Love! Valour! Compassion!

In one sense, it was sheer genius for Terrence McNally to set his Tony Award-winning story about the friendship between eight gay men at a remote country house. By placing his characters in their own world, without a single heterosexual around to define them as "other," McNally allows us to see them as ordinary people with ordinary problems. Unfortunately, ordinary people aren't always particularly interesting. While the emotion in the film feels genuine--notably the relationship between two HIV-positive characters well-played by Jason Alexander and John Glover--the sensitive writing and fine performances can't quite compensate for the lack of compelling conflict. True, some of the film is spiced up by the most bare male flesh this side of a Harvey Keitel film, but the rest of the time, the characters sit around waxing philosophical and supporting each other like a gay Big Chill. It's more of an idyll than a narrative, a chance to watch normal people living normal lives in a pastoral setting. Normalcy, however, is a better social goal than a dramatic device. An optional purchase. (S. Renshaw)