Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

SnoopyStyle Wilson Joel (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is quietly suffering after his wife Liza's unexplained suicide. He finds a note from her but can't bring himself to read it. Her mother Mary Ann Bankhead (Kathy Bates) tries to help. After a breakdown at work, he's asked to take time off. He starts to develop an unhealthy addiction to gasoline and joins the world of model plane enthusiasts.Philip Seymour Hoffman does a brilliant job sucking the life out of his character. He is one of the best actors of his times. However the movie is lifeless. It's 90 minutes of waiting for Wilson to open a letter. The movie has no drama and no tension. It's not much of anything other than PSH.

Chris Smith (RockPortReview) Phillip Seymour Hoffman's death at the grip of drug addiction has taken another supremely gifted artist from this world. Hoffman's work in film and sage will be sorely missed. From his everyman looks to his grasp of the human condition he was definitely a king among men. For my next bunch of reviews I'll focus on many of the smaller independent films that Hoffman so often shined. In 2001's "Love Liza" a man struggles to deal with the sudden suicide of his wife (Liza) and his personal spiral into some deep dark places. The examination of his life and his questionable future The film was directed by Todd Louiso and co-stars Kathy Bates and Jack Kehler. It also won the Screen writing Award at Sundance.Wilson Joel is your typical geeky web developer who comes home to find his wife has killed herself, leaving him with a bunch of unanswered questions. Was it his fault? How could this have happened? He is consumed with grief and looking for a way out he starts huffing gas fumes to get high. Instead of food he keeps a red plastic gas can in his fridge. "Do you smell Gas?" is a question heard more than once. The plot revolves around a suicide note that he can't bring himself to open. Wilson's mother in-law, Mary Ann (Bates), grieves the loss of her daughter and her relationship with Wilson is pretty awkward to say the least. Does she blame him? Everybody at work is very supportive of his situation but after one of the many lies he tells a new "best friend" is forced upon him. Thinking that Wilson is into radio control planes, Denny (Kehler) a real enthusiast, comes over so see his plane. Wilson wants nothing more than to be alone and huff gas, passing out wherever he may be. He is going down a tough road and needs a friend, but most people are not willing get him the help he really needs. He buys a plane from a hobby shop and starts to huff the special fuel that they run on. Him and Denny have some fun together at a Radio Control competition and discuss his situation. He has to read the letter eventually but when? and where?Wilson finally has to deal with these pent up feelings and frustrations and decides to open the letter. "Love Liza" is fantastically cast and acted, its a character piece that really hits hard. Although it does have its comedic moments. Hoffman's performance is superb and like a lot of his roles you can see the real person behind the character. "Love Liza" is available on DVD, so search it out and give it a watch.

Joseph Sylvers Great character study, carried by Philip Seymor Hoffman. A man's wife suddenly kills herself, and distraught he in turn begins a self destructive lifestyle of huffing gasoline. In order to explain why he's carrying gas around with him, he lies and says it's for remote controlled air planes. After a gas attendant finally calls him on it, he begins a bender/mental collapse induced mission to find a remote control plane competition. Slow paced, but rewarding, and sincere. Though bleak at times it's one of the most emotionally rich looks at grief, I've ever seen in a film. Or wanted to see, for that matter, because the subject disinterested me from the word go. Anway it's a great thing to be proved wrong sometimes.

TxMike The movie begins with Philip Seymour Hoffman as Wilson Joel carrying flowers. He appears depressed, because we later find out he is. Very depressed, because his pretty and fantastic wife has just killed herself. The movie never gets into possible motivations, it focuses entirely on Wilson's condition and inability to deal with his grief. Plus his mother in law's (Kathy Bates as Mary Ann) difficulty. Things are exacerbated when Wilson, searching for more comfort in his sleeping spot on the living room floor, lifts a pillow from the bed and finds a note, in a sealed envelope, from his dead wife. He can't bring himself to open it, but Mary Ann is dying to know.As the critic Ebert accurately writes, this is a movie not about a plot, but about a condition, Wilson's condition and, secondarily, Mary Ann's condition. Hoffman is a superb actor, but my wife and I found the movie difficult to watch. After the first 30 minutes I was ready to say, "OK. I get it. He's having a tough time dealing with it. Let's move forward." But it never really does, it just shows us more and more examples of his pathetic condition, his sniffing gasoline, and his road trip of sorts, as an escape from the demands of his job and a co-worker that seems to have affection for him. He ends up in Slidell, Louisiana at a gathering of RC enthusiasts.SPOILERS FOLLOW. After Wilson's condition is established, most of the focus changes to the letter. Wilson returns home to find all his furniture and other belongings gone, stolen, including the letter. But he eventually finds it at Mary Ann's. The letter is simple, she writes that she will always be in his heart, and that he should move on in life. The envelope includes a match that he uses to burn it, at the same time setting fire to the house, and he walks away in his underwear.