Nina, Jennifer Aniston, is a social worker who loves her left-wing lawyer boyfriend Vince, John Pankow, but isn`t sure she wants to spend her life with him. George, Paul Rudd, is a gay schoolteacher whose partner has eased him out of the apartment they shared; when he moves in with Nina he`s no threat to Vince - until Nina discovers she`s pregnant and thinks George would make a better father than Vince.
The third film from British director Nicholas Hytner seems at first a major step down from his more prestigious The Madness Of King George and The Crucible. But The Object Of My Affection, for all its plot contrivances, proves to be quite an interesting and likeable film. Wendy Wasserstein`s screenplay is witty, and just about convinces us that these intelligent people would embark on such an unlikely domestic arrangement. Nor does the film fall into the trap of having George turned straight by his love for Nina - it`s not as simple as that. Aniston and Rudd are an amiable pair, but the film`s stolen by Nigel Hawthorne who gives a dryly amusing portrayal as a cynical, gay, theatre critic who hates modern-dress Shakespeare but likes meandering through some good Australian Chardonnay.
