Product: Jeffrey [VHS] (1995)
Rating: 3.0
Cute, But Doesn't Take Itself Seriously Enough
The film is very obviously based upon a stage play. Many of the theatrical moments remain: characters speak directly to the camera; the action literally freezes so a character can vocalize their internal thoughts and emotions; the camera cuts away to show the audience reaction. But these scenes are also the movie's flaws.By breaking the flow of the story with these theatrical interludes and chapter title pages, it becomes almost impossible to really relate emotionally to the characters. Jeffrey's quest to avoid intimacy because of his fear of falling in love with someone who is going to die (aren't we all going to die though?) comes across as a series of Jeffrey-Learns-an-Important-Lesson vignettes, punctuated by a cameo celebrity appearance.Never does the story take a hard and serious look at the lives of gay men, let alone gay men living in the age of HIV/AIDS. Several moments are funny (and Patrick Stewart is wonderful) but it never seems to take off as a total package. Even though the movie is a comedy, the story needs to be believable, and I never once thought Jeffrey believed his own neurosis.