While the friendship between a gay man and a straight woman
turned out to be the surprising selling point of Julia Roberts' starrer
"My Best Friend's Wedding." , "The Object of My Affection,"
is a less frothy and more honest portrait of a loving relationship between
room-mates (one gay, the other straight), almost reminding you of the quirky
television series 'Will & Grace'. Jennifer Aniston surprises you with a
mature, restrained performance.
I was particularly impressed with the scene where Aniston
and Rudd almost slept together. I think it was a brave move, considering that
it ,ight had viewers wondering why, if there was enough attraction to do it
once why there wasn't enough for them to be together, and it acknowledged that
a person does not have to be a strict heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual; it
is possible to be predominantly hetero- or homosexual but still have some
attraction, however small, for the unprefered sex. It was also a demonstration
of just how much Rudd's character cared for Aniston's, that he even considered
sleeping with her despite very little attraction (or perhaps none), which just
reinforced to me that his character was not just looking for sex in a
relationship. He was willing to do almost anything to make her happy;
fortunately, he didn't do "anything", although that certainly would
have made for an interesting plot twist.
Nigel Hawthorne does a brilliant job of portraying the
sadness and loneliness of an older man who must learn to tolerate his pretty
young gay protégé seeking out another man. The pain he felt at his lover's
betrayal was genuine. As was his admonition to Nina, "Don't fix your life
so that you're left alone right as you come to the middle of it.", came
from a deep knowing place.And thank god! there aren't any usual gay stereotyped
characters in the film.
The ending was a little too rushed and neat, but I am in
favour of happy endings; I just wished they'd gotten there a little more
slowly.
Rodney Fraser best dialogue in the film :
"I don't think one should be too hard on oneself if the
object of one's affection returns the favor with less enthusiasm than one might
have hoped."
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