I am surprised at the praise this movie gets. The characters are all one dimensional. The lawyers at Tom Hanks' firm are all evil bigots, Tom Hanks plays the most brilliant and kind lawyer in the world, his gay friends are kind and supportive, every member of his family is kind and loving and supportive. Denzel Washington starts out as a bigot but is cured by the wonderfulness of Tom Hanks and friends. I could not buy any of these characters as real life people. They were all caricatures.

The movie was totally predictable. A wonderful beloved man man with AIDS sues the evil lawyers. Guess which lawyers present a pathetic, incompetent case. Guess who wins. Guess who dies. Guess who is sad about the death.

The pacing was very slow. The scene where Tom Hanks explains the Maria Callus aria goes on much too long. In the scenes with Tom Hanks giant family, all the family members have to get in their camera time.

Tom Hanks does a great portrayal of a Gay man struggling against bigotry, the effects of AIDS, and the fears of AIDS. It it too bad that character was not placed in a better movie.