If you’re looking for a gut-wrenching tale of repressed love between two men, try Clive Owen’s Bent, because if you go into Brokeback Mountain expecting the epic gay love story to end all epic gay love stories, you’ll be disappointed.
The highly-anticipated festival circuit pleaser has all the makings of an epic tear-jerker – Oscar winning director Ang Lee Terms of Endearment, scribe Larry McMurtry, a New Yorker published, award winning short story, two certified pretty boys Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger and gay cowboys in rural 1960s Wyoming. But Brokeback is hardly the epic it purports to be. It is, instead, a well-intentioned love story that falls just short of greatness.
The first half is dry and the actors lack chemistry – while they may be ripping each other’s clothes off, making out looks like the last thing they want to do. Some will say the actors’ repressed emotions are in service of characterization, but take it from someone who has seen a lot of straight actors play repressed gay men, Ledger’s stiffness with Gyllenhaal is in service of only his discomfort and limited range as an actor.
Despite the male-centric feel of the story, it is the women who shine; Michelle Williams in particular, showing the real emotional ramifications of dutifully playing husband instead of following your heart.
– Alexa DeGennaro
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