Review of Love Is Strange (2014) by Foxgrove — 16 Sep 2014

What starts out promising to be an unusual examination of old age between two married gay men soon veers of into a different area entirely by introducing sub text about familial responsibility. The film has an air of artiness about it which is undermined by pedestrian plotting and drawn out scenes which lead to obvious conclusions. Fine actors John Lithgow and Alfred Molina provide some lovely moments, but in all honesty both have been better. This is rather surprising considering the possibilities these roles afforded them. They come across as just to knowing. Only Marisa Tomei really impresses in what could have amounted to a nothing mother role. In her hands she manages to build bricks without straw and is quietly brilliant.

The film is also not served well by a score that tends to embalm the drama rather than eking out its subtleties. Following the demise of a key character emotions are evoked successfully, but the subsequent ending is stranger than the love story in this earnest little drama ever is.