over-hyped melodrama

Rating: 5/10 (2 February 2007)

I like Annie Proulx. I like Larry McMurtry (try The Last Picture Show). I like Ang Lee. I like Jake Gyllenhaal.
So why didn't this movie live up to the sum of its parts? On the plus side, it was well-acted, and beautifully shot. I would have been happy with a docudrama about sheep ranchers, really, because I found the animals MUCH more interesting than their human counterparts.
On the down side...Honestly, if Jake had been a woman, the movie would have been boring and formulaic. And these aren't people I care about in real life, so I doubly don't care to watch them in a movie. Plus, they didn't age in the fifteen or twenty year span of the film, which undermined its credibility.
Now, if anyone reads this, I know I'll be flamed as a homophobe, but my love of "gay-themed" movies is what sent me to see it in the first place, expecting a great deal more than I got. If you want good "gay"-ness, try Torch Song Trilogy or Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which are about compelling people and their relationships.