This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

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.

The acting in this movie is really good.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I just rented this disc from Netflix ....I mention that just to assure readers it has been released on DVD and is available despite other reviews here ..... and it was a pleasure. Not all films survive the test of time. Both Leads are believable and the scenery is the third star of the film.

A lonely spinster (Maggie Smith) and an alienated teenager (Timothy Bottoms) meet in Spain, become friends, and then lovers.This film is interesting mainly as a curiosity, with a 40-years-younger Maggie Smith playing a romantic lead and cavorting in jeans and sneakers. It's a low-budget movie, filmed on location in Spain, that never quite came together for me. I didn't particularly like or understand either Smith's character or that of Timothy Bottoms, who plays her much-younger suitor. They are both unsympathetic and distant and the writing isn't very good. The first half of the story moves at a snail's pace with little dialogue and even less action. Their awkward romance never rang true for me and didn't touched me emotionally.Smith isn't as old as she's supposed to be and Bottoms looked older that he should, so they didn't create quite the odd couple they should have. The movie was neither a good comedy nor drama and I didn't care much for it.

I was thoroughly charmed by this movie when it first came out and have been recommending it for years. I can't understand why it hasn't had a video release. Maggie Smith is brilliant, hilarious and touching in this unlikely love story Gem. This movie is worth a viewing if only for the moment Smith comes out of a Port-A-Johnny with toilet paper stuck to her foot. Her physical comedy is unsurpassed. Timothy Bottoms performance as an angst-filled youth is right on. Bottoms, in my opinion, does not get enough credit for the wonderful actor he is. "Love and Pain..." is reminiscent of "Harold and Maude" though not quite as quirky. I hope we all get to view it on video very soon.

This heart-tugging April-August romance cannot be equaled for the lush Spanish scenery, excellent photography, haunting music, and courageous humor. A young Timothy Bottoms was fresh from his excellent performance in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, and Maggie Smith was in fine form portraying a spinster whose rose had lost its bloom. Her role is an excellent example of how a skilled, attractive actress enters a more mature, "seasoned" stage of her career. Both characters are slight misfits, fishes out of water on a cut-rate bus tour in the Spanish back-country who begin as antagonists but gradually draw closer. This is a tried formula, but in expert hands. It is a mystery why LOVE AND PAIN has never been marketed in any video format, or posted more prominently on the resume of either of its stars.