This formulaically mawkish disease-of-the-week movie, dressed up as worthy weepy, says more about the curious career patterns of stars Gere and Ryder than it ever could about the power of love or the tragedy of illness.
Gere is the womanising restaurateur who falls for a woman (Ryder) young enough to be his daughter but who, damn it, teaches him the meaning of true love. All of which would be perfect if she wasn't constantly on the verge of keeling over from a dicky ticker. Director Chen, who seemed to have turned her post-Twin Peaks career behind the camera into a viable prospect with Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, works hard to make everything here look pretty, but even this can't compensate for the film's self-important script and, in Gere and Ryder, one of the least convincing screen couplings in recent history.