Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
Our Sons is a 1991 made for TV movie about two mothers whose sons are gay and one of them is dying from AIDS.
The film opens with Audry Grant (Julie Andrews), a wealthy businesswoman, trying to get in touch with her son, James (Hugh Grant). As she leaves him a message on his answering machine, James’ partner, Donald Barnes (Željko Ivanek), is being taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Later that evening, James calls Audry back and asks if he can see her. She agrees, and James visits and tells her that Donald was rushed to the hospital with AIDS complications. Surprised that she didn’t know he was sick, Audry asks if Donald’s mother, Luanne Barnes (Ann-Margret), knows. James explains that they haven’t spoken in years.
The next day Audry visits Donald in the hospital. While she’s with James in the cafeteria, Audry insists that someone tell Donald’s mother. Nothing comes of the conversation, but it gets James thinking more seriously about it.
A few days later, James visits Audry and agrees that someone should tell Luanne that he’s sick, but he doesn’t want Donald to know in case she refuses to speak with him. Also, he feels that it might be better coming from another mother. Audry understands and agrees to call her, but James thinks that she should do it in person.
Audry flies to Fayetteville, Arkansas and rents a limousine. She’s surprised when the driver pulls into a trailer park, which attracts the attention of Luanne’s neighbors. Audry is invited inside, and things don’t go well. Not only does Luanne not want to see Donald, but nobody even knows that she has a gay son.
Audry leaves and goes to her hotel room. That evening Luanne is thinking about her conversation with Audry and calls to tell her that she changed her mind. And with that, the drama begins.
Some Thoughts:
Our Sons looks and feels like a made for TV movie. The story is a bit dull until Ann-Margret shows up. This makes sense because Luanne is the more interesting of the characters, and Anne-Margret plays her full tilt. Also, it doesn’t help that Audry is the type of character Andrews has played countless times before; and Grant’s acting is so wooden that it strips James of any depth or emotion.
Although the movie deals with AIDS, it’s more about the mothers and how they deal with their sons being gay. Andrews and Ann-Margret work well together, and it’s fun watching them go toe to toe.
Audry is wealthy, has everything, and pretends to be the perfect, accepting, and tolerant mother of a gay son. This is an issue that she and James dance around, and it’s an interesting aspect of their relationship that the film doesn’t go deep enough into.
Luanne is honest about her homophobia, so seeing her come to terms with her son being gay has more impact because of it. She’s very no-nonsense and often says what others won’t. Both women see each other for who they are, which makes for some good drama.
I like that Luanne exposes Audry’s hidden-in-plain-sight homophobia. It elevates her character above the stereotype she could have been. It also brings out some of the nuances in Luanne’s character.
Although Our Sons is not a good movie, I enjoyed it. Anne-Margret knocks it out of the park and turns a ho hum story into something worth watching. I would have loved to see more scenes with Luanne and Donald, because the few we got were so damn good. Ann-Margret is the best part of the film.
And let’s not forget that the movie isn’t actually about a man dying of AIDS, it’s about showing straight people the dangers of homophobia without pointing the finger. It’s an important message now, and it was very much needed in 1991. And not only that, but Our Sons it does this very well.
The Final Verdict:
Our Sons is a story about unconditional love and the hurtfulness of homophobia that’s entertaining and non-judgmental. Aside from Ann-Margret, the acting isn’t very good, but she’s enough to make this movie worth seeing.