, and the drawings are by Paul Cox. I have no reason for telling you that, but I couldn't stop myself.

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