Unconditional Love (2003)

hyped garbage

A Masterpiece!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I was lucky enough to find a DVD copy in my local second hand store yesterday. Yay!!The story is offbeat and quirky.The cast is great, especially Meredith Eaton. She steals every scene she's in and what a beautiful lady she is too.Kathy Bates is one of the best actresses around. She's down to earth and believable. And what a nice surprise, the lady can sing very well.Rupert Everett is so good at comedy. But, he can play anything. I've liked Jonathan Pryce for years. It's nice to have something that I can listen to his singing. I have searched the internet, but I can't find where he has released and album unfortunately.It's just a gem that I can watch over and over and never get tired of.

I caught about two-thirds of this movie on an overseas flight and couldn't make head nor tails of it, but Kathy Bates was fun and Rupert Everett was in good form so I enjoyed what I saw. Then forgot about it (it was a damned long flight) until I read Rupert's latest bio and he mentioned it. So I rented it. And seeing from start to finish made me like it so much, I bought it.You cannot really catch the essence of the pleasure of this story in a basic synopsis. A settled-in housewife fantasizes about a "Barry Manilow"-style singer named Victor Fox, but then her marriage falls apart and Victor is killed and she sets off on a journey initially to attend his funeral but actually to find herself...and finds all sorts of adventure and a different kind of love and a new meaning to her life, en route. It's almost like a modern "Candide" wrapped around a murder mystery that isn't so mysterious. Okay...maybe I'm stretching in the analogy, but it's still a movie that tries to be more than just an A-B-C style Hollywood piece of nonsense -- that, alone, is worth massive praise -- and comes so close to working, I hate to say anything negative about it.Of course, it never hurts to have Kathy Bates at your center. As Grace, she is warm, accepting, stronger than she thinks and believable as a woman suddenly cast adrift after 25 years of a very safe and careful marriage. She's hidden herself in the guise of being nothing more than her husband's wife and mother to their now-grown children, and never realized how much she'd stopped being her own person. And Rupert Everett is in fine caustic form as Dirk, a man who's submerged himself in publicly being nothing but the "valet" to Victor Fox when he's really the man's long-time companion and is unable to openly grieve for someone who treated him like dirt but whom he still loves. Another lost soul in need of a new life. They play nicely off each other.There's a fine compliment of supporting characters -- a over-sexed dwarf with an attitude, a mild- mannered husband, three greedy sisters, a window-washer with issues and Julie Andrews in her take-charge mode. Had things been mixed up just a little more with some serious farce all the way through and trimmed by about fifteen minutes, this could have been a fantastic movie. Instead, we get a neatly laid out smörgåsbord of fun moments that don't really come together as one complete meal. That's not to say it isn't tasty...and worth the watching...it's just missing that extra dash of chaos to give it just the right flavor.Of course, that don't mean I won't go back for seconds.

An utter mess of a movie – practically nothing in the script works. The basic premise, trumpeted from the opening shot, of Jonathan Pryce as a superstar-heartthrob pop singer is simply unconvincing (especially as his voice is notably unnotable), the directing is schizophrenic (leaden one minute and frantic the next) and the movie is ridiculously over-long (the exposition alone takes 30 minutes before the plot – or Rupert Everett – is even revealed) – but the performances of Bates and Everett are simply wonderful, Eaton is eminently memorable (although she relies far too much on screaming, undoubtedly dictated by the director, for comic effect), and Aykroyd is terrifically understated and sympathetic.It feels like two different scripts, torn up, thrown into a box and shaken, but the chemistry between the two leads is palpable and it's heartening to see Everett actually act again (he's been coasting on charm for years). Redgrave has her moments too, but the only scenes that really satisfy, as sure-handed comedy film-making, are the two cameo appearances by Julie Andrews (diabolically skewering her own image) and the DON'T LOOK NOW red raincoat send-ups, which are worthy of AIRPLANE! – leading one to think that it can't be a co-incidence that this movie was co-produced by Jerry Zucker, who seems to have managed to get one or two licks in of his own.

I absolutely adore this movie! I had never heard of it when I saw it at the video store. I saw Kathy Bates was in it, so I figured it had to have some worth, you know? I watched it the first time just shaking my head . . . huh? Then it was the last scene and I found myself aching from smiling so hard. I clicked "play movie" and watched the whole thing again. It is without doubt the quirkiest movie I've ever seen. But the more I watch it, the more I love it. It's absurd and crazy and sweet and dear. Kathy Bates is impeccable, but the rest of the cast is fabulous, too. What odd characters they all are! The midget is just too funny for words. And Julie Andrews and Barry Manilow are hysterical. It's just an all around funny, fabulous movie. I get cravings to see it again. Whoever is watching it for the first time, please stick it out to the end. It's well worth it!