| 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.
 for adult language
and situations
|
