Philadelphia (1993)

Ebert calls “Philadelphia” a good film and sometimes more than that, a ground-breaking mainstream Hollywood treatment of AIDS that uses stars and courtroom drama to reach broad audiences. He singles out the opera aria scene in which Hanks passionately explains the music to Washington as a brilliant and original moment of conversion.

Hollywood's first major movie about Aids is at the very least as good as expected and succeeds as a deeply affecting humanist drama. It singles out the film's tone of quiet restraint and omission of expected big emotional scenes for avoiding easy manipulation.

The review describes the film as a determinedly mainstream but groundbreaking Hollywood take on gay rights and AIDS discrimination, succeeding as a touching demand for fraternity and justice despite some sentimental and timid elements. It recommends the picture for its compassion, understanding, and exploration of attitudes toward sexuality.

Despite patches of preachiness, the film will get to you with its clean aim at our hearts and extraordinary closeups focused on the human face. Demme has reinvented the weepie with cleareyed determination in charting the hero's descent and the ascent of unlikely feelings in others.

The film mostly succeeds in being forceful, impassioned and moving as the first high-profile Hollywood picture to take the AIDS plague seriously, though it often works in safely predictable ways. It begins with a stirring montage of Philadelphia street life and shows tact in introducing the central character.

This extremely well-made message picture about tolerance, justice and discrimination is pitched at mainstream audiences as the first major Hollywood film to directly tackle AIDS. It is intelligent but too neatly worked out in its political and melodramatic details, fronted by a dynamite lead performance from Tom Hanks.

The critic highlights a powerful scene where Hanks's character dances to Maria Callas as a turning point that makes the film unequivocally about living and dying with AIDS. While praising standout acting and inventive direction, the review faults the cautious, commercial script for placing message before drama and its overly safe approach to prejudice.

The air of do-goodism hangs like a pall over the film and hampers its impact, though it is a milestone as the first major studio release to deal with AIDS and features strong performances. Demme ends up being more emphatic than needed, trying too hard to break America’s heart.

The critic views Philadelphia as an unfortunate misstep for Demme, pandering to straight audiences rather than addressing AIDS with complexity. They single out the opening credits sequence for its visual and aural humanism amid the broader criticism of the film's superficial approach.