Just plain good

Rating: 9/10 (17 May 2006)

When I heard the hype about the movie, I believed it--that this was a movie about gay cowboys. So I didn't go see it. Finally, though, curiosity won out, and I rented the movie. Waiting until the kids were asleep, I stayed up till 3 am to watch the movie twice.
This did not strike me as a movie about gay cowboys. It seemed to me it was a movie about desperation, mistakes, love, regret, and loss that just happened to have two men in the romantic lead. It could just as easily have been about a man and woman in love, but not to the people they were married to. The point is that the actors, and though the women were good Heath and Jake made the movie, moved me so that I was involved in their relationship and pain outside of the fact that it was a gay relationship. Both of these young men presented roles that were amazing in their depth and believability.
I think this is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen, in that no one won, no one got what they wanted, needed, or deserved out of life. I recommend this movie to anyone who can watch it with an open heart and not with preconceived ideas. I have read comments here about the Conservative Christian response to this movie. I am one of those conservative Christians. I was not disgusted by the men in the movie, but very definitely moved by their love and loss.