Incredible bad taste from a Hollywood stinker

Rating: 1/10 (5 January 1999)

I'm not the type to be easily offended but this film left me nearly in tears at its sheer heartless bad taste. Jack Nicholson does his best, but the script is atrocious - it sets up a series of black-humour situations and tops them off with typically cheesy har-har Hollywood punchlines. I winced all the way through. For example: Greg Kinnear's character goes through a series of horrible ordeals: he is beaten up for being gay, his relationship falls apart, his career has ground to a halt and he is facing bankruptcy in addition to being in considerable pain from his injuries. He tries his parents for help - they reject him. Where does the gag go from here? Even his cute little dog chooses a stranger over him! HA! Big laughs from the audience - watch the mutilated gay guy lose everything he loves! Now that's comedy.