The Sum of Us

Jack Thompson (Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones) and OscarÂ(r) winner* Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind) star in this "fresh spin [on an] old heart-tugging plot" (Los Angeles Times)the overprotective parent's well-intended interference with an adult child'slife. "Extraordinarily funny [and] startlingly effective" (The San Francisco Examiner), thisaward-winning** film is mandatory viewing for anyone who's ever been a parent or had one! Harry Mitchell (Thompson) has a problem with his gay son Jeff (Crowe): Harry thinks he needs to finda mate! With a loving push out of the nestand into the gay bars of Sydneyhe becomes his son'sbiggest cheerleader. But it's Harry's secret romance with an attractive but judgmental divorcÃ(c)e that puts father and son at odds and prompts them to discover that acceptance is a two-way street! *2000: Actor, Gladiator **American Film Institute Award: Screenplay; Cleveland International Film Festival: Best Film; Montreal World Film Festival: Screenplay

Australia has no shortage of he-man actors. Tops on anybody's list would be Russell Crowe and bluff, burly Jack Thompson, neither of whom looks completely at ease without a pint of lager in his hand. Thus it's a brilliant touch to cast them together in a gay comedy--Crowe as an uncloseted young man looking for love, Thompson as his open-minded straight father, who's so eager to help his son find Mr. Right, he's actually a bit of an annoyance. The 1995 movie betrays its stage origins, especially when the characters turn to the camera to deliver conversational asides. And the one-joke premise of Thompson's unflagging enthusiasm for his son's sex life becomes almost as tiresome for the viewer as it does for the son. But it's an innocuous enough little movie, and the two actors bring their gruff likability into every scene. In retrospect, Crowe's future stardom looks blindingly obvious. --Robert Horton