Love! Valour! Compassion!
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Movie Reviews of Love! Valour! Compassion!
Movie Review: Intimacy of the Stage doesn't translate to the screen
Summary: 4 Stars
This is not a bad film; production values are reasonably high, especially the gorgeous cinematography. Terrence McNally's talky play simply doesn't have the same impact. Still, the cast is attractive, and each character maintains a sense of individuality. Most impressive is John Glover's magnificent performance(s) in dual roles. It could easily have resulted in some atrocious over-acing, but Glover keeps it centered and simple. His performance alone is the best reason to watch this film.Movie Review: 4 Stars
Summary: 4 Stars
When I saw the play it moved me from tears to laughter to reality. This is a big part of the gay culture that up to then, was widely overlooked. A group of close gay friends, couples & singles, who relate to each other with love, valour & compassion! The movie does the same & the cast, both gay & straight bring out the characters as intended! It is well acted, presented, photographed and told. For me, it's a movie to rewatch many times because the story tells the title. Well done!Movie Review: it is worth it
Summary: 4 Stars
this shows you the life and love of friends through two meetins at a house and what happens when they cheat and go off on there ownMovie Review: Boys In The Band meets On Golden Pond
Summary: 3 Stars
Terrance McNally's LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! was a Tony-winning powerhouse on the New York stage--but the same cannot be said of the play's screen adaptation, which plays like a yuppie version of BOYS IN THE BAND that has unexpectedly collided with ON GOLDEN POND... but without much benefit to either.The story itself concerns a group of eight gay men who meet at an isolated but lavish country house for summer weekends and who thrash out their various hopes, desires, and relationships in the process. In this sort of ensemble piece, where the story is more about people than plot, the cast is key--and in truth the cast is quite fine, with John Glover a particular standout in the dual role of John and James Jeckyll.
Trouble is, the gifts of the cast are repeatedly undercut by some of the most uninspired direction and cinematography going, and after a while it all begins to acquire a strangely superficial quality. I laughed now and then, I felt moved now and then, and I was occasionally impressed with some of the dramatic ideas involved. But when the final credits rolled I felt the film as a whole lacked any significant impact. The cast, however, makes it worth the effort.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Movie Review: "Some people do things spontaneously!"
Summary: 2 Stars
If only the director and screenwriter were among them! This film version of the Broadway play about gay friends who spend three summer weekends together is incredibly cliché, forced, and feels anything but spontaneous.
Old friends getting together could be interesting, but all these people talk about is being gay and it gets old fast. There isn't one line of dialogue that is believable or one character that rings true; they're too glib and there's no connection between them or with me. Jason Alexander does a good Nathan Lane impersonation but it's way too much and Lane is better. John Glover plays twin brothers, one a cranky sourpuss who desperately wants to be loved, the other a sweetheart dying of AIDS. Neither seemed real to me. The other characters were more subdued and tolerable, but they still perform like they're reciting lines; there are no pauses or nuances, their characters have no real love, valour, or compassion.
This MUST have played better on the stage, since most of the cast is from the play, but it misses the mark on the big screen. For me, it was tedious and disappointing and The Boys in the Band from 1970 is a far better film.