In October 1998, a young gay student at the University of Wyoming was found badly beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die. After several days lingering in a coma, 22-year-old Matthew Shepard died in Laramie, Wyoming, an event that created a national uproar and calls for legislation against hate crimes. Shortly after the infamous crime occurred, members of the Tectonic Theater Project descended on Laramie and conducted about 200 interviews with local people, both those involved and those uninvolved with the crime. The results were edited, compiled, and consolidated into a play entitled "The Laramie Project." Written by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, the play premiered in 2000 and was filmed in 2002 for HBO.Moises Kaufman directed this HBO film adaptation, and he assembled a large distinguished cast to play the multitude of characters. Among the most notable are Peter Fonda, Laura Linney, Steve Buscemi, Dylan Baker, Ben Foster, Janeane Garofolo, Bill Irwin, Amy Madigan, Margo Martindale, Christina Ricci, Frances Sternhagen, and Terry Kinney. Surprisingly, the appearance of so many well known faces enhances, rather than disrupts the film. Instead of a grainy documentary that features a series of self conscious interviews with unfamiliar people, this largely engrossing film is a series of dramatized interviews by seasoned professionals, which focus viewer attention on the words and their import.The excellent cast play town residents, both gay and straight; as well as religious, police, medical, and legal people involved after the crime; some knew Matt, while others only knew of him from the news. The Laramie bartender, who remembered Mat on the night of the crime, disputed the story told by the two murderers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, whom he also remembered in the bar that night. The young boy, played by Ben Foster, who found the dying Matt, describes the grisly scene and the beaten victim. Amy Madigan is the policewoman, who aided the HIV positive Mat without gloves and inadvertently exposed herself to the AIDS virus; Frances Sternhagen is her understanding mother. Bill Irwin plays one of Laramie's gay residents, who tell of closeted life in the town and his reaction to the crime and its aftermath. Peter Fonda is the doctor who treats the dying young man, and Dylan Baker plays a town spokesperson to fine effect. However, not everyone interviewed is likable; Laura Linney is a conservative resident who does not understand all the fuss over the death of one gay man. While a local Catholic priest expresses sympathy, a Protestant preacher is outspoken about his hostility to gay people, and members of the despicable Westboro Baptist Church make an unwelcome appearance at Shepard's funeral. In the courtroom, the two defendants, McKinney and Henderson, talk of their feelings about gay people and attempt a lame "gay panic" defense that would be laughable, if not so tragic and pathetic. During the trial's final moments, Terry Kinney as Matthew's father, Dennis, makes a closing statement that effectively brings the film to a satisfying, moving, and sad close. Between the interviews and the comments on prejudice and homophobia, related newscast footage depicts politicians, marches, and candle-light vigils."The Laramie Project" is a fine work, both as a play and a film. While hate-crime legislation lags and the civil rights of the LGBT community remain under attack, films like "The Laramie Project" are increasingly important to illustrate the tragedies and injustices that hate can cause, irregardless the targets; this film is important and, hopefully, enduring.

