Here’s a love story with a difference -- both of the lovers are men. Admittedly, this premise did not interest me, however, with all the awards talk about this picture – and with Ang Lee directing, I decided to have a look.

Though slow out of the gate, I quite enjoyed the beautiful cinematography: big cool blue sky, splattered white clouds, purple mountain majesties. And while an acoustic guitar emphasized in the soundtrack worked quite well, the actual scoring played more than just a smidgen on the hokey side.

As you well know, eventually the two leads cannot deny a certain emotional/chemical connection and engage in a sexual relationship. The Health Ledger character is a man of few words, and a good portion of those few are mumbled beyond audibility. Jake G. has only a few more words than that to add. So it’s really the special “feeling” between the two cowboys that this relationship relies upon. Perhaps because I’m heterosexual, I didn’t really “get” that feeling, so I didn’t feel an “emotional” connection with this film that pretty much relies on such an emotional feeling to work.

That said, there were two scenes where I did feel a strong emotional drama, coincidently they both occurred on Thanksgiving dinner. Those are great scenes. Unfortunately, combined, those scenes don’t exceed 5 minutes in a film that’s 2 hours long. Lastly, both of these guys are eventually cheating on their spouses, which feeds my sympathy for the victimized wives, not the leads -- so I’m furthered alienated from the film’s main focus.

Still, it’s an important education to learn the trials and tribulations of those in the gay population. Moreover, I'm left to wonder, how unfulfilling all the traditional man/woman love story movies might be for some of those in the gay community.

Free Signed Book Contest!