Irishchatter I have loved Ryan Murphy's Glee since it first started and ended but I just think this was a little too overrated of the work he has ever done. Before you think I'm homophobic from not liking this film then you are very wrong, I accept all sexualities gay, straight, bi, trans, alien whatever. Its just I think Murphy is trying to compare this to "Long Time Companion" then be original. I found it wasn't his original outline of this movie and like it maybe wasn't a good idea either to have many well-known stars on this. Although I do appreciate Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Julia Roberts, Alfred Molina and Jonathan Groff as great actors but I'm afraid this isn't one of the best works they acted in.I'm really dissapointed that I didn't find this enjoyable to watch, I am really interested in what history taught us and the fact how aids back then, wasn't treatable as it is now. It's just a pity that this film didn't captivate and made me be interested in it. I'm going to have to say, I give this a 3/10..

simon-psykolog It is impossible to depict a historical event like this, where homosexuals rights where so ignored, in a more balanced view. No guilt can be divided. We know that society did not live up to it's responsibility and reacted too slowly as the virus spread and that this showed an underlying aversion against gay people. Many died an unnecessary and painful death.Ned (Mark Ruffalo) fights his cause against AIDS and in doing so is confronted with one idiot after another throughout two whole hours. He does so screaming, shouting, crying and begging to a point where I lost my interest. Representants from the government etc. are stereotyped big clowns and fifteen minutes into the movie you have figured this out. There are those that don't have the guts to fight, those who are indifferent and those who think that gay people are getting what they deserve.Don't get me wrong. My sympathy is undivided but I would have loved to become more challenged or shown some aspects of this period that I didn't know of watching the movie.To spice the story up you have the tragic love story and a heroic Julia Roberts in a wheelchair fighting side by side with our minority group./Simon

Crispy Cream Firstly, I want to talk about the haters. I read most of your reviews and I conclude that none of you have the intelligence to understand a film with this subject matter. One reviewer even went so far to say that Jim Parsons can't give a good performance in a drama because he can't show emotion. I think you need to not compare other roles he acts to Sheldon Cooper.The only reason I found this film is because I wanted to see Jim in a role other than Sheldon. I looked up his filmography and picked this one. I thought Jim was very good. He plays a character that clearly doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve because too many of his friends die. If he did, it would drive him crazy. His scene at the end though, blatantly shows that he's full of emotion and sentiment. I found his role quite touching.As for the film in general, great performances from many of the cast, excellent script and an emotional true to life story make this film a must see.Fantastic for a TV movie 9/10.Peace & Love xxx

l_rawjalaurence I found Ryan Murphy's production rather difficult to watch. The action unfolds in a series of circular movements, with the newly- formed GMHC (Gay Men's Health Clinic) trying to obtain funds from central or local government to combat the rapidly-spreading AIDS crisis, yet being continually frustrated in their efforts. Spearheaded by activist Ned Weeks (Mark Ruffalo), the group try every possible means to advance their cause, including television appearances, leaflet distribution, and installing a telephone hot-line. As they continue their work, so many of their closest friends become infected with the disease and pass away. Sometimes the pain of loss is quite unbearable: when Ned loses his boyfriend Felix Turner (Matt Bomer) in a hospital ward, he embraces Felix in a passionate embrace, while committed doctor Dr. Emma Brookner (Julia Roberts) affirms their wedding vows. In the background, we see Ned's lawyer brother Ben (Alfred Molina) vainly trying not to burst into tears.The activists' campaign to obtain recognition becomes increasingly fractious as the film unfolds: many of the members resent Ned's increasingly strident public persona, and eventually they decide to cast him out. Such a decision is not universally acknowledged: Tommy Boatwright (Jim Parsons) tearfully embraces Ned in a gesture of enduring friendship.What THE NORMAL HEART shows is the way in which the public campaign affects all the activists' live: it sows divisions among them where none existed before; it causes resentment as well as disillusion; and nothing ever seems to get done. In one telling scene Ned meets a White House staffer, whose sole aim seems to be to find out whether AIDS affects the heterosexual as well as the homosexual community. If not, then the staffer can feel relieved that his extra-marital affair with a whore will not be brought into public view.The tone of Murphy's production becomes more intense as the action unfolds. There are at least two dramatic set-pieces, where first Ned and then his colleague Mickey Marcus (Joe Mantello) allow their emotions to get the better of them and start ranting against the government, their friends, and their basic helplessness in trying to continue their campaign. Their friends can do little else but try to console them. Both sequences might seem slightly hysterical in tone, but we have to bear in mind the emotional and physical strain experienced by all the protagonists. This is the only way they have to let off steam.THE NORMAL HEART is an angry movie; based on a Broadway hit first performed over thirty years ago, it suggest that comparatively little has been done to combat the AIDS virus since it was brought to public attention. A series of sonorous title-cards at the end remind us of just how many victims there have been worldwide of the disease. Perhaps we need to have more dedicated doctors like Emma Brookner to continue research into the disease - if governments will permit them to do so. In a world dedicated to capitalism and money- making, this seems increasingly unlikely.