Playing by Heart

This movie which disappeared from the scene much two quickly deserved better. With some of the Academy Award nominations. being what they were, this one should have at least been nominated.

This was a pretty good movie, mostly as a showcase for the actors. I don't think it had anything fresh or particularly insightful to say about love or the human condition. Willard Carroll is no Robert Altman, although the movie begs comparison to Altman films, like Short Cuts, which follow the stories of various people in one city. But, I thought there was at least one too many story lines. The one with Jay Mohr and Ellen Burstyn was certainly moving and they were both excellent, but it really doesn't belong in this particular piece. I would have liked to have seen Mr. Carroll leave their story out, and beef up a couple of the story lines that didn't play out very well. The acting was very good, though, particularly by Angelina Jolie. I'm glad I saw it, but I wouldn't recommend it too strongly.

SOME SPOILERS It was a nice romantic story and how all the plots and the couples were related. But this movie is not funny, besides a few witty comments or jokes, it was not funny at all. I am a fan of Gillian Anderson and she did a good job in this movie, but sorta was wasted a little. They should of shown more of everyone besides 2 minutes on this couple and their story or 1 minute on that couple and their story. But overall I think it was a pretty good move. I would rate it 6.5/10

thats one of my favorite movies. I'm a great fan of Ryan Phillippe, and this film of his is really good, not to mention all the other stars that are "starring" there. That's a movie of human feelings and thus it's very touching, mostly because of the pain in some of the characters, but the good thing is that the movie ends in a good light, happily, something I like. I am glad to see that most of the visitors share my opinion as the vote of the movie is very high. The couples in the film were very suitable, Angelina and Ryan were a splendid couple, both very beautiful, and Sean and his wife too. I wish I can see them in more movies like this one, and I wish they look the same in all their other movies as in this one, because here everybody looks great!

A&E showed this movie and I was flipping around through it the first couple of times because I saw Angelina Jolie. I'm a huge fan of hers and I would only see her parts. When it came on at 1 o'clock in the morning, I decided to watch it all the way through. After seeing all of the subplots with the characters like Joan and Keenan, Merideth and Brock, Gill and Gracie, Hannah and Mark, and the rest of the cast. The movie's main focus is solely on Joan, Keenan, Hannah and Mark. The rest of the cast seems to just fill in the gaps to what those previously mentioned characters do not fill. The story was great though because you really feel for the characters. You can also see a lot of Angelina's personality in Joan and you're screaming to have Ryan Phillipe's character to just let go and fall in love with her. In the end though, everything is wrappped up in a neat little package.

Simply put, however after a dry and almost painfully boring 30-40 mins, this movie somehow came to life and shared some warm moments and pleasant experiences... All in all not my type of movie but, tastefully done...

... and the movie hadn't even reached its first half. I have to >admit I was tempted to follow their example. Need I say more? Some performances were good though. Angelina Jolie, Jay Mohr, >Ellen Burstyn, Jon Stewart, and Ryan Philippe did a pretty good >job (Madeline Stowe was a big miscast here) but the plot really >sucks! Funny? Hilarious????? No, not even close. .

Aside from a wonderful performance from Angelique Jolie, "Playing By Heart" is mostly a waste. Saying things about love that have been said (better) before, the film interconnects several different stories, most of which would not make a good half hour sitcom. Only the Jolie storyline is consistently surprising and entertaining.

I loved this movie! The cast, the dialogue, and the chemistry was perfect. I fell in love with Angelina Jolie's character who was wittingly funny. Gena Rowlands and Sean Connery were wonderful as usual, and Gillian Anderson was good to see in something besides the X Files. Jon Stewart was very good as well. See this movie with someone you love, this is not a movie for singles and pay attention to the dialogue, there are hidden messages all around. Keep movies like this coming!!