Awful film that should have had a different ending [Spoiler]

I think what made this movie so awful was the performance of John Shea. The main criticism I think is that it was unconvincing. The role required of Shea to play a kind of lovable but "mysterious" schmuck who was deeply affected by Beatty's lifestyle. His performance of such a character was way too affected and forced. Beyond that he didn't come across as someone who even a hussy would become devoted to. I saw no good reason for her to become entangled in his life, even despite that he romped around with her boy, seeing as how all that was pretty weird anyway. And finally, the ending was laughable. It would have made more sense had it ended with their separation. I did like the concept that the boy conceded he would be ok with the move based merely on "because I said so", though perhaps it was somewhat unrealistic, but that she had to resort to "because I said so" I took to signify that she was acting in a cowardly manner and otherwise showed weakness in yielding to the "advice" of Emory, who was truly being obnoxious and certainly not one she would want to share her life with. Besides, the motivations being used were pretty base. (Note, I also concede that there would be problems were the ending different, but I fault the film-makers here in the way the predicament was set up and in how the choices were presented.)

There are many other faults as well, too numerous to spell out in this post, and I'd give this one a 3/10, that high only because of the performances of Mirren and some of the supporting actors.

James