Great Film overall

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Slow dancing to a '40s love tune, slow driving to a cemetery 25 years later. A stranger appears at the Shiva, tenderly offering condolences. Pearl's buttoned-down life precludes a relationship with this man. But he persists, with his warm Italian accent, to break down the barriers. Flowers, dinner for her whole family and his, an air-conditioner, a kiss shared while wading in a children's pool, lying beside her in bed to see if they "fit", all culminate in standing before a hippie-Jewish rabbi and a hippie-Catholic priest and saying "I do." In between, others in their lives have their share of problems. Little Sweetpea makes like Superman and tries to dare the Fates, relying on his dead grandfather to save him. Daughter number one, having lost a son, tries on a multitude of roles to survive. Daughter Bibi who hates her nickname, fights her fat battle and her mother battle. Grandma and friend fight each other but end up singing, "Moon Over Miami" together. It's a "happily ever after" movie. In real life there are no guarantees, but "Used People" shows us that, just, maybe, we can make our own happiness.

This story is one of family love and tolerance. It reaches into touching depths that goodness and unconditional love are far more important than self and ego. This love story is very refreshing as it is based on mutual appreciation and admiration. Joe is looking for for a lady that is dedicated and Pearl needs his sincere caring. The movie projects characters that can be liked regardless of their faults. Very well cast as each actor seems to bring their characters alive as if they are a real people one might know and want to know. It is a movie that gives a new message each time it is viewed. Watch this movie and enjoy the tenderness.

Admittedly, I LOVE films about relationships. Perhaps this is because I am a therapist.This film is not only about finding love, but also about waking up to love that is already there. The characters grow and change in this film and if it seems uneven, this may be why. When the character of Pearl tells us early on that she never did anything she wanted in life, you doubt her ability to break away from her old life, but break away she does, carrying her mother, daughters and grandchildren with her.This film has a happy ending, but it is not all neatly tucked away in pretty packages. If you like films that say something, try this one on for size. Films of similar flavor are "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway" "Harold and Maude" and "Moonstruck" .

If this is not (intentionally or otherwise) a pilot for a TV series, what is it? Episodic, altogether lacking in unity and narrative flow, there is enough caricature and stereotyping to offend the sensibilities of most Jewish- and Italian-Americans. To understand the characters' motivations, a viewer must look beyond what is presented here - i.e., must imagine why these characters act as they do, since the explanations are not forthcoming in the film. If you were left wondering what is going to happen next to Pearl, her daughters, her grandson, her new husband and his family - all of their situations left open-ended - you were more absorbed in this claptrap than most viewers are likely to be.The performances are not at all bad, but then, one-dimensional characters don't present much of a challenge.