Great performances by Hanks and Washington. Touching and well made. The title song by The Boss is the best Movie theme song ever.

A

Exactly what I thought, the only difference is that I grade it A-.

Great minds think alike rink: (most of the time )

It's a well meant movie, but unfortunately not well made. Like the performance of Hanks everything about this film was blown up by the media and critics since it started the AIDS awareness. So as a political message this may be one of the most important pictures ever made, but as a movie it is flawed. It's not even the best movie about AIDS, that honor belongs to "...and the band played on", which was unfairly overlooked when it came to the big award shows. (C+)

Very good movie with an exceptional performance by Tom Hanks. Denzel was also good.

B+

Very sad montage at the end of the movie. That scene alone makes the movie so powerful. I think almost every parent can relate to that old childhood video at the screen combined with Bruce Springsteen's song

Demme = God?

Not quite, but close. Philadelphia was not without its faults, one of them being when the film world will have sympathy for a gay man without AIDS being involved. But for Demme, back as far as he was, it was extremely controversial and a big buzz in the medical world. The first mainstream, big bidget headliner to deal with the hush hush underbelly of HIV/AIDS, and all the accompanying baggage from unethical employees, social stigmas, and personal beliefs.

Its hard to do a movie that has little precedence, but Demme is quite well known for that. I liked Washington's lawyer the most. His hestitations with the case and confronting his own stereotypical behavior. Not fully embracing either his old self or his new client. His role is too complicated for such easy rebirth. POwerful performances all the way around, I think Demme must know how to encourage his actors to take the reigns and shine, as many of the 90's most recognizeable performances came from actors/actresses that had partnerships with him.

A-

B+


It is far from a perfect movie and it is also not one of Hanks' best movies, but it is still a touching, well-made, well-meant, even though flawed piece of cinema. The movie takes on a very daring topic and does well so. At times it gets a bit dull and too obvious and sentimental for its own good, but you can't help, but be moved by it.

The actors are great, but Hanks is a clear stand-out. The scene in which there is a close-up of Hanks' face standing outside of Denzel Washington's office after having been rejected once again is one of the best-acted scenes in movie history and it always manages to move me. Denzel Washington does a great job as well and many of us can see ourselves in his character as he is confronted with his own prejudices and his ignroance. He does a great job, but Hanks simply overshadows him.

The rest of the movie is interesting to follow and it sends out an important message, but it is these two performance that actually make this entire movie for me.

I recentlly saw this on TV and I must say it was a great film. Hanks and Denzel both should be applauded for their brillaint performances. Great movie, Great Acting, Great Story. A

A stunning performance from Tom Hanks and one of the best songs ever recorded for a film. A-

This is a great movie, its a shame that it is not as well remembered today because the AIDS scare as subsided. However, I feel this movie is top notch and has a lot more to offer than just two great performances but Hanks and Washingston. I love the fact that it states in the beginning, "this will not be a like a trial in the movies, there will be no surprise witness..." and delivers through on it, yet you are still invested and riveted.

I agree with everything here, plus what Libs said about the song.

One of the best and most definitive movies of the 90s.

The Neil Young song that played in the end sequence (plus the video playing on the TV) sent me bawling, lol.

Hanks is a lot better than the movie, which can be pretty preachy at times. The scene where Denzel rips apart the gay student.... eh.

I agree with Trixster, the film is annoyingly preachy, and often does not allow the material to speak for itself but rather smothers it with the blunt attitude towards adversity. This presence of blunt speaking and incredibly rude and unrealistic dialogue, at times, nearly ruins the movie. But that is the only real flaw it faces, and does not allow the frank dailogue as much freedom to roam and ruin as movies such as Crash and Gran Torino. The message is definitely driven home, and is frequently overstated, but the smooth hand of demme and talented voice of Denzel prevent it from becoming outrageous.
Outside of that the film is pretty moving. Hanks performance lacks much spark in the first half, and I was nervous that he was just going to continue slumming it the way he usually does, but he really picks it up towards the end. I couldn't make much sense out of what he was saying during the opera scene, but he definitely made me fell....something, and that whole sequence was very well filmed. Washington is pretty good hear, he doesn't excel or anything, but he plays his part. I really liked him during the court scene when he's accusing the lawyer of being gay, and when he's yelling at the gay kid in the drug store, he really handled that well and prevented it from simply being overblown garbage, which it easily could have become in someone else's hands.
All in all it's certainly not the best movie about homosexuality in society that I have seen, but it gets points for being one of the first to do it on a large scale.
9/10

+1

(Though I wouldn't be as generous with my grade...)