Review of The Normal Heart (2014) by Edmund C — 25 Jul 2014

I read about it when it swept up Emmy nominations recently.. and decided to watch. Wow, lots of outbursts and shouting, especially by Mark Ruffalo's Ned Weeks character! Ned is volatile, flawed, passionate, and compelled to be.

Very good of the producers to highlight this part of early AIDS activism we hardly knew about (1981-1984). Every actor does get a juicy dramatic scene, including Julia Roberts and Joe Mantello. Alfred Molina and Taylor Kitsch are also in here, and I read that Chris Pine also wanted to be in.

Ruffalo's gay portrayal, though clinically executed and excellent, somehow didn't really chime with me. But.. a good watch :).