Playing by Heart (1998)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

I have a love affair with ensemble pieces, and this film is no exception. As much a love letter to Los Angeles (which only die-hard Angelinos will appreciate) as a celebration of love, Playing By Heart follows the lives and loves of four couples in the City of Angels. Gillian Anderson does her best to resist Jon Stewart's elegance and charm. Madeleine Stowe, bored with her marriage to Dennis Quaid, seeks danger and excitement in the eyes of a nervous lover (Anthony Edwards). Gregarious Angelina Jolie presses her charms upon Ryan Phillipe, who rebuffs her for painful and personal reasons. Meanwhile, Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands play an old married couple discussing an affair that may or may not have happened when Sean wore a younger man's clothes. Throw in Dennis Quaid's own late-night adventures and a moving B story of a young man dying of AIDS (Jay Mohr, in an impressive departure from his usual smart-guy persona), and you have a rich tapestry of those who live and love in this great American city. In the end, a series of connections between all the characters are revealed, and while some of the tied-up loose ends are a little too pat, the overall theme of human connection itself is sweet and life-affirming. Watch it on movie night with that special someone you'd like to see more of.

Angelina Jolie is good (although she seems older than her boyfriend in the film), and Dennis Quaid nearly walks away with it too - they give the most nuanced performances, i'd say, with a script that skims over the surface of necessity, since there are so many vignettes, not giving anything enough time to develop.the scene when the theatrical director throws her new boyfriend out because she is projecting trouble ahead felt very real - it is a playing out of an instinct that some of us may know, and there are true sparks of humor between them, and it's sexier than any other physical relationship going on - but the drawn-out scenario of some of the others just did not ring true or matter: the older couple are not focussing on what's really troubling them and fill up the time with discussion of an old love affair - totally tedious! and the actors worked hard to make it real. the relationship between the mother and her AIDs afflicted son was well played out - but i felt they had to rush to get it in - but it was affecting and well played, well written. (it felt like stage dialogue which ordinarily i do not like in a film).middling worthwhile to watch in the end, (although i liked the scene of Trent in bed with a huge dog). altogether not very gripping - surprising that so many great actors were in it, and that the film received so much attention.

Romantic Commedies that are tried to be more on the pulse of a dramatic realism can work. This one didn't - at least not for me. It feels like someone is trying to have something to say about the world, no matter what age or social surrounding the characters come from. BS! I couldn't feel a thing personal there. If it helps, my girlfriend at the time liked it (therefor I gave 3 stars instead of one).Oh I just found out, that a comment has to contain at least ten lines. What kind of an idea is that?! OK, well, I guess if I had seen the film just yesterday, I could easily write more and comprehensive comments. Sorry, it has been a while.

The lesson I got from the movie: Love is caring about someone enough not to burden them with EVERY negative thought that crosses your mind; as seen in the movie. In relationships, you need to Play by Heart. But keep your brain involved too.Some reviewers say the movie was: adorable, cute, sweet. More like irritating, juvenile, typical, pathetic, 90's, 'down with men' C-R-A-P. You can spot a movie made in the 90's. I'm glad the decade is over. And I'm not biased. I'm even a fan of some of the actors: Jon Stewart, Gillian!(the reason I saw the movie), Sean Connery(this "role" really reduces him). I didn't like any of their roles. And I have no problem with romance, but this movie is pathetic. It's for people into self pity. All these great reviews mirror our pathetic society. The ending isn't ingenious as someone said - It would have to be your 1st movie to think that. We're simply not told certain things until the end....the interweaving doesn't add to the story...unless I missed something in my uninvolved state.