Philadelphia (1993)

Load of rubbish!!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Not the best. Bad, not fun, acting forced, bad directory sjdjfujfujHdfujdfujdfujfdujfdudf

Slowburning courtdrama about Tom Hanks sueing his boss for being fired because he has got Aids. Not suited for those who want to see a cheery Tom Hanks movie, because "Philadelphia" is serious stuff, but very enticing nonetheless, for those who like hours long of courtroom dialogues intermixed with sentimental scenes of Tom Hanks dying of Aids. Despite this seemingly depressing story it is still a feel good movie, but one with a few heartwrenching tears.Acting is really terrific. I think it is one of the best dramatic roles Tom Hanks has ever played. Because of that I have to skip some parts of the movie because I would otherwise get to emotional and teary eyed. There are some really grand dramatic scenes which give me goosebumps just thinking about them. Director Jonathan Demme really made one of his best work in his entire carreer with "Philadelphia". His other masterpiece would be the well known "Silence of the Lambs". Jonathan Demma has got the talent to make characters become real life like. And in "Philadelphia" that means that we get to share the struggle of Tom Hanks close up, as if we were his family. Very touching. You gotta understand that this movie was released in the nineties, a period in which Aids was still often wrongfully being associated with homosexuals. Lots of fear and repulsion of Aids expressed by characters in the movie doesnt make sense nowadays anymore. Everybody now knows Aids is not a disease of homosexuals solely. Everybody knows that you dont get contaminated with Aids by just shaking hands or hugging. But all these negative prejudices were still floating around in mass media back in the nineties. For that reason this movie has become a bit dated now, although it was rather groundbreaking back then, certainly for Hollywood standards. How many big box office movies about homosexuals are out there? Just a tiny few. This fight for equal rights for homosexuals which is portrayed in this movie still makes it worth watching nowadays, because discrimination is still rampant. My only real criticism of this movie is that it still remains a cliche Hollywood movie which has to be sold to the masses and therefore a lot of sugarcoated melodrama is added to the story. Although the balance between sugarcoated sentiment and real drama is balanced fairly enough to please both the feel good loving masses and those who long for more true to life drama.

A great film, made exceptional by Hanks & Washington. What I find so remarkable, is that the vast majority of this film is in the courtroom. There's a major reason why Hanks character was made out to be such a "model citizen"...i.e intelligent, successful, hard working, compassionate individual, who makes positive contributions to society. That purpose was to show that bigotry is blind to all that is truly significant...the quality &/or "soul" of an individual. That is best shown & learned through Washingtons character. Once Wahingtons character got through his own hang-ups, concerning his client, he found out that Andrew Beckett was much more than a homosexual w AIDS...Beckett was a quality human-being,

When a man with AIDS (Tom Hanks) is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer (Denzel Washington) as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.I absolutely love seeing Roger Corman on the stand... thanks, Jonathan Demme for letting Roger appear in your films. Maybe the average viewer doesn't appreciate the nod, but it's not lost on the rest of us.Strangely, as Tom Hanks' disease progresses, he looks increasingly like David Hyde Pierce. Coincidence? Hanks was rightly praised for this film, but it seems that the real strong performance came from Washington. We has a wide range of hatred, fear, grudging acceptance and more... it is a nice roller coaster.