Relationships can be complicated. Even after finding a potential love interest, there are many questions still left unanswered. Like any romantic comedy, "Prime" strives to answer these questions by evaluating the influence of age, religion and … psychoanalysis?

"Prime" details the relationship between Rafi (Uma Thurman, "Kill Bill"), a recently divorced fashion photographer and David (Bryan Greenberg, "The Perfect Score"), a wannabe artist who still shares an apartment with his grandparents. She's 37, he's 23, but their older woman/younger man relationship is anything but typical.

Enter Meryl Streep ("The Manchurian Candidate") who shines as Dr. Lisa Metzger, Rafi's psychoanalyst and coincidentally, David's mother. In the beginning, Dr. Metzger supports her patient's cradle-robbing relationship, but as she uncovers more details, Streep's character becomes increasingly torn between her role as a mother and a professional.

After her recent roles portraying a vengeful killing machine in Quentin Taratino's "Kill Bill" flicks, Thurman shows a softer side and displays a convincing emotional transition over the course of the movie. Co-star Bryan Greenburg also shows promise as Thurman's love interest. His character struggles to come to terms with pressures from his family members who can't seem to allow their son to fully control his life. Thurman's portrayal of the hardened thirty-something offsets Greenburg's air of innocence to create an effective chemistry between the two.

The on-screen relationship between Thurman and Greenberg pales in comparison to that between Streep and Thurman. Each scene inside the shrink's office serves up delightfully awkward comedy as Streep's fairly conservative, Jewish mother character and Thurman's emotional wreck-turned-free spirit character banter back and forth. As Streep squirms in her seat, the audience can almost feel her blood pressure rise as the completely oblivious Thurman pours her heart out and details her erotic escapades with her new flame.

Writer-director Ben Younger uses comedy such as this throughout "Prime" in order to point out underlying issues such as religion and life experience without making the film too heavy.

By using flashbacks, he film also offers slight comic relief through the words and wisdom of Bubi, David's little Jewish grandmother. Through her blunt statements and actions, Bubi shows she is not shy about her opinions. A highlight comes when David is emphasizing the importance his family places on religion and their desire for him to marry a Jewish girl and flashes back to the day he introduced his African American girlfriend to his beloved grandma. She merely scowled at the girl and remained silent for a few moments until finally blurting out, "Are you black?" David says her shock was so great, the kerchief-clad woman died shortly after the encounter.

Another light-hearted influence comes in the form of David's slacker best friend, Morris, played by Jon Abrahams. Morris brags that he has never been on a second date with a woman and enjoys pulling juvenile pranks to pass his time. He illustrates the immaturities of the typical 23-year-old male and his behavior helps emphasize the difference in lifestyles of the couples. While David drives Morris to the apartment of a past date so he can pie her in the face, Rafi finds herself thinking about her ticking biological clock and enjoys passing weekends in the Hamptons.

Despite his best efforts to keep the film entertaining, writer-director Ben Younger's plotline drags as he attempts to develop multiple underlying themes. On one hand, there is the relationship between two individuals who are at very different points in their lives and struggling to come to terms with that. The pair must decide if love is enough to overcome these obstacles in the face of a second set of issues within the family, ranging from religious preference to career choices.

There is also the added twist of the patient-doctor relationship between the mother and her son's girlfriend. Each element proves significant in its own right; however, in such a short period of time it is difficult to fully develop so many intricacies, making the film seem a bit imbalanced. The dynamic of the doctor-patient relationship shared by Thurman and Streep's characters is more interesting than the actual romantic plotline and could have benefited from increased development to set this film apart from the standard romantic comedy.

Like any relationship-driven film, "Prime" has its ups and downs, but its overall quality is less than its moniker implies — or, simply put, average.

GRADE: C