In the opening scene of Playing By Heart (**), one character tells the story of a musician friend that once profoundly said, `Talking about love is like dancing about architecture.' The next two hours, which are totally devoted to talking about love, are more like having an Acme safe repeatedly dropped on your head.
Like a Robert Altman film, Heart's story is compromised of several vignettes about seemingly unrelated people that all end up being connected in some way as the picture ends. The trouble is that writer/director Willard Carroll is not Robert Altman. Instead, he has created some of the most annoying characters this side of Hurlyburly. Everyone is a whiny, shallow mope, which, despite the fantastic cast, makes it hard to sympathize with even one of them.
Here's a quick breakdown of the losers:
Paul (Sean Connery) an annoying old codger with a brain tumor who is about to celebrate his 40th wedding anniversary to
Hannah (Gena Rowlands) Paul's annoying wife who still can't shake the idea that her husband had an affair 25 years ago.
Gracie (Madeline Stowe) an annoying hussy that cheats on her husband with
Roger (Anthony Edwards) an annoying guy who feels guilty about cheating on his wife.
Trent (Jon Stewart) an annoying but successful architect that falls for
Meredith (Gillian Anderson) an annoying divorcee who lost her husband to another man.
Keenan (Ryan Phillippe) an annoying blue-headed shy club-hopper that finds himself inexplicably pursued by
Joan (Angelina Jolie) an annoying aspiring actress that can't seem to shut up.
Hugh (Dennis Quaid) an annoying drunk that tries to seduce Patricia Clarkson, Nastassja Kinski and a drag queen with three different lies.
Mildred (Ellen Burstyn) an annoying mother that has just traveled across the country to see her son
Mark (Jay Mohr) an annoying bedridden guy that is dying of AIDS.
Okay, they aren't all that annoying, but I'm not too far off. Jolie is actually very good as the peppy Joan (she was honored by the National Society of Film Critics for this role) and Phillippe shows some actual depth and range after his summer debacle 54 (which I thought may have been his I.Q. before seeing him in this film).
I don't know if this applies to everyone, but I found myself able to relate only to characters that were close to my age (somewhere between Keenan/Joan and Trent/Meredith, but closer to the former than the latter). But once the focus shifted to the older folks, my focus shifted to the insides of my eyelids.
http://home.eznet.net/~jpopick/
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