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The Hollywood Reporter
May 12, 1998
Learning to Live Again: Fine performances help 'Touch Me' overcome depressing subject
by Michael Rechtshaffen
A sensitively handled, intelligently acted romantic drama about a promising actress who finds out she's been infected with AIDS, "Touch Me" adroitly avoids the usual disease-of-the-week pitfalls.
Former first assistant director H. Gordon Boos ("Platoon," "Tin Cup"), who also co-wrote the melodrama-free script with Greg H. Sims, does a fine job with the potentially tricky material and an interesting cast.
Still, given the downer subject matter and no Tom Hanks or even a Mary-Louise Parker on the marquee, "Touch Me" is going to have a tough time attracting mainstream audiences despite the ultimately upbeat tone.
Amanda Peet ("She's the One") delivers a nicely contained performance as Brigette, an attractive young woman whose life is really starting to come together. She's just landed the female lead in a Los Angeles production of David Mamet's "Speed the Plow" and has embarked on a promising relationship with Adam (Michael Vartan), who manages the fitness club where she works part time as an aerobics instructor.
But then comes the phone call that will change things forever _ a former boyfriend is dying of AIDS, and she may have been infected. A subsequent blood test confirms her worst fears, and while Adam still wants very much to be a part of her life, she shuts him out and moves back to her hometown. Gradually, however, as time and potent new drugs begin to initiate the healing process, Brigette learns how to live again.
At the heart of the picture is a crucial, believable rapport between Peet and Vartan (who bears a passing resemblance to Luke Perry), both of whom do affecting work. Memorable, too, are Erica Gimpel as a mother who's dying of the virus, Peter Facinelli as Vartan's always-partying little brother and Greg Louganis in his big-screen debut as a nurturing member of Peet's support group.
Technical support is solid across the board, particularly director of photography Giles Dunning and production designer Abigail Mannox, who create distinctive lighting and color schemes to neatly evoke the picture's shifting emotional phases.
© BPI Communications, Inc.
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