CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

dglink In October 1998, a young gay student at the University of Wyoming was found badly beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die. After several days lingering in a coma, 22-year-old Matthew Shepard died in Laramie, Wyoming, an event that created a national uproar and calls for legislation against hate crimes. Shortly after the infamous crime occurred, members of the Tectonic Theater Project descended on Laramie and conducted about 200 interviews with local people, both those involved and those uninvolved with the crime. The results were edited, compiled, and consolidated into a play entitled "The Laramie Project." Written by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, the play premiered in 2000 and was filmed in 2002 for HBO.Moises Kaufman directed this HBO film adaptation, and he assembled a large distinguished cast to play the multitude of characters. Among the most notable are Peter Fonda, Laura Linney, Steve Buscemi, Dylan Baker, Ben Foster, Janeane Garofolo, Bill Irwin, Amy Madigan, Margo Martindale, Christina Ricci, Frances Sternhagen, and Terry Kinney. Surprisingly, the appearance of so many well known faces enhances, rather than disrupts the film. Instead of a grainy documentary that features a series of self conscious interviews with unfamiliar people, this largely engrossing film is a series of dramatized interviews by seasoned professionals, which focus viewer attention on the words and their import.The excellent cast play town residents, both gay and straight; as well as religious, police, medical, and legal people involved after the crime; some knew Matt, while others only knew of him from the news. The Laramie bartender, who remembered Mat on the night of the crime, disputed the story told by the two murderers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, whom he also remembered in the bar that night. The young boy, played by Ben Foster, who found the dying Matt, describes the grisly scene and the beaten victim. Amy Madigan is the policewoman, who aided the HIV positive Mat without gloves and inadvertently exposed herself to the AIDS virus; Frances Sternhagen is her understanding mother. Bill Irwin plays one of Laramie's gay residents, who tell of closeted life in the town and his reaction to the crime and its aftermath. Peter Fonda is the doctor who treats the dying young man, and Dylan Baker plays a town spokesperson to fine effect. However, not everyone interviewed is likable; Laura Linney is a conservative resident who does not understand all the fuss over the death of one gay man. While a local Catholic priest expresses sympathy, a Protestant preacher is outspoken about his hostility to gay people, and members of the despicable Westboro Baptist Church make an unwelcome appearance at Shepard's funeral. In the courtroom, the two defendants, McKinney and Henderson, talk of their feelings about gay people and attempt a lame "gay panic" defense that would be laughable, if not so tragic and pathetic. During the trial's final moments, Terry Kinney as Matthew's father, Dennis, makes a closing statement that effectively brings the film to a satisfying, moving, and sad close. Between the interviews and the comments on prejudice and homophobia, related newscast footage depicts politicians, marches, and candle-light vigils."The Laramie Project" is a fine work, both as a play and a film. While hate-crime legislation lags and the civil rights of the LGBT community remain under attack, films like "The Laramie Project" are increasingly important to illustrate the tragedies and injustices that hate can cause, irregardless the targets; this film is important and, hopefully, enduring.

Mackenzie Greenbaum The Laramie Project is a film rendition of a play by Moises Kaufman. This play was generated with the assistance of ten members of the Tectonic Theater Project who went into Laramie, Wyoming and conducted two hundred interviews with all types of people of all ages, occupations and opinions from Laramie. The interviews consisted of their opinions and reactions to the events that occurred regarding a young man named Matthew Shepard. On October 6th, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a twenty-one year old student at the University of Wyoming, received what he thought was just a friendly ride home but in actuality turned out to be the beginning of the end of his life. The two young men who offered him the ride, Laramie residents Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, drove Matthew into the middle of a field and proceed to beat and torture him and then left him there to die, tied up to a fence. Matthew was found the next morning however, by then it was too late, he was permanently in a coma and died a few days later in a Colorado hospital. Matthew was an openly gay man and this crime is thought to be motivated by his sexuality and both McKinney and Henderson's distaste for homosexuals leading it to be tried in the court as a hate crime. I believe that watching this film as a bisexual woman allowed me to see this film through a different lens where I pick up on certain topics that otherwise may have gone unnoticed. First and foremost, my favorite part of this film is its real and raw genuineness. Majority of films based on historical events are embellished upon and words are changed around to create a certain mood or create a better or more appealing film but the Laramie Project is reenactments of interviews in which the recordings of the interviews themselves are used as the scripts. Very few words are changed like when Reggie mistakenly says "ATZ" instead of "AZT" when speaking about her preventative medication, they did not correct it as to stay true to the words of the people. One could critique that this film has some slow scenes but I do not judge these scenes because it demonstrates the reality rather than embellishment that makes this film so good. This film does not portray a lot of gay people since they were getting a wide variety of people to interview however, they did have a few. Where viewers can best see Laramie's opinions towards gay people is when the camera is focusing on the members of the Theater Project such as when they were sitting in the diner and their reaction to their waitress as well as the encounter that cast member Amanda Gronich had with the reverend outside when she stated her disbelief in his comments and how she could let him say such a thing to her. This film did portray many examples of allies which, as a member of the LGBTQ community myself, I found to be very powerful. Both the "Angel Action" protest and the homecoming parade when it grew to be at least five times the size of the group that started the parade because people continued joining in in order to support and stand with each other in honor of Matthew. Overall, to me this film was extremely powerful and thought provoking. It did not leave me with a feeling of guilt in a 'I could do more to help those around me' but rather challenged me to first off, be careful, because being a member of the LGBTQ community is not always the safest when you are open about it because there are many people out there who do not believe that it is right. Secondly, it served as a call to action to be an ally, which I think can be shown to any person despite their sexual preferences or walks of life in order to encourage everyone to be there and support those in their community who need it most. Thirdly and finally, this film made me begin to think more into the legal system and politics regarding LGBTQ rights and what types of laws can come about to serve justice to people who commit such crimes such as anti-discrimination legislation or hate-crime punishment which is not something I was not well versed in prior to seeing this film. Grade = A-

