Delayed Reaction: A Single Man

The Pitch: Colin Firth is a homosexual professor in the 60's, struggling with the grief over the loss of his longtime boyfriend.

How I Came Into It: On a given day, I'll confuse this title with A Serious Man, which both came out in 2009. I don't confuse the movies, just the titles. Now that I've seen both, maybe that won't happen as much. Beyond that confusion, I know this is one of my friend's favorite movies, so it's been on my radar for a while. I held off on it for a while though. Some movies I can put on whenever. Others, I like to make sure I'm in a headspace where I can give it full attention.

Why I Saw It: This is my new favorite Colin Firth performance (other than, of course, What a Girl Wants). He's brilliantly restrained yet conveys so much. I'm so glad that if nothing else, he got an Oscar nomination out of that. Not surprising, given Tom Ford's background, the costuming is fantastic. More surprising was the wonderful cinematography. This is just a great looking movie. And Collin Firth wasn't acting alone. I also like seeing Nicholas Hoult show up in anything. Julianne Moore is always great.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: The heart attack at the end is just cruel. The man has been through so much. Why can't he have the heart attack a minute after the movie ends? The chosen ending still totally works. I'm sure there's arguments that can be made for that ending being superior. It didn't add anything for me.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend