Livestonth
I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
ChanFamous
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.
Allissa
.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
mark.waltz
New York City, mid 1990's, the heart of America's theater community, a mecca for artists, and thus, filled with a gay population that is certain to be over the rumored 10 percent. For handsome Steve Weber, frustration with his sex life and lack of a romantic life, his decision to concentrate only on working out is stalled with a handsome spotter (Michael Weiss) who happens to be HIV positive. This at first isn't an obstacle for the somewhat neurotic Weber but when it comes to making it to their first date, he can't bring himself to go there. So what does Weiss do? Call him up and ball him out? No. Go to a bar and drink to forget? No. He cries a little, dances around the room to get over his hurt, but then picks himself up, dusts himself off, and starts all over again. But like Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli in "Arthur", Weber and Weiss get caught between the moon and New York City, and thanks to some very understanding friends (among them, acerbic Patrick Stewart), come to terms with their differences, all with humor and tears, and only a bit of pathos.Gay camp humor is abound here as you have Sigourney Weaver as a self-help guru (she can spot a homosexual and a heavy-set woman with low-self esteem immediately in her audience), Christine Baranski as a socialite hosting a "Hoe-down for AIDS", Olympia Dukakis as the mother of a transsexual lesbian (shades of her character from "Tales From the City") and Nathan Lane as a show-tune singing priest. Stewart offers both bitchy humor ("Does this scarf make me look like some gay super hero?") and wise father-like advice as he deals with his own crisis (his dying lover, a chorus boy from "Cats" who shocks Stewart by revealing he has no idea who Ann Miller is!), while a cigarette smoking Mother Theresa look-alike keeps popping in and out. There's wonderful sights of New York's Greewich and West Village (Sheraton Square and Washington Square) and a disturbing gay bashing scene (where one of them appears to be hiding his own sexuality), plus a starry finale that might appear over the top and unrealistic, but certainly every romantic gay man's fantasy. So this isn't a picture perfect adaption of a hit Broadway play, but it is totally entertaining and fast moving, one that may satisfy more for its moments than its total structure. The acting is first rate, although some of the performances are often characteratures rather than fleshed out individuals. This makes it a bit sitcomish in spots, but in the case of this film, that is not an obstacle to enjoying it, only a minor snafu.
nathanfrank
This is one of those movies that I confidently predict will wind up being considered much better as time goes on than the critics said at its inception. It's especially funny (and biting on occasion) if you happened to have lived through the first rush of AIDS deaths and the fear that engendered. This whole movie is a send up of that, and revels in the idea that sex and life go on even in the aftermath of terror. The Hoe-down fantasy sequence with its overtones of Busby Berkley and Oklahoma is hysterically funny. As for the acting, it's purposely broad with Patrick Steward playing against type, both in his role of Picard and in his many Shakespearean ones. Steve Weber is a hoot and there is no doubt in my mind that the other actors had a blast working in this flick. Many of them appear to have that "look" you see when actors are performing for their peers and enjoying every moment of it. The Pink Panthers moment alone lets Stewart shine. Are there flaws in the movie. Yup! The dialogue is sometimes stilted and jokes occasionally are dumped in rather than flowing from the plot, but overall it's witty, biting, and downright rapier-like on more than one occasion. All in all, Jeffrey is fun and worth an hour or so of your life.
maltcavet
This is the movie that I always say is the funniest one I've ever seen. It's funny because it doesn't rely on Ashton Kutcher or bad parodies or stupid clichés -- the jokes are tight, unique and, most importantly, have meaning. Any comedy that can make us cry at the death of a Broadway extra from Cats (the poor much maligned Cats) but have us laughing at the one man's desire that he feels he can't have, gives us a depth of meaning not seen in comedic film in quite a while. We've become to dependent on having comedies without a meaning, or a point, or a way of laughing at something as terrifying as the AIDS crisis. Sometimes we want to laugh at that which scares us -- it gives us power over it.
Guildfordian
This was a very well thought out, film and one that deals with a tough subject quite soft-heartedly, but at the same time giving it the gravity that it requires. The acting I found to be very good, with convincing performances all round and great kudos to those who took part.This film is IMMENSELY funny and had me in stitches,something that has not happened in a long time! I would recommend the film for that quality alone, however the fact that interwoven in the humour are also some very hard hitting scenes, the death of Darius and the attempted queer bashing for example, to name but two. Both scenes make one think what one might do in that situation, especially the queer bashing scene. What would I say if in that situation, the pain resulting of saying the truth or the pain of not admitting it? A thoroughly enjoyable film, I recommend it very much to fans of this genre! A real gem!