oalvarez-2 While this film is very powerful for those unfamiliar with the incident and/or the play, I think it loses quite a bit of the depth that the stage version has. The play is a sparkling piece of experimental theater that invariably is produced by small ensembles taking on six to ten roles each. The set is minimalist, usually containing no more than a few chairs and a table. When you take away the visuals, and you take away the famous actors, what are you left with? The words. I think that the movie version takes away from that, with the flashy camera angles and editing. The characters (as they became in the movie; they are more true-to-life in the play) were pretty well-portrayed in the movie, with some disappointing exceptions (Jedediah Schultz, for example). The story still gets through, and you still understand that this is an issue of enormous gravity. But I reiterate my opinion that the play is much better.

Libretio THE LARAMIE PROJECT Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: Dolby DigitalFollowing the murder of Matthew Shepard by a couple of homophobic thugs in the nondescript town of Laramie, Wyoming, a theatre troupe descends on the area and questions residents, politicians, doctors and police officers in an effort to probe the circumstances which led to this appalling crime.When 21 year old Matthew Shepard was murdered by Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney in October 1998, it seemed like the culmination of a ceaseless conservative crusade against the so-called 'gay lifestyle' (whatever that means). For some, Matthew's death had been facilitated by the ongoing propagation of hatred which flourishes unchecked in every aspect of our daily lives, and which found its ultimate grim expression in the beating, torture and near-crucifixion of a virtually defenceless gay man. The killing prompted a national outpouring of grief and anger, fuelled by a media campaign that seemed more concerned with gaining mileage from a juicy story than challenging the attitudes which had given rise to this event in the first place. THE LARAMIE PROJECT - which began life as a stageplay created by the Tectonic Theater Project in New York, using the actual words of Laramie residents instead of 'dialogue' - attempts to redress the balance by probing the causes and consequences of bigotry, and the deep-rooted feelings of those most affected by the murder. It's a heartfelt debut from Tectonic founder and artistic director Moisés Kaufman.Interviewees include friends and colleagues of Matthew, the investigating police officers, the doctors who cared for him during the coma which preceded his death, and those whose religious convictions appear to have clouded their judgment and humanity - in one appalling sequence, a mealy-mouthed reverend (Michael Emerson) expresses sympathy for the victim, whilst simultaneously hoping that Matthew spent his last conscious moments reflecting on his 'lifestyle'. Presented in mock-documentary format, in which the 'characters' are portrayed by an all-star cast of familiar faces (including Steve Buscemi, Amy Madigan, Laura Linney, Christina Ricci and Frances Sternhagen, amongst many others), Kaufman's film offers a platform to those on both sides of the debate, though the filmmakers' own liberal outlook is plainly obvious throughout. But, in taking a stand against fundamentalist attitudes, THE LARAMIE PROJECT seeks to demonstrate the flaws in extremist viewpoints. In other words, those with bigoted opinions are given enough rope to hang themselves, and some of them leap head-first into the noose. Thankfully, Fred Phelps and his satanic crew - who rubbed salt into a festering wound by protesting against 'fags' during Matthew's funeral - are reduced to little more than an unwelcome guest appearance, during which they're confronted by a host of silent, accusing townsfolk dressed as angels...Reluctant to shrink from uncomfortable truths, the film is not afraid to tackle the thorny issue of Matthew's HIV status and the small - but significant - part it played during the fall-out from this terrible event (notably, the devastating consequences for one of the police officers who was first to arrive at the scene of the crime), but that hasn't prevented some critics from questioning the film's 'narrow' liberal viewpoint. For instance, is homophobia and AIDS more deserving of such a high-profile movie than any number of similar social ills? No, but no one has ever complained about high-profile movies which (quite rightly) denounce racism, for instance! And while prominent actors may not be lining up to star in powerful dramas about cancer (for example), those afflicted by cancer are hardly likely to encounter discrimination at state and governmental level because of their 'lifestyle choices', with little more than begrudging tolerance for their medical welfare. Secondly, the film is accused in some quarters of being a patronising diatribe, in which a bunch of 'backwoods hicks' are taught the error of their ways by 'omniscient and enlightened Californians' (as one skeptical Internet reviewer has complained). Only the townspeople themselves can confirm or deny this particular accusation, though the Tectonic Theater Project mounted a special performance of the stageplay in Laramie itself which didn't seem to generate any controversy. Other questions are not so easy to dismiss: Was the country really so outraged by Matthew's death, or was the controversy generated by little more than a media frenzy? After all, despite the platitudes expressed at the time, little has changed in the intervening years with regards to hate crimes legislation. In some ways, this is hardly surprising, since most politicians find it expedient to pacify an alignment of fanatical religious bigots. If nothing else, THE LARAMIE PROJECT reminds us to guard against prejudice and hatred wherever it manifests itself, to derive inspiration from the likes of Matthew Shepard, and - most importantly - to honor the fallen.As a film, "Laramie" (which opened the Sundance Film Festival in 2002) is an impressive achievement; Kaufman has brought his considerable skills as a theatre director to bear on a much broader cinematic canvas. It's mostly talking heads, of course, but there's an urgency in the telling which might have been lost in a straightforward documentary presentation. Ultra-professional in all departments, and acted with conviction by a sterling cast, the movie is thought-provoking and poignant, and inspires confidence that all is not lost in the battle against ignorance.