Review of Brokeback Mountain (2005) by Richardbuddenhagen — 02 Jan 2006

First, let me say that I really hate it when the hero gets killed by a deus ex machina.

In many ways like Million Dollar Baby, another Hollywood tear-jerker where way too attractive actors & actresses pose as real people in a naturalistic world full of artifice. I did feel a smidge sad when Heath found his shirt (though I saw it coming when the shirt went missing in reel 2), but mostly I felt that these two dudes were too mopey and existential to be real gay cowboys. I mean, unless I missed something, they're not supposed to be French, are they? They behaved like starry-eyed teenagers past the point (and age) of believability; as much as I could buy the first half hour of meet-cute and the last five minutes of human loss, the big fat middle was a dull TV message-movie. Did Matthew Shepherd really die for this? And brand me a stereo-typer, but (in my limited experience) of most of the gay couples I've met, at least one of the partners displays way more of a fey affect then either of these two stoic shepherds ever showed.