Rating: 
Summary: Oddly entertaining
Review: It is the wonderful performances of Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates that lift Love Liza high above the obvious and muddled script. In terms of plot, the film doesn't have much going for it. Wilson Joel (Hoffman) is a man in trouble. There's a searing pain in his gut he can't tolerate and a dazed quietness to his struggle as he tries to maintain equilibrium and move on from the sudden and inexplicable suicide of his wife, who left a suicide note he is terrified of reading. So he turns to sniffing gasoline as his escape from life. His mother-in-law (Bates) is there for him, but her sympathies turn quickly as his addiction becomes worse. He has an employer who seems to want to help him and a co-worker who wants him for herself, but nothing and no one can give solace. So he finds temporary salvation in the company of remote-control model enthusiasts, which was one of the annoying aspects of the almost non-existant plot and seemed to be there for nothing else but to fill up time. Hoffman's brother Gordy won the screenwriting prize at the Sundance Film Festival for his script, which is hard to believe since some of the dialogue was laughable, but hey, maybe it read better than it played. Hoffman's performance is so utterly convincing however, you believe Wilson's addiction and feel for him. When his co-worker makes a surprise visit to his home and smells the gasoline fumes, Wilson covers by telling her he flies model airplanes, which is what ultimately leads to his fascination. Wilson only begins to come to grips with his life after an encounter with a teenage couple who share his peculiar hobby. "Love Liza" is an oddly endearing little chamber piece that provides a terrific showcase for Hoffman, surely the best actor who has never been nominated for an Oscar. And at 90 minutes, it is definitely fast-paced, and entertaining despite the lackluster script. See it for the performances alone. Hoffman is purely amazing in whatever he does....
Rating: 
Summary: Love Pain
Review: It's difficult to describe the visceral desolation conveyed by this film. I can't think of a single other performer (perhaps maybe Billy Bob Thornton) who could have carried this off. Hoffman's pain is the audience's pain. His compulsion to dull the pain (by, of all things, huffing gasoline) is sadly understandable, even familiar. He's trapped. He can see no other acceptable way out.He sleeps on the floor because it's the only place in his home (the home where his wife committed suicide) where he CAN sleep. He should move out, buy a new place. His obnoxious mother-in-law (also grieving) only reminds him of his pain. He should reach out to her - they can help each other work through this pain. His mother-in-law understands their need for each other - he does not. A profession of attraction for him from a colleague only reminds him of his loss and desolation, causing him to sprint back to his increasingly grim, wood panelled abode where he huffs fumes to the point of delirium, ultimately taking off for days on a bizarre odyssey involving miniature boat racing and his only would-be friend, a hobbyist whose friendship he ultimately rejects. People who care about him are everywhere - yet he pushes each and every one of them away. Toward the end of the film, his desperation is palpable and his home has become a mausoleum - empty, desolate, full of fumes (can you smell them?), and his own, almost dead, soul. Almost. He can run. But he cannot hide, from himself, or from God. Hoffman's embarassment, cowardice and fear are achingly real. This intimate film makes us feel his pain yet not reject him for his failings. Who among us is unlike him? Do you dare to look down your nose at his suffering? The ending to this film is oddly satisfying. It requires genuine faith on the part of the viewer to believe that Mr Hoffman is going to be all right, after all. I believed it. Did you?
Rating:
Summary: A powerhouse performance by Hoffman
Review: Love Liza is a cinematic masterpiece that takes us into the lonely world of a man consumed with guilt over the suicide of his wife. Phillip Seymour Hoffman gives a stunning and brilliant performance as Wilson. Not long into the movie we find that Wilson's wife Liza left him a suicide note that he cannot bring himself to read. Constantly hounded by his mother-in-law, played to perfection by Kathy Bates, he searches for any kind of release and finds it in an odd form, huffing gasoline fumes. Penned by Hoffman's brother Gordy, this film places us in a position most of us can relate with, the loss of a loved one. Phillip Seymour Hoffman delivers an Oscar calliber performance in a role that seems tailor made for him. Hoffman is strikingly believable and a pleasure to watch. He delivers every emotion and movement in just the right places and with great percision. He is truly one of the greatest actors that Hollywood houses today. I recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of excellent films and actors. Carried by a terrific screenplay and brilliant performances by both Hoffman and Kathy Bates, Love Liza can't miss.
