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Sorry, this movie sucks

Admirable film.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Donald Barnes (Zeljko Ivanek) is a gay man dying of AIDS. He was thrown out of his house years before by his mom Luanne (Ann-Margret) when he told her he was gay. Donalds' lover James (Hugh Grant) asks HIS mom Audrey (Julie Andrews) to go to Luanne and tell her that her son is dying and this is her last chance to see him. This has Luanne having to deal with her homophobia...and Audrey realizing she has issues of her own.This was groundbreaking (for TV) when it came out in 1991. The HIV is not prettied up or toned down. It opens with Donald already in the hospital and his face and body is already ravaged. That aside though this WAS tame. The language is toned down--except when, in a rousing moment, Andrews calls Ann-Margret a "bitch". No gay slurs are used either even though a few moments in the script cry out for them. Also almost all the conflicts come to a neat tidy end that are mostly unbelievable--I never bought Luanne's total acceptance for one moment. Still it does have some well done sequences and Ann-Margret and Andrews are just great in their respective roles. Talented actor Ivanek is given nothing to do but slowly waste away. Grant manages (somehow) to completely cover his English accent and adopts a believable California one. He also nicely underplays his role. The movie also sidesteps from getting TOO melodramatic which could have easily happened. So, for a TV movie, it was very good but (almost 20 years later) it's very dated, the low budget shows and it is distressingly tame. Still, it was a wonder that this was even made and that Andrews and Ann-Margaret agreed to star in it. A 7.

In OUR SONS, Oscar winner Julie Andrews made her TV movie debut as a wealthy socialite who is asked by her gay son (Hugh Grant) to travel to the town of Fayetteville to find the mother (Ann-Margret) of his lover (Zeljko Ivanek), who is dying of AIDS and wants to see his mother before he dies. This movie shows all four characters going through a myriad of emotions as not only does Andrews have to deal with the fact that her own son is gay and that his lover is dying, she is forced into bonding with this stranger, who not only knew nothing about her son being gay, but now that she knows, wants nothing to do with him and seems curiously unmoved by the fact that her son is dying. Also complicating matters is a clash of social classes as Andrews finds Ann-Margret's character to be uneducated white trash who resents this wealthy woman's intrusion into her life, which ignites some very powerful emotions between the two women. Equally moving are the scenes between the two lovers. This movie is well-directed and acted and brings up quite a few unpleasant questions regarding homosexuality and AIDS. An adult motion picture drama that tackles some unpleasant subject matter but is well worth watching for the adult and open minded movie viewer.

ONe moment in this film I have never seen in any attempt to deal with gay rejection or homophobia on the part of two mothers, Ann-Margaret and Julie Andrews, whose sons are lovers and Margaret's son is now dying of AIDS. Ann is finally brought around and goes to be reunited with her dying son. At one moment in the film, she is in the kitchen with Andrews and Hugh Grant, who is Andrews son, and she is chittering away happily about being reunited again with her kid. She states casually how she hopes to take him back to Arkansas with her when everything settles down. Grant shoots Andrews a look of startlement, then blurts out, "absolutely not! He is too ill to travel!"Surprised, Ann-Margaret says, "oh no, I didn't mean before, . . . . I meant, . . . . I meant after, . . . " meaning after he had died, she would take his body back to Arkansas. She then dismissed the idea, seeing it had upset someone. This has never been depicted before or since that one who could dislike a child who is dying of AIDS could take responsibility of them after they have departed. A real slap in the face to those who think homophobia should always be condemned.

It's not the best AIDS or gay drama around, but it's good. The cast is great and the script, while being imperfect, has very good moments.The four main characters are well developed and their conflict with each other are very interesting.A very nice TV movie, but still- a TV movie. Nothing more than that.