LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION!
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1997 Scott Renshaw
(Fine Line) Starring: Jason Alexander, Randy Becker, Stephen Bogardus, John Glover, John Benjamin Hickey, Justin Kirk, Stephen Spinella. Screenplay: Terrence McNally, based on his stage play. Producers: Doug Chapin and Barry Krost. Director: Joe Mantello. MPAA Rating: R (nudity, profanity, adult themes) Running Time: 115 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
In one sense, the premise for LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! is sheer brilliance. Terrence McNally's screenplay (based on his Tony Award-winning 1994 play) deals with eight friends -- all gay men -- who gather for three long weekends one summer at a country house owned by Gregory (Stephen Bogardus). Arthur (John Benjamin Hickey) and Perry (Stephen Spinella) are a couple celebrating 14 years together; John (John Glover) is a misanthropic composer who has brought along his latest flame, a dancer named Ramon (Randy Becker); Buzz (Jason Alexander) is a flamboyant lover of show tunes. The real inspiration comes not with the characters, however, but with the setting. By placing these characters in a world of their own, without a single heterosexual character around to define them by their "otherness," McNally allows us to focus on the problems of these people as human beings. In this place, they're just ordinary folks.
The thing about ordinary folks is that they're not always particularly interesting. As sensitively written and well-acted as it may be, LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! is terribly short on conflict. Whenever McNally does try to insert some conflict, it feels forced and inconsequential. Gregory's partner Bobby (Justin Kirk) cheats on him, but we never really understand why; there is a quarrel at the dinner table which is resolved quickly and neatly with a round of apologies. Some of LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! is spiced up by the presence of most bare male flesh ever seen in a movie not starring Harvey Keitel. The rest of the time, the characters sit around talking and supporting each other, waxing philosophical about love, romance, social politics and mortality until the film starts to feel very much like a gay BIG CHILL. Whether that comparison intrigues you or makes you cringe may go a long way toward predicting your response to this film.
The most affecting moments in LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! involve the developing relationship between Buzz and John's twin brother James (also played by John Glover), the two characters with AIDS. Both actors give solid, multi-faceted performances, bringing humor and delight to the connection between two people who have assumed that it's too late for them to experience love. All of the emotion in the film feels genuine, developed with care by a group of actors who, with the exception of Alexander, originated the roles on Broadway. It is a warm and appealing piece of film-making by first-time feature director Joe Mantello (also an alum of the stage production), but that warmth is not enough to make it exceptional. It's not really a narrative so much as it is an idyll, a chance to watch normal people living normal lives in a pastoral setting. Normalcy, however, is a better social goal than a dramatic device.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 idyll chatters: 6.
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