As a viewer, new to this story and type of storytelling, I felt a bit over biased. I realize that instead of focusing on the death and life of Matthew Shepard, Kaufman, focused on the collective voice of the town, which was nothing but a bag of mixed messages. As I sat, thinking about this film over the course of several days, that is the only issue that I had trouble grappling. This was an emotional film, chalk full of actors giving surprising monologues about their personal opinions as we collectively watch the aftermath of such a horrid crime. We even get the chance to see how the death of Matthew Shepard caused an ill fate to another person within the community. Again, these side stories were powerful to watch because it gave a living soul to the town, but where The Laramie Project went a bit too far was the over-dramatic nature of the characters.While I would agree that there was probably some emotion behind those that chose to take part in the interviews, I don't believe you would find such a doctor, with such a dramatic "umph" saying, "We take offense to this murder", like no other than Peter Fonda could say it. Christina Ricci, in my eyes, was the embodiment of my last statement. Perhaps Kaufman, would have benefited more by placing unknowns in the roles instead of these name Hollywood players. While they were not A-grade actors, they each did a phenomenal job in this film – but oddly, this was the problem. Steve Buscemi speaking about his relationship with Shepard made me see Buscemi being Buscemi. I didn't see the character that he was playing. I didn't see Fonda's doctor's character. I didn't see anything of value behind Ricci's character (outside of a definite Ricci being Ricci) – and while I realize that this was not a work of fiction, without the development of a known character, they were just actors speaking powerful lines. The lines stood on their own, and it was those lines that continued my attention through the film. Alas, I could not see Joshua Jackson (from Dawson's Creek) as the actual bartender or Dylan Baker as the head of the hospital because I knew these actors. I wanted better from them. The most emotional speeches came from those that I was not fully familiar with. Those like the man who watched the parade route, or the actor that played Matthew Shepard's father. These smaller, unknown bits, was what made The Laramie Project stand out and break a tear out of even the strongest wall.I want to express again that I thought that this was a very powerful film; there were just certain moments that were using cliché elements to heighten the emotion of the story. This wasn't needed in the least bit. While I know that having the media attention when the residents of Laramie walked out of the courtroom was surprising, the film technique used to demonstrate this seemed cheap, and nearly like a low blow to the story. The glossed effect of when Ricci's character, and her mother, made angels to block the words of protesters, seemed fake on screen – while perhaps actual footage of this event would have strengthened the emotion. Perhaps I am asking too much, but when Ricci walks out with those angel wings flying high, I just expected Will Smith to come out of nowhere, screaming a line that would surely demonstrate to those protesters who was in control here. It came out a bit too Hollywood. As well as the scene where Dylan Baker cries, which I felt was the better of all the cinematic moments. It was powerful, yet subdued. It could have used more realism. Am I complaining too much? Nope, because I thought this was a brilliant film with how unique it was with its portrait of storytelling. I liked hearing the voices, in fact, if this were a story on CD, it would be a personal favorite, but because we were distracted by images of famous actors speaking in their own voice as well as unclimactic cliché scenes, it softened the blow. I was still teary at the end, but this could have been a film to rival that of Angels in America had it just tried a bit harder to avoid the Hollywood influx and paint a more vivid portrait of your average American town.Overall, I must admit, it took me several days for this film to settle, but I think I could view it again. I especially would like to see Amy Madigan's performance, which I thought, her struggle with what happened, nearly overshadowed what happened to Matthew Shepard. I could have watched an entire film based solely on her. It is amazing what the media chooses to cover, and what they choose to ignore. I like what this film demonstrated. I like that it didn't depict this Wyoming town of rednecks and hillbillies never quite understanding what was wrong with the murder of Shepard. I am glad that we were able to see humanity break through the barriers and show emotion, show sadness, and look beyond the lifestyle to see the human being that was wrongly sentenced. I do think, nonetheless, that liberties were taken with certain actors and certain camera shots, but overall that can be overlooked. By throwing in some unknowns to this picture, I think the drama and the intensity of the event could have been heightened. This is a sad thing that happened, and I am glad that Hollywood chose to open the envelope, but they just didn't give it that final seal of approval. Actors were actors and cliché moments were used to build emotion. You already had a sad story; we didn't need the charades to improve it. I strongly suggest watching this film.Grade: **** out of *****

"The Laramie Project" is a film version of the play of the same name, culled from interviews with real residents of the town of Laramie, Wyoming in the wake of the horrific murder of Matthew Shepard. There are a lot of famous faces on hand (Steve Buscemi, Christina Ricci, Peter Fonda, Janeane Garofalo, Joshua Jackson, and many others), but the film's power comes from its story, not its stars.Presented with the voices of Laramie - and ultimately, of America - one is forced to confront the realities of violence and hate in a way that is intense, even infuriating, but extremely worthwhile. An intelligent, complex, and very relevant piece of work.

An incredible movie that was brilliantly cast. I watched this movie my freshmen year of college and have revisited it time after time. There is never a lull in the movie--it hits hard and fast with character shifts and emotional dialogue that never sounds forced coming from the actors' mouths. It is the dialogue, transcribed from hundreds of hours of actual interviews with the people of Laramie, that gives this heinous crime a whole new dimension. Though the bigotry that is illustrated is hard to watch, as you observe the courage that certain people in the town showed, you might just find your faith in the human race restored. A must see for everyone.