Product: Jeffrey [VHS] (1995)
Rating: 4.0
"Just think of AIDS as the guest that won't leave."
In 1995, the light-hearted comedy named "Jeffrey", which examines the troubled life of a fictional gay man named Jeffrey (Steven Weber), was released to theaters. Living in NYC, Jeffrey makes the unusual decision to become celibate due to his fear of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The gay couple of Sterling (Patrick Stewart) and Darius (Bryan Batt) befriend Jeffrey and introduce him to a single guy named Steve Howard (Michael T. Weiss), but Jeffrey is afraid to get involved with Steve because Steve has HIV. Along the way, an assortment of different people attempt to help Jeffrey, including the psychologist Debra Moorhouse (Sigourney Weaver), Mother Teresa (Irma St. Paule), his father (Peter Maloney), his mother (Debra Monk) and Father Dan (Nathan Lane). Other interesting characters include Acolyte (Kathy Najimy), Mrs. Marcangelo (Olympia Dukakis) and her son Angelique (Gregory Jbara).The two best performances in the film were those of Patrick Stewart and Nathan Lane. Also very good were those of Bryan Batt, Michael T. Weiss and Olympia Dukakis. Sigourney Weaver, Kathy Najimy and Gregory Jbara were also very entertaining. Unfortunately, the least memorable performance was that of Steven Weber (who is best remembered as the character Brian Michael Hackett in the 1990-1997 TV sit-com "Wings") as his portrayal of Jeffrey was rather wooden. The most memorable scenes in the film include the telephone call with Jeffrey's parents, the church, the parade and the hospital.Overall, I rate "Jeffrey" with 4 out of 5 stars. It's not a great film, but it is very entertaining.