What’s even stranger is the excellent reviews this film received! The movie has a 97% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes! It stars John Lithgow, Alfred Molina and Marisa Tomei so how bad could it be? Just call me crazy but I think it’s pretty bad. Although only 98 minutes in length it seemed like 3 hours to me. I would rather watch paint dry than see this movie again!
Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Albert Molina) have been lovers for 29 years. They can now legally get married in New York so they decide to do so. Their friends and relatives are joyous.
Ben is an anxious and mildly depressed artist who doesn’t earn much if any money from his paintings. George is the breadwinner earning money from giving private piano lessons and serving as the Choir Director for a Catholic school. Unfortunately, once they are officially “out” as a gay couple the Catholic school fires George, which forces the couple to sell their co-op, subsequently requiring them to live separately. Ben moves in with his nephew and his wife (Kate-Marisa Tomei) and George starts living with a gay couple. (This may seem like I am giving away too much of the plot but all this takes place in the first 15 minutes and merely sets up the circumstances for the movie.)
The film explores what happens to Ben and George individually, their relationship, and their family and friends once they start living apart. Too bad that what happens isn’t very interesting or emotionally compelling. There is no growth or evolution of any of the main characters. There is no conflict within any of the main characters to resolve.
The acting is excellent from the three lead actors as one would expect but good acting needs at least a decent script to make a movie worth seeing. Unless you are a huge fan of Lithgow, Molina or Tomei, I would pass.
Rating-6.0-Avoid
Dave