Rating: 
Summary: A Hoffman showcase
Review: Love Liza, written with Philip Seymour Hoffman in mind, is a showcase for arguably one of the greatest contemporary actors working in film. Hoffman portrays Wilson, whose wife unexpectedly took her own life, leaving him with only memories and a suicide note he is too afraid to read. Unable to cope, Wilson turns to huffing gas to dull his senses, and it is a move that plunges his life further into ruin. Along the way, the film explores the friendships Wilson has forged with his mother-in-law and an unusual RC toy enthusiast. With each cleverly-framed shot, director Todd Louiso effectively portrays the sense of isolation and solitude that the film's protagonist must be experiencing, and Hoffman's characterization of Wilson is absolutely devastating in its effectiveness. However, on some level, Love Liza fails. Obviously meant as a character study, Love Liza loses a great deal of its effect in the fact that the supplementary characters don't really possess a lot of depth, nor do they help elucidate much depth in Wilson's character. The plot is rather thin at times, and doesn't really explain how Wilson gets hooked on huffing. Was this something he did before his wife's death, or something new he does to cope? However, the movie is redeemed in part by the denoument, which ends in a way both predictable and unexpected, though I won't divulge any details. All in all Love Liza, is an excellent showcase for Hoffman's talents, but it falls a little flat by underplaying its potential for emotional effect.
Rating:
Summary: A Hoffman showcase
Review: Love Liza, written with Philip Seymour Hoffman in mind, is a showcase for arguably one of the greatest contemporary actors working in film. Hoffman portrays Wilson, whose wife unexpectedly took her own life, leaving him with only memories and a suicide note he is too afraid to read. Unable to cope, Wilson turns to huffing gas to dull his senses, and it is a move that plunges his life further into ruin. Along the way, the film explores the friendships Wilson has forged with his mother-in-law and an unusual RC toy enthusiast. With each cleverly-framed shot, director Todd Louiso effectively portrays the sense of isolation and solitude that the film's protagonist must be experiencing, and Hoffman's characterization of Wilson is absolutely devastating in its effectiveness. However, on some level, Love Liza fails. Obviously meant as a character study, Love Liza loses a great deal of its effect in the fact that the supplementary characters don't really possess a lot of depth, nor do they help elucidate much depth in Wilson's character. The plot is rather thin at times, and doesn't really explain how Wilson gets hooked on huffing. Was this something he did before his wife's death, or something new he does to cope? However, the movie is redeemed in part by the denoument, which ends in a way both predictable and unexpected, though I won't divulge any details. All in all Love Liza, is an excellent showcase for Hoffman's talents, but it falls a little flat by underplaying its potential for emotional effect.
Rating:
Summary: a searing study of grief
Review: Philip Seymour Hoffman has made a career out of playing deeply depressed characters. In "Love Liza," he has found what might well be his most perfectly suited role to date, that of a young man trying to come to terms with the suicide of his wife. Written by Gordy Hoffman and directed by Todd Louiso, "Love Liza" is a searing study of grief, one that chronicles the many stages a man goes through in coping with this type of tragedy. Wilson first finds himself unable to sleep in the same bed he used to share with his wife. Then he returns to the place where they spent their honeymoon in a vain attempt to find some solace or answers there. Then there's the turn towards self-destruction as he seeks escape from his pain by inhaling mass quantities of gasoline. All along the way, well-meaning friends, colleagues and family members proffer what they can in the way of support and sympathy but, invariably, they find themselves ill-equipped to deal with grief at this level of intensity. This is even the case with Mary Ann, Wilson's understanding mother-in-law, who is having to cope with her son-in-law's dysfunction while also dealing with her own grief at the loss of her daughter. The title of the film comes from a signed suicide note Liza left to Wilson under his pillow. That letter, which Wilson cannot bring himself to open, only adds to the man's despair, for he fears it may reveal that he was somehow responsible for his wife's actions. Thus, wracked with guilt as well as grief, Wilson slides ever further into that deep dark hole of despair. The filmmakers, in an effort to mitigate some of the misery inherent in the subject matter, invest the story with a number of sly, quirky touches, such as Wilson's sudden obsession with mechanized toy airplanes. But the overwhelming sadness is never far from the film's surface. "Love Liza" is, at its core, an actor's film - and the cast proves itself worthy of the challenge. Hoffman's portrait of a man whose entire meaning for existence has been knocked out from under him is devastating in its understatement and power. Kathy Bates turns in an equally fine and subdued performance as his grieving mother-in-law, and Sarah Koskoff and Jack Kehler offer fine support. Is "Love Liza" a "dark" film? Absolutely. But it is also a brave, insightful and compelling one for those willing to enter its world. It may not be easy to watch, but it is probably harder not to.
