The plot of the film is a simple one. Movies like this are never really about their plots so much as they are about their characters. Emma Moriarty is a single mom who grew up on a farm, knows horses and hard work, and who moves out to the country to fix up a ramshackle old house and barn to start a business of boarding and training horses. Her son Jake is played by 80s child star Corey Haim, who plays his role somberly as a boy who misses his dad and is kind of clueless as to the workings of this new life. He's just a normal kid who grew up in the city and finds it odd that his new school doesn't have a single computer. This role could have been a thankless one if Haim didn't play it so well. His eyes express the weight of his small world on his shoulders, and we can see that weight lifted in the presence of his dad (Brian Kerwin) and when talking to Murphy. Emma happens across Murphy Jones' drug store when advertising her business. Murphy is all for free enterprise, so she posts her sign in his window and walks in. In this first conversation, we already know that these two are destined to fall in love by the film's end. That's how these movies work: 1) We introduce the main characters to each other and know from the start they are compatible. Step 2) We watch as a series of wrenchs are thrown in the works to put off this revelation between the characters themselves. In the case of "Murphy's Romance", we are given a simple wrench, not a series of ridiculously over the top occurrences that scatter our radar of reality. The arrival of Emma's ex-husband Bobby Jack (Kerwin) makes for enough realistic encounters and quick dialogue exchanges for every implausible moment in today's teen dramas.

That's enough about the plot. As I said, love stories are not about their plots. The few smart love stories that have come out of Hollywood over the years recognize this and treat their characters with intelligence. "Murphy's Romance" has a main cast of wonderful performers who embody their roles with an almost improvisational realism. Sally Field is terrific as Emma, who we can see from the start has tenacity and a good work ethic ("I've worked hard for all these callouses!"), but also has an unwillingness to separate the men from the boys, which blinds her to the possibilities of loving someone new after her failed marriage. Kerwin has one of the tougher jobs in the film: He has to maintain the image of a scumbag ex-husband while still coming across as the kind of man we could see as charming. It's a difficult balancing act, but it's one that he pulls off nicely. Haim, with the eyes of a soulful man trapped in a boy's body, is very good. But James Garner, who earned a Oscar nomination (he should've won) for this role, owns this movie from beginning to end.

"Murphy's Romance" is one of my favorite films for all the reasons I've mentioned: Great performances, wit, and most of all, love. Garner and Field play their characters with just the right pitch in every scene, and when we finally do come to the closing scenes of the movie, everything rides on them. The last scene, brilliantly photographed, is written in such a way that it would make or break the film. As it stands, it is probably one of the most loving scenes in film history, with the two leads nailing every note. It reaches out of the screen and makes us grin from ear to ear; it touches our heart in a way that few films do, and it's a testament to the true power of film: It makes us want to fall in love for the first and last time in our lives.