Eight gay male friends. One summer. Figure it out. <BR>&nbsp;

Eight gay male friends. One summer. Figure it out.

Love! Valour! Compassion! sounds like a school motto, but no, it`s a movie, a rather declamatory one in keeping with its title. It`s about a group of gay men who stay at Gregory`s summer house over three long weekends one summer. There`s the preppy Arthur and Perry who`ve been together fourteen years, they`re happy although Perry`s in need of constant reassurance; there`s Gregory himself, a choreographer with an artistic block and his boyfriend Bobby who`s blind; there`s John, whom no-one likes but he`s Gregory`s accompanist, and his boyfriend Ramon, a young and randy dancer; and then there`s Buzz - who is HIV positive. From the second weekend the group is joined by John`s twin brother James, a transvestite who`s also ill. The weekends provide all of life`s riches - as well as flirtations, betrayals and squabbles...Terrence McNally adapted his Tony award-winning play for this film and pretty much everyone associated with the stage production was included in the film - director Joe Mantello, who`s debut this is, and the ensemble cast - Randy Becker, Stephen Bogardus, John Glover in dual roles, John Benjamin Hickey, Justin Kirk and Stephen Spinella. Jason Alexander was the newcomer to the group, Nathan Lane had played Buzz on stage. The strength of the film is the performances - they`re all really fine. Alexander has one particularly moving moment, but really the film has a rather old-fashioned feel to it; there are no surprises here, it`s not particularly witty and the characters are smaller than life really. It`s mildly sentmental, but Mantello has ultimately been unable to shake the stage origins from the piece. Love! Valour! Compassion!, which is currently in national release is a pleasant enough experience; it`s reminiscent of Chekhov without the Russian angst.