With a perky, yet laid-back pace, the film chatters around impossibly smart lines, mostly cute. It carries on appropriately with the feel of a play -- the main character (Keaton) is a playwright. Nicholson is awesome as the carefree playboy entrepreneur filling his time with younger women -- until of course, he stumbles into the presence of this sharp over-fifty writer.

Swinging from one light-hearted zinger to the next, the film rounds up and climaxes substantially prior to its conclusion, at which time it unfortunately overstays its welcome by about 25 minutes. Other high-powered actors appear in very small parts: Jon Favreau and Frances McDormand to name two. You might be tickled seeing TV's Starsky as Keaton's ex.

Always surfing the edge of trite, but nonetheless essentially entertaining, the picture earns a strong B+ until the elongated resolution and predicted bow-tied ending. At which point the grade drops to a weak B+.

Though you might be disappointed that John Cougar Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane" neither opens nor rolls with the credits, "Something's Gotta Give" does have a fine score. Writer/Director Nancy Meyers says, "I think music is such a big part of movies. It seems sort of crazy that it's usually added afterwards."