In association with

Playing By Heart [1999]
from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
starring Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Connery, Anthony Edwards, Angelina Jolie
directed by Willard Carroll

Features:

• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

Playing by Heart is an amiably amorphous comedy-drama about a myriad of articulate and witty people pondering the meaning of love. It was originally titled Dancing About Architecture, since, as one of the lovelorn puts it in trying to explain the elusive nature of desire, "Talking about love is like dancing about architecture". However, with the way the characters in Willard Carroll's film talk, it sounds like they could dance a samba around Frank Lloyd Wright. This undiscovered gem doesn't have a particular destination in mind, as it weaves in and out of the stories of its high-profile ensemble, but it does offer some hilarious, sharp dialogue and quiet surprises.

Carroll focuses his film on four couples, all in one way or another battling with the problems of relationships, ranging from long-marrieds (Gena Rowlands and Sean Connery) to Gen-X club-hoppers (Angelina Jolie and Ryan Phillippe). Ostensibly, part of the film is invested in the mystery of how all these characters are interrelated, but keen viewers will be able to discern the connections among them all. It's the uniformly excellent performances, though, that make Playing by Heart compulsively watchable. Most striking, surprisingly enough, are Jolie and Phillippe, the youngest members of the cast who reveal heretofore hidden depths of talent. Jolie in particular increases her already-soaring stock as an actress. Equally impressive are Gillian Anderson and Jon Stewart, who transcend their yuppie personas in their awkward enactment of the timeless dating rituals. Other cast members, including Dennis Quaid, Anthony Edwards, Ellen Burstyn, Jay Mohr and the always-luminous Madeleine Stowe, are quite good, though saddled with story lines that are occasionally less than compelling. The only complaint you'll have is that once everyone's connections are revealed, you'll wish this cast had more of an opportunity to interact. The journey toward the film's bittersweet end, however, is marvellous in and of itself. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• A GOOD Chick Flick...? Eh?
  I wondered what made such a superb ensemble appear together in a single movie. Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, Madeleine Stowe, Dennis Quaid, Angelina Jolie... the list goes on and on, and I'm counting several Oscar winners and nominees. What made them all come together; money? Hardly. After watching the movie, I came to the conclusion that all these guys must have agreed to do this because the script is excellent. Good actors like to play interesting roles in good movies; it must be that simple.
  To be... more info

• its all about love be it new or old, dead or alive....
  An interesting movie that takes us through several different relationships as individual stories only to tie all the characters together piece by piece.
  Joan (Angelina Jolie) is an aspiring actress who has just come out of a relationship that ended badly and finds herself falling for a guy she meets in a club (Ryan Phillipe) who says he 'does not date' and keeps brushing her off. She tries everything but he remains aloof...
  Meredith (Gillian Anderson) is a play writer who has been burned one too... more info

• Warmly involving drama of lost and found love
  The film revolves around four relationships, all given roughly the same amount of screen time, and all dealing with the problems of relationships in contrasting ways.

  The older generation are represented by Paul (Sean Connery) and Hannah (Gena Rowlands) squabbling about a love affair Paul had twenty five years ago as they approach their fortieth wedding anniversary. It is a pleasure to see Connery acting a part and not playing himself as so often happens.

  Two of the couples Joan (Jolie) and Keenan... more info

• Timeless classic...
  This film delves into the range of relationships that people can have today. It examines the mother/son relationship, the family relationship and a range of others yet presents problems that people may not have suffered from a 100 years ago. Over the course of several evenings, this film follows the lives of the protagonists as they learn and play with new feelings and situations that may be uncomfortable at times but they overcome their fears in the end. This film is well worth a watch and then you will... more info

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