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Just perfect...

Expected more

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Paul (Sean Connery) and Hannah (Gena Rowlands) are doing a TV cooking show as the past comes back to haunt them. Gunshy playwright Meredith (Gillian Anderson) accepts a date from architect Trent (Jon Stewart). Mark (Jay Mohr) is gay and dying of AIDS. His mother Mildred (Ellen Burstyn) comes to his deathbed. Trendy club goer Joan (Angelina Jolie) tries to attract Keenan (Ryan Phillippe). Roger (Anthony Edwards) and Gracie (Madeleine Stowe) are an adulterous couple. Hugh (Dennis Quaid) tells tragic life stories to women (Patricia Clarkson, Kellie Waymire) in bars. The various stories and characters connect as they wind up in one family wedding.Written and directed by Willard Carroll, this is a fragmented movie. There are some great actors working on this film. I really love the wild energy from Angelina Jolie. Some stories are more compelling than others. That's the nature of this kind of movie. It's a constant up and down viewing experience. I'm eager to see a few of the stories, but others drag. A couple of the stories could be cut to make space to expand the other stories. It would also be better for those characters and the emotions to play out more. The connection in the end is nothing but an exercise in writing. With the acting power gathered in this movie, there is bound to be someone in the movie for everybody.

I believe this is the third time I'm watching this movie - haven't seen it in years. If you like movies in the "multiple storyline" form of "Short Cuts" and "Magnolia", where lots of stories are told in parallel and finally meet, then you're gonna love this movie. Unsurprisingly, the highlights of the movie are the scenes with Ellen Burstyn (made me cry more than once) and Gena Rowlands & Sean Connery, but you can't expect less than fantastic actors like these, given a good script. Dennis Quaid is also good in his role. The Angelina Jolie story was OK - Jolie is overacting but she's OK in her role. I would have cut the entire Gillian Anderson story - I don't know if it's the story that's weak or Gillian Anderson's acting (probably the latter), but something doesn't work for me there. Also, Madeleine Stowe is beautiful, but her story is just minor and not very interesting.

The relationship between Angelina Jolie and Ryan Phillippe is one of the top 5 best relationships in the last 40 years and carries the film. Mohr and Burnstyn should a special amount of "growth" in a relationship that has little time.This is a relationship movie, and deals with people needing to accept people for who they are, to be patient and understanding to what has made people the way they are. I enjoyed discovering the about the relationships as the movie went along. Kudos to Dennis Quaid for playing a searching personality that does not come across as the suave macho lead. If you like Jon Stewart this you have fun watching him act. There is something for everyone and everyone may find themselves in one of the characters and hopefully grow from the experience.

The lesson I got from the movie: Love is caring about someone enough not to burden them with EVERY negative thought that crosses your mind; as seen in the movie. In relationships, you need to Play by Heart. But keep your brain involved too.Some reviewers say the movie was: adorable, cute, sweet. More like irritating, juvenile, typical, pathetic, 90's, 'down with men' C-R-A-P. You can spot a movie made in the 90's. I'm glad the decade is over. And I'm not biased. I'm even a fan of some of the actors: Jon Stewart, Gillian!(the reason I saw the movie), Sean Connery(this "role" really reduces him). I didn't like any of their roles. And I have no problem with romance, but this movie is pathetic. It's for people into self pity. All these great reviews mirror our pathetic society. The ending isn't ingenious as someone said - It would have to be your 1st movie to think that. We're simply not told certain things until the end....the interweaving doesn't add to the story...unless I missed something in my uninvolved state.