PLAYING BY HEART RATING: 7.5 / 10 --> Re-watchable
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Originally entitled DANCING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE (i.e. "Talking about love is like dancing about architecture"), but changed because it sounded too much like the recent box-office dud DANCING AT LUGHNASA, this film slaps together a stunning cast of Hollywood names, playing interesting and well-written characters, within a vignettes-styled plot arrangement a la Robert Altman.
PLOT: Follow the lives of several couples falling in and out of love, finding themselves, regaining a clearer understanding of the people that they are, and who they want, and appreciating the fine emotional art of love.
CRITIQUE: Charmingly effective romantic drama, this film offers insight into various types of relationships, presents us with interesting characters and excellent performances from the cast, and scratches beneath the surface of love and its many complex subtleties. How do people fall in love? Why do people fall out of love? How do people fall back into love, once they've been hurt and left to join the Lonely Hearts Club? All of these questions and more, are touched upon in this film, within several types of variant relationships.
Meet a hip, young couple going through their first date. A divorcee attempting to date again after her many failed relationships. A married woman "finding herself" while cheating on her husband. A husband letting go of his inhibitions. An older couple dealing with a past "love" of the man, a secret recently uncovered. A son dying from AIDS, joined by his mother at the hospital. There are many nuances to this picture, and many ideas and quotes to which we could all relate, but more importantly, there is diversity. Diversity of relationships helped me and my gang of friends enjoy this film on many levels. Some related to the younger couples' issues. Others with the married. There's a little bit of everything for everyone in here. And I would bet dollars to donuts that if I were to watch this film again in a year, I would relate myself to yet another predicament. Just like love itself, this movie is distinct and appreciated by all on many different levels.
The actors in this film are all also very, very good. Sean Connery is solid as the older man with some issues to resolve, as is Gena Rowlands, as the aging wife with trepidations. Jolie comes out of this film a star with a great performance, while Philippe is as pretty-boy as ever. Anderson leaves Scully far behind with her wonderful portrayal of a damaged woman trying to re-ignite her love life, opposite a surprisingly admirable performance by former talk-show host, Jon Stewart. Even Dennis Quaid manages to step outside of his overacting shoes in this film, and offers a convincing show of a man lost within his own imagination. The only piece of this puzzle which left me somewhat detached, was the part surrounding Jay Mohr, the man dying from AIDS, and his mother, Ellen Burstyn. The actors were fine, but somehow, the piece seemed out of place within the realm of everything else. The ending of this film was also a little too saccharine for me, but I guess that's just Hollywood. This film is actually a lot like YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGBORS (5.5/10) and HAPPINESS (4.5/10) in concept and style, but its complete anthesis in regards to character relatibility and likeness. The characters in those films were too unique and inhuman for anyone to care, as opposed to this film, which offers rich and believable characters, living real lives and talking about real issues in today's relationships.
All in all, this movie offers many interesting characters, talking and living genuine and engaging love lives, wonderful performances by its solid cast, too sweet of an ending, but an enjoyable and rewatchable movie nonetheless.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: According to a story in the London Sunday Mirror, Sean Connery asked for only $60,000 for his role in this movie, as compared to his usual fee of $14 million, because he liked the script so much. On top of that, he convinced his co-stars (including Gena Rowlands, Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, et al.) to do the same. This is director/writer Willard Carroll second real foray into the world of "adult films". Before this, he had written and produced many children's movies. Gillian Anderson stands 5'2. Angelina Jolie's full name is Angelina Jolie Voight. She is actor Jon Voight's daughter. She has trained and performed at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She divorced actor Jonny Lee Miller of TRAINSPOTTING (8.5/10) fame in 1997. They were married in 1995. Actor Ryan Phillippe's full name is Matthew Ryan Phillippe. He stands 5'9, and spent his childhood in New Castle, Delaware. His acting career started on TV's "One Life to Live". He portrayed daytime television's first gay teenager. Jon Stewart's full name is Jonathan Stewart Leibowitz. This film was originally entitled IF THEY ONLY KNEW and DANCING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE. Watch for movie posters from SWINGERS (8.5/10), CHASING AMY (7/10) and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (8/10) at the movie theatre where the characters of Joan and Keenan go on their first date.
Review Date: January 23, 1999
Director: Willard Carroll
Writer: Willard Carroll
Producers: Willard Carrol, Meg Liberman and Thomas L. Wilhite
Actors: Gillian Anderson as Meredith, Angelina Jolie as
Joan, Madeleine Stowe as Gracie, Anthony Edwards as Roger, Ryan Phillipe
as Keenan, Gena Rowlands as Hannah, Sean
Connery as Paul, Dennis Quaid as Hugh, Ellen Burstyn as Mildred, Jay Mohr
as Mark, Jon Stewart as Trent
Genre: Drama
Year of Release: 1999
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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