Although this movie has its witty moments, and is an excellent showcase for the dazzling Angelina Jolie, who displays a dead-on comic timing equal to her bombshell beauty (think Janeane Garofolo but a shade less dark, perhaps due to her super-model looks and miraculous cleavage), Playing By Heart is handicapped by the following weaknesses: a) Tendency to easy sentiment, featuring two (!) characters with AIDS as cheap ploys to draw audience sympathy (it worked, too, at the showing I went to, judging by the sniffles I heard throughout the theatre (b) An absolutely horrible "performance" by "actor" Jon Stewart, ruining poor Gillian Anderson's chances at really shining (c) Mind-numbingly boring post-coital conversations between Anthony Edwards and the beautiful Madeliene Stowe in the single least effective plot thread in the movie, whose only interesting facet is not revealed until movie's end (d) Increasingly grating drunken histrionics from Dennis Quaid, and, of course, (e) A desultorily tidy ending that reassures the audience that love has conquered all for each of the 10 or so main characters.
Mitigating factor: Gena Rowlands was her usual excellent self. Also, did I mention Angelina Jolie's cleavage?
Mitigating factor: Gena Rowlands was her usual excellent self. Also, did I mention Angelina Jolie's cleavage?