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Cuba Gooding Jr., Matthew Lillard, Anne Heche, Sean Autin, Gina Gershon, Tamala Jones, Mars Callahan, Andrew Daly, Jud Tylor, Shiri Appleby and Victoria Pratt
Director Mars Callahan
I got the message of the movie. I can see how most people won't. Most of the people in the world have no idea what love really is and if you have no idea what it is then you probably won't recognize it when you see it. Most people believe that love is what they feel for a person. Love is not about what you feel; it is how you want the person you love to feel. When you care about another person more than you care about yourself then that is Love and that is the message in this movie. It is how most people feel for their children, most people would rather die before allowing harm come to their child.
I learned a lot more about this movie from an article about Mars Callahan written by Martin A Grove of The Hollywood Reporter. I was unaware that Mars was and is so ill. In the article he said he wrote this movie as a screen play while he was confined to a wheelchair and suffering from a life threatening illness. It sound like Mars was going through the five stages of death and had reached the fifth stage (acceptance). Writing this script at this point in his life gave him a clear insight into what love is. Once you have accepted that death is eminent you no longer care about yourself (it's over for you), now you care about the people you will leave behind and that is love. You know you love someone when their needs are more important to you than your own needs.
In the Movie there are 9 people that come to Tom's house, the main character of the movie, on Valentines Day. His girl friend has just dumped him and he is trying to figure out how to get her back. Everyone in the house thinks they know what love is but in the end if you are paying close attention you will realize that only one person knows what love really is.
Tom has four friends that come in first. Sal has given up on love; he has put a wall up trying desperately not to allow any woman to hurt him. Ken is definitely in love but he doesn't really know what love is. George is looking for the right person but is having a hard time finding her. And Wayne is superficial; he believes love is derived through physical attraction. And of course there is Tom who thinks he knows what love is but he really doesn't. The five women are almost the same as the men. Rachel is like Wayne she is motivated by physical attraction. Katherine is like Sal she has given up on love so she seeks men that won't want a steady relationship. Laura is like George looking for the right person but making a lot of mistakes in finding him. Debbie is like Tom; she thinks she knows what love is but she doesn't. Amy, who is playing the stereotypical dumb blond, is like Ken except she is the one person that knows what love is and she has a simple definition of what it is. The characters are stereotypical on purpose to show how people are. Everyone in the world falls into at least one of these ten stereotypes. The cursing is used to also show how people are. Some people curse a lot, some curse a little, some curse very little and some don't curse at all.
At the end of the movie Tom with the help of Amy learns what love is. Amy has a very simple answer for the question as to "What Love Is". I believe that Mars Callahan had the answer come from Amy as to let everyone know that "out of the mouths of babes comes the most profound answers". What has been a complicated question pondered by the world is answered so clearly and intelligently by a person that has the mind of a child. If you are a person like Ken, Tom, Amy, or Debbie you will take something special away from this movie. If you are like George, Laura, Rachel or Wayne you may or may not get this movie. If you are more like Sal or Katherine you will most likely not like or understand this movie.
Most of the reviews of this movie focus on the camera angels, the dialog or the fact that most of the movie takes place in one room. Like most people if there is not a lot of action or changes of scenery critics become bored and of course if you are bored you are not paying attention. Most of the critics are men and history has shown us that men are not the best gender to go to for the definition for love. If you go see this movie pay close attention to what is being said and try to hear the message otherwise you will miss it completely, wasting your time and money. Once again, I understand why most of the reviews are the way they are, most of the the people of the world hasve no idea what love is (Critics are not exempt) and they would not recognize it if they saw it, especially men. Ladies you need to take your partners to this movie and then explain it to them at home. There is always the 5% that do get this movie like Elizabeth Liput of IndieIN. She is the only female I have seen to review this movie and surprise surprise surprise she gets it.
What Is Love? Love is when you want your love one to be happy no matter what they want, no matter who they are with, and no matter where they are unconditionally. If they are happy then you are happy.
 
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