Hicks' review patronises and is factually inaccurate. The setting for the film is New York City and Fire Island. I am specifically annoyed by his reference to the "homosexual" community. Why not use the label the community uses -- would that not be more respectful? Are you still referring to the "negro" community? That's not being overly PC -- simple courtesy and good manners is what I call it. The film concentrates on a narrow scope of the kinds of people affected, a calculation to elicit maximum sympathy from the targeted demographic (white, middle-class, upwardly mobile). Persons of color are in the background, playing bit roles. It's difficult to connect emotionally with some of the characters who seem interchangable, mere window dressing (Howard's lover, for example). Bruce Davison and Campbell Scott do the best while Mary Louise Parker smirks in her role-on-the margins.

Hello ... the setting was NYC not SanFrancisco ... scenes were from Fire Island, Manhattan, GMHC !!!