Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I really like the fact Susan Sarandon and James Spader teamed up together because they did make a good fine couple. I liked the fact they had steamy sex scene's, it reminds us regardless of age, you will always find love. Now the reason why I gave this movie a 7/10 because, I didn't like how Sarandon's character Nora, was being a complete smart *** and just a slob. I would rather see the personality more calmer and more smarter, Sarandon should've been better off if she did act that way for the film!Apart from that complaint, it was an alright movie!

For me there really is nothing better than good writing, good actors and an interesting and engaging film. This has all of that.I won't go saying that this is a fantastic film, it's not going to be on the top 250 list with Shawshank, but what it does attempt to do it does very well, tell a compelling story about two lonely people in different stages of life from two different socioeconomic levels finding each other first for a physical relationship and over time that relationship deepens into something quite beautiful.Spader is a white collar ad exec who seemingly has everything a 27 year old would want, except he lost his wife two years prior and is still quite depressed and mourning her loss. His friends want to see him find someone new, but it doesn't seem to work for him as he just isn't receptive to the women he is paired with.He find Susan Sarandon in a bar, she's drinking and they start off awkwardly but there is a palatable connection that these two actors have that is unmistakable. A quite sexy (in my opinion) love scene occurs and in the next morning while Spader is trying his best to be a gentleman but still get out of her home after what he believes is a one night stand there is something there that these two wounded people connect on.The thing that I love about this movie is it's honesty. It doesn't go where you'd expect this movie to go. It is well directed and the story is quite compelling in addressing the needs to two adults to love and be loved. It's the theme of social expectations and the burdens they cause (rightfully or not) and the impact they can have on a relationship.It really is a shame that films like this just don't get produced any longer as it's nice to see good actors bring interesting characters to life in a very well produced slice of life film.

The year this came out, I was a freshman in college and, at eighteen and not exactly "seasoned" in the cinematic viewing experience, had not too long before saw Pretty Woman and fell head-over-heels in love with Julia Roberts. I would've seen anything(and I mean ANYTHING) she was in back then. So when an acquaintance--really, a friend of a friend of mine living in the dorms--one night heard me glow over that movie, he scoffed at that and said that it wasn't as good as White Palace, which had just come out recently, in terms of the love scenes and scenarios involved.That stuck with me for a long time, LONG past my infatuation with Miss Roberts, and when I would years later, read another(sadly,I believe the last)novel from Glenn Savan, the author of the book for which White palace was adapted, I was so impressed with it that I decided that if I had a chance to catch White Palace, I would.Just recently, I ran across a copy at the local Video store, and while I probably SHOULD'VE bought it(it was going VERY cheap), I instead rented it and finally checked it out. While I cannot say I was overly impressed with the WHOLE package of the movie, I WAS taken by the chemistry between James Spader(as a numbed, still-grieving widower architect) and Susan Sarandon(as a Burger joint waitress/cashier whose blythe spirit veils an unhappy past of her own)and found the interpersonal dynamic of the two characters interesting. I cannot help but feel that there may've been layers to the novel and story that were truncated(and thus shorting potentially interesting story buttresses such as Jason Alexander as Spader's longtime and newly married pal and the keen, palmist sister of Sarandon's played by the late Eileen Brennan)in order to focus in on the meet, date, escalation, conflict and resolution of the romance/relationship between Max(Spader) and Nora(Sarandon).Overall, an appealing, sexy story that might lack the "zazz" of a Pretty Woman or Ghost(the two biggies of calendar year 1990), but a very worthy--if not superior--offering in regards to a romance movie. I feel like if I ever spoke to that gentleman again, I'd say that while White Palace ISN'T quite everything I might've wanted to see when I was eighteen, it was a much better "grown-up" movie. And I'd say it DOES compare favorably.

James Spader seemed to only play characters who behave in off-beat ways. I suppose that if everything was normal, then there wouldn't be anything to have a movie about, but he corners the the market on creepy obsession. Anyway, aside from that the film isn't particularly bad. And people do fall for spectacularly unsuitable matches all the time. When I first saw this film, I was closer to Max's twenty-seven than to Nora's forty-three, and I understood the characters in a different way than I did yesterday, when Nora is now a young woman to me. She loves Max, but makes no effort to fit in in his world. She is too angry about the class differences. It was/is the way of the world.