Review of The Normal Heart (2014) by Anthony D — 25 May 2014

It's unfortunate that important subject matter doesn't necessarily translate into a great film because given the hype surrounding this I expected a lot better. Fortunately the performances here are so stellar they're enough to distract you from the fact that you're essentially watching the same handful of scenes of isolation, frustrations and occasionally powerful speech play out over and over again.

The lead character's/screenwriter's belligerent self-righteousness (which rivals that of the most aggressive dictators) and the script's lapses into Monday-Morning indignation over people who certainly had every reason to be terrified of an unknown contagion certainly don't help matters either as both can be as distancing to the viewer as the screenwriter was to his peers.