I was hoping to like this more, and I did at first, but by the end I just wanted it to be over. There were some tearjerker moments, the movie scares the hell out of you, and Bomer and Kitsch are both gorgeous and give great performances as does Julia Roberts.
But Mark Ruffalo ruins the movie for me. It's like he was in an altogether different film, "The Normal Emmy Reel". He spends more than half of his performance shrieking like a lunatic, doesn't bring any nuance to the character, and isn't believable in his relationship with Felix. Maybe this is how Larry Kramer or whoever Ned is based on truly acts in real life, but on film it was total overkill and makes a character you are supposed to root for someone you root against.
The film ends on a completely bleak note, with no hope, or mention of how far we have come today with reducing the number of HIV cases through education and preventative measures along with prolonging the length and quality of life of HIV/AIDS patients. And then there is this weird moment right before the credits where we are shown Kitsch's character's card being pulled, implying he has died, that feels very much like schadenfreude ("you booted our anti-hero from your group, and now you're dead, ha ha!"). Didn't leave a good taste in my mouth.
C/C-