Released: May 19, 1991
Director: John Erman
*****
In what was a recurring theme for TV movies in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Our Sons revolves around the AIDS crisis from the perspective of four people: Donald, a man dying of the disease; James, his "close friend"; Audrey, James' mother; and Luanna, Donald's mother whom he has not seen in over a decade.
As Donald nears the end of his life, James asks Audrey to travel from San Diego to Arkansas in an effort to bring Luanne to his bedside. This being a TV message movie, the outcome should never be in doubt. It's all rather by the numbers from Luanne's original reaction to her gradual change of heart to the very last scene: there's nothing we haven't seen before here.
And that's the rub looking back 16 years later on a movie like this. In 1991, this was most likely groundbreaking, earth shattering stuff. With names like Julie Andrews, Ann-Margaret and an up-and-coming Hugh Grant, Our Sons probably made waves in the culture. In 2007? Not so much. Terms like "boyfriend"...hell, even "partner" or "lover" aren't uttered to describe Donald and James' relationship. They're merely "close friends." It's terribly trite and a bit maddening. It is, however, the state of the country at that time.
The actual story is a simple one which doesn't really tackle any of the issues presented. Luanne and Donald don't talk because he's "one of them." What would the people in Fayetteville think if anyone knew Donald was a gay? Not that it really matters in the context of the story. She and Donald never get to the bottom of their relationship; the movie doesn't give them time to. We never see Donald and James as a fully functional couple or as individual people. They exist only on the screen as amalgamations of personalities and real situations.
It's hard to criticize a movie like this too harshly because its heart is in the right place. It wants to do good, it took part in a national conversation. Our Sons is entirely too safe, too middle America for 2007.