It took Hollywood a shamefully long time to make a movie that has as its hero a gay man who suffers from AIDS, but now that it finally has, it's a stunner. What Philadelphia does with grace and, yes, even humor, is remind us that every one of the 200,000 persons who have died of the disease was someone's son or daughter, brother or sister, lover or coworker.
That seems like such a simple message, but as the film eloquently demonstrates, nothing is simple with AIDS. Philadelphia tells the story of a talented lawyer (Hanks) in the City of Brotherly Love who is fired by his white-shoe firm once the top partners realize that he has AIDS. He sues for wrongful dismissal, hiring a hustling ambulance chaser (Washington) after nine other lawyers pass on the case. During the trial that ensues, the initially hostile Washington comes to realize that sexuality has little to do with being a man and that discrimination against those with AIDS can never be justified. All this may sound heavy-handed, but, as directed by Jonathan Demme, only a few scenes play that way, mostly the ones in which Washington has to launch into boilerplate antigay tirades.
Above all, credit for the movie's success belongs to Hanks, who makes sure he plays a character, not a saint. He is flat-out terrific, giving a deeply felt, carefully nuanced performance that deserves an Oscar. Washington provides strong support, as does the rest of the cast (Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards and Antonio Banderas), but Joanne Woodward, as Hanks's mother, is simply extraordinary. From a scene early on where, well aware that her son has AIDS, she matter-of-factly asks Hanks, "Honey, how're your platelets?" to a scene at the end where they arc together in the hospital, she perfectly captures both the strength and the heartbreak of a mother who cannot fathom why her child is destined to die before she does. (PG-13)
Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Lauryn Hill, Kathy Najimy
Check your intellect at the door, but this sequel is affable, cheery, invigorating and warmhearted if not hot-blooded.
The plot is a predictable spinoff of the original. Goldberg returns as a Las Vegas singer. Mother Superior Smith and her acolytes Najimy and Wendy Makkena again dragoon her into the sisterhood, in this case to teach music at a failing Catholic high school in inner-city San Francisco. Goldberg has to deal with a stuffy school administration and a pouty student, Hill, who wants to be a singer despite the opposition of her mother, Sheryl Lee Ralph. The plot hinges on whether Hill will join Goldberg's choir in time for a state choral competition.
All sequels, of course, are sinners. But this one, not pretending to be anything more than it is, deserves absolution. Say five "Hail Whoopis" and see it. (PG)
Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Kim Basinger
Wayne and Garth are back and they're still schwingin', though with more effort and to less effect. This sequel about the suburban metalheads is crammed to bursting with jokes and parodies but lacks the loony sweetness that made the original a surprisingly endearing romp.
This time out, Wayne (Myers) and Garth (Carvey) are sharing an apartment (aka "babe lair") and edging warily toward adulthood. Then again, growing up for these two means, as Garth says boastfully, going "to a movie on a school night without checking with my parents."
WW2 has scant plot (the Doors' Jim Morrison appears to Wayne in a vision and tells him to produce a rock concert, so he does). It's harmless though, and—big plus!—Basinger, as Honey Hornée, gets to make goo-goo eyes and shake her caboose al Garth. (PG-13)
- Contributors:
- Leah Rozen,
- Ralph Novak.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
