This movie is sweet.I almost cryed.Angelina is wonderful in this.She was too cute.I loved Jon Stewart in it.Jon's awesome.It's one of the best movies I've ever seen.I reconmend it to anyone looking for a touching,funny,sweet movie.

"Talking about love is like dancing about architecture."

This quote is only one of the perceptive and witty barbs that the characters of "Playing By Heart" utter, and despite it, they talk a lot about love. Unlike most movies like this though, these characters have something fresh and fascinating to say. "Playing By Heart" is a sadly underappreciated gem of a movie with a great script and a cast that is almost too good to believe. That said, the movie lacks a focus that draws everything together (other than the foreseeable denoument).

We meet several groups of characters who are all exploring different aspects of love. Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands, whose subltle acting is a marvel to behold, play an old married couple whose marriage is facing old obstacles. Connery is dying, and Rowlands confronts him about a supposed infidelity twenty-five years before. Gillian Anderson plays a stony theatre director who finds love in the unlikely person of a pre-"Daily Show" Jon Stewart, while Dennis Quaid and Madeline Stowe are both exploring ways to live outside of their unsatisfactory marriages. There is sensitive, quiet acting in the persons of Ellen Burstyn and Jay Mohr. Burstyn plays Mohr's mother, who is staying by her son's bedside as he dies of AIDS. I only wish there had been more of them.

But most astounding of all is the story of two young clubbers played flawlessly by Angelina Jolie and Ryan Phillippe. The two actors are so real and raw that you can't help but be sucked in by their story, and ultimately their emotional openness makes you cry. I wanted to see an entire movie based on Jolie and Phillippe, they were that good. And in a cast like this one, that's an accomplishment.

"Playing By Heart" is wonderfully acted. It's the only movie where you can have Ellen Burstyn, Gillian Anderson, Angelina Jolie, Ryan Phillippe, Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, Jon Stewart, Jay Mohr, Dennis Quaid, Anthony Edwards, and Madeline Stowe share the same screen. Even Patricia Clarkson makes a brief appearance. The script is wonderfully witty and the directing is very good. Although it ultimately fails to form a definite whole, its bundle of loose threads is fascinating to watch.

.....and the screenplay is wonderful as are the actors. There are no fancy camera-angles or MTV editing of high speed(compared to Moulin Rouge and William Shakespeare`s Romeo+Juliet - classics in their own right), but the camera let the protagonists do their jobs and they do it admirably... Not that every character is of importance; I prefer Connery, Rowlands, Jolie and Philippe; but we all have our favorites... It`s a movie that few people would find dull, boring or just bad.... It`s a low-key masterpiece:-)

Not many people have heard of this movie, much less seen it, which is odd condsidering the number of well-known actors it stars. A few famous faces are Sean Connery, Dennis Quaid, Angelina Jolie, Gillian Anderson, and Madeline Stowe. The movie centers around several romantic relationships that you know are interconneted, but don't find out how until the end. If you're looking for romance, drama, and don't mind some tears, I would highly recommend this movie. It's become one of my all-time favorites!

This is a warm and touching movie. Often when movies try to tell multiple stories at once it's just confusing but this works so well. Give "heart" a chance.