An epic love story, set against the sweeping landscapes of Wyoming and Texas, that tells the story of two young men--a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy--who meet in the summer of 1963 while driving cattle on a mountain range. They unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love.

This is one of those movies that is really hard to review because at some point you need to step back and be very objective and separate any issues you may have regarding homosexuality with the film you are seeing. The movie is interesting in that point that it does do what no one else has done and it writes a love story about two men rather than the traditional norm. My problem with the movie was never that it was about two men but rather that it uses it to mask the fact that there is little to no plot nor story the entire movie Everything you need to know about the movie is introduced in the first twenty or so odd minutes of the film and from that point on nothing happens. Neither character changes, no issues or conflicts are resolved and nothing new or interesting is introduced. Up until the very end Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are the same characters and they never accept the reality that they are in. Did I hate the movie, no but neither was I that interested in it nor did I feel leaving the theatre that I saw anything that had changed me in the slightest way. I was cheering for Jake and Heath to get together, they did not need to change the world just each other and the worlds they lived in. The movie was mediocre and again this was masked by the fact that it tackled issues most people shy away from.

If there was one thing I loved about this movie it was the score. The score was moving and breath taking, the score got you more involved in the characters and the movie than either of the actors ever did. I think the score made the love real and helped do what neither actor could and that is to help you see the anguish of not being able to love whom you want to love. If anything that is the movie, the ability to love the ones we want to love and the ability to make such a reality possible. The score was composed by Gustavo Santaolalla whom I had never heard of before but simply put what he did was amazing. When the music of the film can make you see the emotion of the film and feel for the characters, I doubt there is any greater praise you can heap at that composers feet. I would say your almost better off buying the soundtrack than seeing the movie but then you wouldn’t understand what Gustavo Santaolalla is trying to make you understand.

What you need to know about Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger’s characters is introduced pretty early and since neither changes in the course of the film it is all you ever really get out of them. Jake Gyllenhaal is the aggressor he knows what he wants and he goes for it, it is his character that feels the most anguish because he can accept his reality and he can never make Ledger change his so that they can be happy. The best line of the film is “why can’t I quit you,” because it almost becomes the best thing that could happen for either character. Ledger sums up his character in one line “I ain’t no queer,” and since he can never truly accept he may be one and that he may be happier with Jake rather than going through the motions of being straight nothing is ever resolved. So with no changes to either character it’s hard for me to say either did that good of a job acting, all I had to do is accept them as a couple and in love and I was done with both of them. The inexplicable thing for me is what the heck was in Heath Ledger’s mouth the entire movie; it was as if he was a chipmunk storing walnuts in his cheek for the winter thereby making every line he uttered in the movie inaudible. Near the end I even stopped trying to decipher what he was saying and just listened to that beautiful score which said more about the movie than either actor ever did. Would I suggest the movie to you, maybe, it does introduce an idea that love does not see race nor creed nor sex but it doesn’t it despite itself and despite the fact that the movie was mediocre.
2.5 stars out of 5