Playing By Heart

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Starring: Angelina Jolie
Rated: R (Restricted)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Willard Carroll
Studio: Miramax
Release Date: 1999-08-17
Running Time: 121 minutes
A sexy, romantic comedy about modern couples coming together in funny and unexpected ways, PLAYING BY HEART features an amazing cast of hot stars! Paul (Sean Connery -- FINDING FORRESTER) and Hannah (Gena Rowlands -- THE MIGHTY) discover that even after 40 years of marriage, they can still learn some very surprising things about each other! Meredith (Gillian Anderson -- THE X-FILES) is a serious theatre director who isn't looking for a relationship ... but has one looking for her in the person of the funny, persistent Trent (Jon Stewart -- JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK)! Then there's Joan (Angelina Jolie -- TOMB RAIDER) and Keenan (Ryan Phillippe -- GOSFORD PARK), young people searching for love in an L.A. club scene where the rules of dating seem to change every night! A witty, charming motion picture that critics loved -- you, too, will fall for this seductive treat!

IT'S ONLY ME, BUT:
THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT 4 MODERN COUPLES COMING TOGETHER AND ABOUT HOW THEY CONNECT AND HOW THEY ARE CONNECTED. ANGELINA JOLIE GIVES A PREFORMANCE THAT SHOWS SIGNS OF HER GREATNESS IN ACTING. JM

A Feel Good Movie
"Playing by Heart"

A Feel Good Movie

Amos Lassen

I don't understand how I missed "Playing by Heart" until recently. It is positively delightful and charming with a wonderful cast. We watch
eleven articulate people work through affairs of the heart in Los Angeles. Mark (Jay Mohr) is dying of AIDS and his mother (Ellen Burstyn) comes to his bedside and they need to talk openly and honestly. Other characters include Sean Connery (Paul) and Gena Rowlands (Hannah)
as an older couple. Rowlands discovers that Connery considered having an affair during their forty year marriage and she has to deal with it. Keenan (Ryan Phillippe) and Joan (Angelina Jolie who gives a wonderful performance) are two club kids looking for companionship in a cold world. Jolie shows great emotion in her role and together the two are a very "hot" couple. Gillian Anderson plays a lonely theater director and John Stewart is a lonely architect. The two play their roles with a chemistry that makes them totally convincing. Then there is the most ridiculous of the couples, Madeline Stowe and Anthony Edwards. They play a married couple who cheat on each other but we never know much about them, Last is Dennis Quaid, a loner who spends his time in bars telling stories to anyone who will listen to him
In the end all of the stories come together in a very clever way. The story has its weaknesses but the characters carry the film and the acting is excellent throughout. "Playing by Heart" took me quite by surprise as there is not a single dull moment on the screen. We do often see films about how to maintain relationships and it deals with the meaning of love and how far someone will go for love.

Much to like about this movie
There is a lot to like about this movie, for me chiefly the performances of Ryan Phillippe and Jon Stewart. Everyone in the cast is quite good, but these two stand out for me.

With Ryan Phillippe there is never a contrived or insincere moment. He's an actor who holds something back ... he allows us to feel there's more to discover about his character, some secret we can find if we look hard enough, something interesting. He and Angelina Jolie slip into a relationship that is poignant and romantic. I wonder what might have happened next.

Why has Jon Stewart never done another romantic role? ... he's engaging, likable, believable as a man who falls in love with a woman who turns out to be one of three daughters whose romantic entanglements, along with those of their parents, form the basis of the plot. He's without artifice, natural, real. It is our loss that Jon Stewart has chosen not to do more acting.

A nice little film, as good or better than so many being produced today. Released in 1998, it doesn't seem dated either in appearance or subject matter.

Realy Good
This movie was Realy Good. If I had to compare it to anything else i've seen, it would be the movie, "Crash". Which I loved tremendously as well.
Hey, it's a great film with a full circle ending. You will NOT be disappointed.

One of My Favorite Movies of All Time
Most of my favorite movies are music related: Spinal Tap, Fame, Grace of My Heart...but this movie was so powerful that it instantly entered my top ten faves of all time. I have never been so engaged, invested in or moved by the characters as I was during this film. It was realistic, yet unpredictable. I cannot fathom how anyone who has a heart could not adore this movie as I do. (To top things off, the Angelina Jolie and Ryan Philippe characters resembled me and my boyfriend to a T!)