Simply A Masterpiece

The acting in this movie is really good.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but personally I found this film to be an almost total embarrassment in every way.The father bursts in (TWICE!) on his son while he's trying to get it on with a new guy he's met. Is that believable? Hardly. It's the kind of thing that a ten year old brother might do, not a parent, especially a parent who is gay-positive and hoping that his son will meet someone and have a serious affair.It's almost as embarrassing to watch the father meet a woman through a dating agency. The two of them act like they are 15 years old... and totally unnatural at that. When he decides to propose to her he actually gets down on one knee. If it were done tongue in cheek, maybe I could accept it, but it's done straight (pardon the pun).This film also has the bad habit of having the actors turn towards the camera and talk to the audience directly. Once or twice, maybe, but over and over again it totally breaks up the film and destroys any possibility of allowing the audience to get emotionally into what is happening. The worst moment in the film is when the father has had a stroke and is lying almost paralyzed in his bed. The son goes to get something, leaving the father alone, and all of a sudden he stops lying there like a vegetable, smiles, and starts chatting to the audience. It totally destroys any semblance of continuity and becomes annoying as hell by the end of the film.I suppose it's nice to have a film where some of the parents are understanding and (too) helpful to the gay son for a change, but does it have to be so adolescent in its presentation? There was only one thing in the entire film that was truly interesting, and that was what happened to the grandmother and her lover at the end of the film. Strangely enough, it doesn't even seem to fit in, but it makes the loudest statement for understanding than anything else in the film. In fact, I wish the film had been about the grandmother and her lover... that would have truly been ground-breaking and intriguing.

Very good film on human relationships. The ways people take care of each other, especially relations between parents and children. Honesty, loyalty, comprehension and affection. The most important thing is love. You receive it as much as you give, sometimes more than you give. Compare relationships of parents and children : Jeff and his dad, and Greg and his father on the other side. It's not only making children and raising them by putting them to school, there are also comprehension and affection that must be given to them. Let them know one cares about them, not only reproaching, but also explaining. In a word, always talking and keeping things clear and said. That's the way to do. Unfortunately few people follow this way. Hope this film would make them change a little if they saw it. For some,lucky parents and lucky children.

The Australian film "The Sum of Us," which was adapted by David Stevens from his own play, portrays the close relationship between a widowed father and his openly gay son. Although the play has been "opened up" in terms of breaking out of the stage production's single set, Stevens has retained several scenes in which the characters talk directly to the audience. A gimmick even on stage, these actors' asides to the viewer intrude on the story and, in one particular instance, completely destroy the reality of the situation. When an actor addresses the audience, he is saying in effect "this is only a movie and I am only an actor playing a part." However, despite this flaw, which is a serious one, the film offers two fine performances by Russell Crowe and Jack Thompson and an often-memorable story of love and the search for love.Although Harry Mitchell, played by Thompson, is an incredibly tolerant and understanding father, he is the proverbial "too much of a good thing." In his seemingly endless desire to see his son find the right mate, he is intrusive, overbearing, and completely oblivious to his own meddling. However, Thompson is such an amiable actor and imbues the character with so much charm that the viewer, like his son, has to forgive him anything. In an early role, young Russell Crowe already shows his range as an actor. Clad in short cutoffs throughout most of the film, Crowe also displays his physical charms as well for interested fans. While his looks are not classically handsome, his appeal is undeniable, and, to his credit, he does not play the character of Jeff with any hint of stereotypical gay mannerisms, and he is not averse to displaying affection towards another man.Although the movie follows Jeff's search for Mr. Right and Harry's search for Miss Right, the most touching and haunting scenes in the film and the play before it relate to the relationship that Harry's mother had with a woman named Mary. The two women lived and loved each other for 40 years before well meaning, but unintentionally cruel, relatives separated them "for their own good." The separation of his mother and her lover haunts Harry with the thoughts of what the two women discussed on their last night together, knowing that it was the last time that they would see each other. On stage, the story of the two women brought the audience to tears. Related visually on screen, the episode will haunt viewers as much as it did Harry.While certainly not a classic or even a groundbreaking film, "The Sum of Us" is competent, entertaining, warm, and full of hope that the world is moving in the right direction.

I found that the father was not selfish, but rather very open and embracing of his son's lifestyle. The first time he looks directly at the camera in the beginning of the movie while opening the door, I played it back to make sure I saw that. Of course, as it turns out, the father and sometimes the son talks directly to the audience throughout the entire movie to explain their life and situation a la Malcolm in the Middle. It works and I found it very refreshing. Even when the father is incapacitated later in the movie, he is able to go back to normal and talk the audience when the son leaves the room. Yet somehow, I was able to suspend disbelief and was glad that I was able to hear what he was thinking using this movie technique used in Ferris Buehler's Day off.The father is extremely charming.