Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
Love is Strange is about a gay couple who get married only to have their lives torn apart by it.
John Lithgow and Alfred Molina play Ben and George, an elderly couple who get married after being together for 39 years. Ben is retired, and George is a music teacher at a Catholic school. After the school discovers that George is married to a man, he gets fired. Without George’s salary, they need to find ways to make ends meet. They decide it would be cheaper to sell their New York City apartment and find a rental.
While they look for an apartment, Ben moves in with his nephew’s family and George stays with another gay couple. Most of the movie centers around Ben living with his nephew, Elliot (Darren Burrows), Elliot’s wife, Kate (Marisa Tomei), and their teenage son Joey (Charlie Tahan). Since they only have two bedrooms, Ben sleeps in the lower bunkbed in Joey’s room.
George stays with Roberto (Manny Pérez) and Ted (Cheyenne Jackson), a young gay couple who enjoy company. Since they don’t have a spare room, George sleeps on the sofa. And since George is sleeping on the sofa, he can’t go to bed until Roberto and Ted’s friends go home.
Love is Strange centers around the time Ben and George spend apart and how it affects them and the people around them.
Some Thoughts:
As Ben and George, Lithgow and Molina have enough chemistry to make you believe they’re in love. The heartbreaking situation they find themselves in is also plausible.
Ben’s moving in with his nephew’s family becomes a major distraction. Joey, who is forced to share his bedroom with Ben, is upset that he lost his privacy. Instead of quietly moping about it, Joey is outright rude to Ben. And Kate, who works from home, is often interrupted by Ben’s need for conversation.
Since we never see the family discussion about Ben staying with them, we don’t know how Joey or Kate felt about it. We also don’t know how close Ben was to Elliot’s family prior to the living situation.
George is staying with a young gay couple who party all the time, so he doesn’t get much rest. I find it odd that George wouldn’t discuss the situation with his hosts, especially since they’re already friends.
Love is Strange doesn’t address the passing of time, so we have no idea how long Ben and George were separated. Some type of timeline indicator in the dialog or a date overlay would be a welcome addition.
Joey has a friend, Vlad (Eric Tabach), who Elliot doesn’t like. When they get caught stealing books from the library, the situation is used to get Elliot and Kate to argue, and for Kate to blow up at Ben. After that, it’s dropped. We have no idea what came of it or why they stole the books.
The scenes where Ben and George get together are often touching. And when it seems as if everything is going to come together, you’re ready for an emotional ending that never comes.
The Final Verdict:
Although it’s great to see Lithgow, Molina, and Tomei in a movie together, they deserve a better film than this. The story for Love is Strange is poorly constructed and lacks emotional impact.
