Product Details

• Actors: Jason Alexander, Stephen Spinella, Stephen Bogardus, Randy Becker, John Benjamin Hickey
• Directors: Joe Mantello
• Writers: Terrence McNally
• Producers: Amy Labowitz, Barry Krost, Diane Conn, Doug Chapin, Jonathan Weisgal
• Format: PAL
• Language: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004CW1E

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The premise sounds great but the promise is never fulfilled. Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning hit about a cluster of gay male friends who gather several times one summer at a Victorian house on the bank of a rural lake never quite measures up (at least on film) as anything particularly profound. The story traces a history of infighting and changing relationships within the group, with the shock of AIDS slowly pushing everyone toward greater closeness and honesty. But instead of making an impact, so much of the film is trivial: dinner conversations are banal, tantrums are tedious, genitals are a little too overexposed. The two best and most familiar actors in the piece, Jason Alexander and John Glover, ironically play the most cliché-ridden characters. Still, Glover--who portrays British twin brothers who could not be more different from one another--is a very good reason to see this film. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Film Adaptation of Moving Broadway Hit, August 24, 1999

By 

Lauren ([e-mail]) (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love Valour Compassion [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I suppose I can understand where so many of my fellow viewers claim that the characters in L!V!C! are sterotypes. For the most part, they do fall into cliched perceptions of gay men...however one must bear in mind that not only is the author a gay man...he is a multiple Tony award winning playwright..one has to assume he knows that of which he writes. L!V!C! was a beautitful, tocuhing and laugh-out-loud funny piece of theatre when I saw it on Broadway, and it lost none of it's elegance in it's translation to film. The cast is superb...and for those who critisize Jason Alexander's performance as being one-dimensional obviously didn't watch through until the end of the film. Alexander delivers a rich, layered interpretion of the show-tune singing Buzz...and brings levels to the character that were left completely unexplored in the stage version. L!V!C! is one of those rare film that you can watch again and again because it has it all...you'll laugh out loud, you'll muse at difficult truths, you'll learn a little something about yourself and you might just shed a few tears. An extremely worthwhile film penned by one of the Great American Masters...treat yourself and view this film at the first oppertunity you get.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Your Usual, July 8, 2000

By 

"70s_hippiechick" (Rocklin, Ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love Valour Compassion [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I came upon the movie by accident and though my finger hovered over the channel changer I found myself increasingly caught up with the characters and their lives. I laughed and cried and thought it was a work of art. At first when I realized it was a movie about gay men I thought, "Oh no not another movie about AIDS",and indeed Aids was there but it only really hovered in the background for most of the film. The characters were quite believable and I laughed and cried and fell in love with this brave and intelligent film. The movie which comes to mind when I try to find a comparrison is, "Smoke signals" which is not about gays or aids or anything but life love and relationships and co-incidentally American Indians. I will buy this movie so I can see it again and I recommend it to anyone with a heart.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reality on the silver screen!, July 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Love Valour Compassion [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Who are we kidding? These characters are as close to real gay men in all their arrogance, vanity, and promiscuity as I've ever seen in a film. Yes, the stereotypes and cliches exist in the film. But what gay man doesn't display at least a couple of them? The romance between Jason Alexander and John Glover highlights how hard it is to find true and honest love in the gay world. It takes a man dying from AIDS complications to see that a lovable and worthwhile man exists inside of someone without a washboard stomach. It takes a a fat gay man to see the same in a man dying of AIDS complications. Who can honestly tell me that any of the other cuties in the film would've given either of the already mentioned characters a chance for romance? C'mon on guys, lets look in the mirror that this film is and ask, "If we don't like ourselves behaving this way, how can we change that?"