Rating: 
Summary: Hoffman Does What He Does Best
Review: Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the greatest character actors of this era. His brother penned this story to suit his best known character - that of a hopeless loser, a character he does all too well. Beginning with the suicide of his wife by garage gasoline fumes (gas becomes a continuing motif throughout the film), Hoffman spends the rest of the film in a downward spiral. He is befriended by a mentally challenged man who's only passion is gasoline motored airplanes and boats. This fills much of the film and presents what seems to be endless tedium. Hoffman drowns his sorrows by constantly sniffing gas and we meet his much too trustful boss, his neighbors doper kids and the wasted Kathy Bates as his mother-in-law. Bates does manage to bring some life to her character, but it's too little, too late. The climax is all fixed on the non-stop tension caused by the unopened suicide note. By the end of the film, we realize why his wife died and why this film goes up in smoke. I can't wait for his next film, truly.
Rating:
Summary: Should've won best actor!!!
Review: The acting by Philip Seymour Hoffman is the absolute best performance I have seen since Nic Cage in "Leaving Las Vegas".The story is simply captivating which allows for good story telling with great acting.ONE NOTE, out of all the people I have shown this movie to they didn't like it too much.I suppose this is a very dark movie which some people do not like.The character is very much like Nic Cage's character in 'Leaving Las Vegas'. Depressed and abusing himself.Unlike LLV, this one does have displays of caring and touching characters that help keep the movie entertaining. It's like a adventure movie to discovery of one's plight and characters that intermingle very well into the film.If I was to suggest this to anyone,I would say this:IF YOU ENTIRELY LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT "LEAVING LAS VEGAS", then you should love everything about "Love Liza".Has the same qualities and story telling as that classic. If "Leaving Las Vegas" had ANY elements that you didn't like about it, then you probablly won't like 'Love Liza". Plus this movie is a bit shorter unfortunatly at only 88mins.I loved everything about this movie and if I was an Academy member it would've won Best Actor & Best Picture for that year.For the DVD extras it has about as much as they could give you.The writters along with Hoffman do the commentary and give some great insight to the movie and their thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Should've won best actor!!!
Review: The acting by Philip Seymour Hoffman is the absolute best performance I have seen since Nic Cage in "Leaving Las Vegas".The story is simply captivating which allows for good story telling with great acting.ONE NOTE, out of all the people I have shown this movie to they didn't like it too much.I suppose this is a very dark movie which some people do not like.The character is very much like Nic Cage's character in 'Leaving Las Vegas'. Depressed and abusing himself.Unlike LLV, this one does have displays of caring and touching characters that help keep the movie entertaining. It's like a adventure movie to discovery of one's plight and characters that intermingle very well into the film.If I was to suggest this to anyone,I would say this:IF YOU ENTIRELY LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT "LEAVING LAS VEGAS", then you should love everything about "Love Liza".Has the same qualities and story telling as that classic. If "Leaving Las Vegas" had ANY elements that you didn't like about it, then you probablly won't like 'Love Liza". Plus this movie is a bit shorter unfortunatly at only 88mins.I loved everything about this movie and if I was an Academy member it would've won Best Actor & Best Picture for that year.For the DVD extras it has about as much as they could give you.The writters along with Hoffman do the commentary and give some great insight to the movie and their thinking.
Rating: 
Summary: For Gasoline Huffers only!!!
Review: This is one of the most ridiculous, self-indulgent films I've ever seen. It was too awful to even call it bad. I'm certain that Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates had no idea it would end up as it did: boring and dreadful dialogue, dragged out scenes, insultingly lousy music, idiotic and inexplicable plot. WHAT WERE THESE PEOPLE THINKING??? Did it even make it to theatres? I hope the actors were paid a lot - and hope the producers and director never work again. A MESS!
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