A Very Serious Person

A VERY SERIOUS PERSON is a tight little film with a fine story, solid cast and enough thoughts about connecting isolated individuals to make the movie both entertaining and touching. Spanning the ages from young teenagers to middle age to elderly, each focusing on basically needy souls trying to find solid ground, writer (with Carl Andress)/director/actor Charles Busch has developed an ensemble effect in casting just the right actors to relate his ideas.

As a summer for consolation for the elderly ill Mrs. Aronson (Polly Bergen, reminding us what a fine performer she is!) has requested that her 13-year-old grandson Gil (P.J. Verhoest), whose parents are deceased, come live with her on the Jersey shore. Mrs. A is known for being a difficult patient, going through live-in nurses like wildfire, and living with her trusty housekeeper Betty (veteran actress Dana Ivey), but she is in for a surprise when young Gil moves in - a slightly feminine lad with a penchant for old Hollywood movies, writing grand stories about great heroines, dressing like Marie Antoinette, and refusing to learn swimming or any outdoor activities in favor of watching 'Gone with the Wind' whenever possible.

Into this household enters the latest 'nurse', a gay Danish ex-dancer Jan (Charles Busch) who by admission is 'a very serious person' - obsessive compulsive in his care for Mrs. A, coping with the flustered Betty, and rarely smiling at the antics of the overpowering Gil. Each of these three rather glitzy people is lonely, and each in his/her own way wants acceptance and love. The story is how the three learn from each other, give and take, and find the niche that proves the summer was not wasted.

Busch draws marvelous performances from Bergen, Verhoest, and Ivey as well as creating lovable side characters: the outrageous gay hairdresser (Carl Andress) and his associate (Alexa Eisenstein), Jan's love interest (Simon Fortin) among others. The growing relationship between Jan and Gil provides a platform for some serious issues about accepting sexuality and the interaction of all the characters on the failing Mrs. A is warmly managed. This is a comedy with an edge and above all it is a solidly entertaining movie. Grady Harp

I really did my best trying to watch this movie, but after one hour I decided that there are better things I can do than continue wasting my time. Childish jokes, unlikely characters and situations, disgustingly gross scenes here and there... Watch at your own risk.

An example of all of the worst gay stereotypes all in one movie.

And Charles, why do you speak in that weird pseudo British/high-brow accent, and insist that the kid speak that way too? Did anyone else notice that all of the soundtrack music is exactly the same? You should stick with the good old Hollywood camp drag stuff that you are so good at! Die Mommy Die II, the Sequel!! I don't see the value of spending time and money on a project like this; there are so many REAL life gay youth stories to be told and we should be seeing those, not this garbage. Sheesh, what a waste of time. Embarrassing example of gay cinema.

I'm not gay and the gay people I know are not obvious about it at all, so I can't speak about how fair or unfair the characterizations and stereotypes may or may not be. Lots of movies make unfair stereotypes - in fact, when you compress the life story of people into two hours - stereotypes are often very useful, hopefully they are not cruel. What I do find about this movie is some incredibly real dialogue and situations. Yes, the acting is so bad sometimes its comical - but at its core, this is a smart movie and the main two actors, really come through as real people reminding me to keep trying to be myself and keep doing the best I can. Life is awkward and plans rarely work out, but it is the ones we love and the moments we share with each other that make it all tolerable. Gill and Yon are awesome characters and I could watch them all day.

Good intentions but bad execution and script. Especially P. J. Verhoest and Charles Busch are rather annoyingly unwatchable.