BAMPCS

I wanted to like this, I really did. It looked like it could be an ironic and sarcastic comedy about religion mixed with southern culture done in an intelligent way and the cast is really good looking. But no, they have to go for the kitschy, moronic and stereotypical jokes. Rote, formulaic, repetitive, redundant (I did that on purpose)... These people never left high school and are still holding grudges into their 30s or whatever age they are supposed to be. It's all about revenge on the prettiest girl who has had to move back in with her rich mother in Dallas because of her (now dead) no good husband. All of her former classmates only want to get their revenge on her. Then they go to church and try to embarrass each other there too. The husbands are mostly handsome and clueless (of course one is gay) and the wives are only concerned about their social standing and (of course) their next revenge plot. I watched the pilot and thought it had potential. But each episode has fallen into the same pattern what's being planned next and how is the plot going to be spoiled. You can watch 3 episodes and have had more than enough. Just a sickening waste of time.

I so wanted to like this film. It had an ensemble cast, good trailers, believable plot line and what do we get? A disjointed, under and over acted not quite comedy that doesn't even sort itself out by the end of the movie. How is Everett even remotely attracted to Meredith? Sarah Jessica Parker overplays the vicious bitch from hell so much that there is no way Dermot Mulroney's character could ever like her in real life. I hate to say this, but Luke Wilson was the best actor in this movie. I can't even write a good review of this film it was so cobbled together. Be warned, the trailers are very misleading, they are all of the funny scenes from the movie. There is nothing but uncomfortable drama left. And it isn't that dramatic. Besides Dianne Keaton and Craig T. Nelson, the rest of the characters remain sort of on the periphery and don't quite mesh.

I almost think I have to apologize for not liking this movie as much as the apparent majority on IMDb. Usually when a film generates the controversy that Brokeback did, I want to see it and usually "get" what the fuss is all about. Not this time. Yes, it is beautifully photographed. But the places chosen (Wyoming, Alberta) are inherently so beautiful to begin with, even I could have made a great looking film. Yes, you have two men whose love affair is forbidden by their very culture, but how many forbidden love plots can we have? The plot was not that extraordinary, you had to know one or both were going to die before the end of the movie. And guessing that it would be Jack Twist was fairly easy since he had the more "dangerous" behavior to begin with. I will give Heath Ledger credit, he certainly capture the quiet dignity of the cowboy breed and was able to combine it with the torture he felt with his sexuality and his loves. The squinty stare, the confident gait, he really got the true presence of who a cowboy is. Jake Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, seemed like a frat boy out of his element. I just could not buy into his character. I usually am s blubbering sobbing idiot with a death in a love relationship type of movie, gay, straight or otherwise. This one just didn't do it. I applaud Ang Lee, producers and writers of the film for their mature and thoughtful treatment of the subject, but it just wasn't that good.