Review of Love Is Strange (2014) by Kathy417 — 05 Oct 2014

My husband and I were SO looking forward to seeing this film and just as disappointed. Were Lithgow and Molina in great form? Yes. Does this make it a terrific movie? No. I'm not an idiot; I appreciate movies that feel "real," as if the viewer had dropped in to people's lives at some important moment.

But, these particular people? Who cares. Afterwards, my husband and I went to dinner and got hysterical, trying to make sense of what we had just seen. Spoiler alert: Why would Alfred Molina's character NOT know the details of his co-op mortgage and why would his real estate agent allow him to make such miscalculations in the sale? Why don't these men have any friends of their own age? Why would two people who just got married, split up, albeit temporarily, for ANY reason.

They could have become pet sitters for affluent out-of-town New Yorkers, for God's sake. Why does an only child with no friends sleep in a bunk bed? Why would two boys steal books in French when they could have taken them out of the Public Library? And, WHY OH WHY would someone, whose life-partner has a heart condition AND one arm in a sling, stand and watch their beloved walk down steep subway stairs and go, by himself, back home, after having a drink? Puhleeze.

AND, any New Yorker knows that a rent-controlled apartment cannot be handed over to anyone new, unless they are a family member who has lived in the apartment for years and received mail there. Building management companies watch those rent-controlled apartments like hawks, waiting for the residents to die so they can bring the apartment up to current value.

What the heck? Do none of those details matter when writing a script? And, as we sat there, my husband and I came up with a number of gay actors who could have played these parts. Are critics too scared to negatively review a film about such a "precious" topic? And, frankly, having known and loved many gay male friends, where were their outrageous senses of humor? It would have kept this slow-moving film from being, ultimately, a complete downer.