FORGET that this is a love story involving two gay cowboys and think of it as the greatest romance you will see in the cinema this year.
It's hard to imagine beefy Heath Ledger in a passionate embrace with Donnie Darko star Jake Gyllenhaal.
But they carry it off with total aplomb and amazing sensitivity.
This is the heart-breaking story of super-butch ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) who, against all odds, falls in love with rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal, far right).
It follows their bittersweet love affair as they herd livestock on the wild Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming in 1963.
We see them struggle to come to terms with their feelings in their highly prejudiced, spit-and-sawdust world.
But it isn't just about two cowboys who realise they are gay.
It's a powerful tale of forbidden love at its most passionate, in director Ang Lee's best outing yet.
This will be a career-changing film for Heath, (left in picture to the right) whose previous efforts, in the likes of A Knight's Tale and The Brothers Grimm, make him about as heavyweight as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
But he's utterly convincing as repressed Ennis. "I ain't one of those gays," he grunts in total denial after his first sexual experience with Jack.
Usually a man of few words, Ennis lets down his guard to tell of the harsh and loveless upbringing which ultimately made him so distant. Which is why the rare moments when he gives himself wholeheartedly to the romance are joyous.
As the two slowly fall for each other on the beautiful but barren mountain, the knot that holds Ennis together begins to unravel.
But it doesn't loosen enough as he insists on dismissing the experience as a summer romance and returning to Texas to marry his childhood sweetheart Alma (Dawson's Creek's Michelle Williams) as expected.
Twist can't suppress his feelings, although he too is forced to hunker down to married life.
So the lovers make do with regular secretive "fishing" trips to Brokeback.
"God, I wish I knew how to quit you," screams Twist, in anguish as Ennis refuses to settle down with him. "We coulda had a good life together."
There's very little sex, probably to make it more palatable to a wider audience, but also to concentrate on their deep, all body and soul love for each other.
But like all good romances, it works because you want them to be together but know they never will.
It's just so sad.
MATCH POINT
WOODY Allen scores a lowly love-all with this tennis-themed thriller.
He's done that American thing of putting on rose-tinted glasses and setting it in the world of upper-class London—thus making it inaccessible to us salary slaves.
It's the story of social climber and former Irish tennis pro Chris Wilton (the more-wooden-than-wood Jonathan Rhys-Meyers).
He gets in with the rich Hewitt family then falls for the foxy babe going out with his girlfriend's brother. His dilemma: should he go for love —Nola Rice played by Scarlett Johansson (left)—or money?
However, the problems for us begin with the first serve because it's hard to care about these chauffeur-driven characters who shop at Asprey's like it's a supermarket.
The plot has more holes than a tennis racket and there's a twist that nearly had me heading for the door. Time for a change of balls please, Woody.
JUST FRIENDS
UGLY duckling turns record exec swan in this surprisingly funny comedy.
Hottie Ryan Reynolds shines as Chris making another bid for Jamie (Amy Smart) who spurned him when he was a fat slob. He's well backed up by Anna Faris (left) as spoiled Samantha James, who tries to ruin the romance. And American Pie's Chris Klein makes a welcome appearance in this little gem.
as Dusty, the other man in romantic life of Jamie (Amy Smart).
All in all, definitely worth getting off the sofa to see as it has more laughs than anything the lazy TV schedulers have offered this Christmas.
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