The Sum of Us

Buy This Item The Sum of Us by Evergreen Ent  Available from Amazon  $19.98  on 9-23-2008     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. <I>--Robert Horton</I> Reader Reviews Twenty-something Jeff Mitchell (Russell Crowe) is a gay plumber and footie player who lives with his father, Harry (Jack Thompson). The two have a close and loving relationship and Dad is forever trying to fix Jeff up with nice men. Harry, a widower, misses being in love and tries a computer dating service for himself; the lady he meets seems just about perfect, until he tells her about his son. This is a very sweet father and son story, with Crowe and Thompson both convincing, sympathetic, and utterly likeable in their roles. Filmed in Sydney, the thick Aussie accents and slang may be a bit hard to understand at times, but they make the story seem very real and intimate. I would have given the film five stars (I did give it 3.5 stars) had it not been for the very annoying gimmick of having the actors break character and talk directly to the camera every few minutes. This was especially distracting when the father, paralyzed and mute from a stroke, suddenly started moving and speaking normally. I gather this is a holdover from the stage play, but it definitely destroyed the continuity; each time an actor spoke to the audience, we were reminded that it's only acting and we had to start all over in our willing suspension of disbelief. It would have been so much better if they had just used voice-overs or, better yet, skipped the narrations altogether. Since no story lines are concluded, this is basically a slice-of-life drama, a peek into a life shared by father and son. The sight of Russell Crowe in footie shorts is reason enough to watch this movie; his many fans will enjoy seeing him in his pre-Hollywood days in this simple and lovely love story.

The Sum of Us Available from Amazon Price: $19.98 Updated on 9-23-2008.

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