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Movies > Films > The Dying Gaul (2004) WS R1 Retail DVD
added on October 22, 2007, at 15:27 by Tweetygirl

The Dying Gaul begins as a truly insidious tale of temptation: A gay screenwriter named Robert (Peter Sarsgaard, Boys Don't Cry, Shattered Glass) is wooed by Jeffrey (Campbell Scott, The Spanish Prisoner, Roger Dodger), a smooth studio executive who offers Robert a million dollars to turn the gay couple in his screenplay into a heterosexual one. Jeffrey also woos Robert into bed, despite being married to Elaine (Patricia Clarkson, High Art, The Station Agent). When Elaine starts learning Robert's secrets, the movie slowly and clumsily slides into an unconvincing thriller. The Dying Gaul has a variety of problems--there may be a way to make internet chat visually compelling, but this movie hasn't found it--but the big problem is that writer/director Craig Lucas doesn't recognize that an audience will swallow large implausibilities (like an alien invasion), but little improbabilities will make them stop and refuse to go forward. It's unfortunate that Lucas was so set on making this a thriller; some scenes in The Dying Gaul are startling and almost uncomfortably honest (Scott and Clarkson are excellent and Sarsgaard is outstanding), but they get swept aside by the brittle and uncompelling plot mechanics. --Bret Fetzer

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