''Jeffrey'' is a 1995 American romantic comedy film directed by

Christopher Ashley Christopher Ashley (born July 6, 1964) is an American stage director. Since 2007, he has been the artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse. Career Ashley graduated from Yale University in 1986, with a Bachelor of Art in Theatre.play of the same name by

Paul Rudnick Paul Rudnick (born December 29, 1957) is an American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. His plays have been produced on and off Broadway theatre, Broadway. He wrote the screenplays for ''Sister Act'', ''Addams Family Values'', Jef ...

, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation. The film stars

Steven Weber Steven Robert Weber (born March 4, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Brian Hackett on the television series '' Wings'', and as Dr. Dean Archer on NBC’s Chicago Med. He also voiced Charlie B. Barkin in '' ...

, Michael T. Weiss,

Patrick Stewart Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of Patrick Stewart on stage and screen, stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Patrick Stewart, variou ...

, and

Bryan Batt Bryan Batt (born March 1, 1963) is an American actor best known for his role in the AMC series '' Mad Men'' as Salvatore Romano, the closeted art director for the Sterling Cooper agency. Primarily a theater actor, he has had a number of starrin ...

Plot

The story takes place in Manhattan during the height of the

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

epidemic and revolves around Jeffrey (

), a gay man who has sworn off sex because of the epidemic. It is not so much that Jeffrey is afraid of dying, but that he is afraid that he will fall in love with someone who is bound to die; thus, his celibacy is about sex and about relationships in general. Almost immediately thereafter, Jeffrey meets Steve ( Michael T. Weiss), a hunky, charming

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

-positive man. He experiences an emotional conflict as he must face his fear in order to accept love, often breaking the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

to do so. With the help of friends, interior decorator Sterling (

) and his partner Darius (

), as well as a cast of cameos – including

Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. Since 1975, he has been Nathan Lane on screen and stage, on stage and screen in both comedic and dramatic roles. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Na ...

and

Sigourney Weaver Susan Alexandra ( ; born October 8, 1949), better known by her stage name Sigourney Weaver, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the late 1970s, she is known for her pioneering portrayals of action heroines in Blockbuster (entertainme ...

– he is able to overcome his fears and begin a relationship with Steve.

Cast

as Jeffrey * Michael T. Weiss as Steve Howard *

as Sterling *

as Darius ;Cameos *

Peter Jacobson Peter Jacobson (born March 24, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Dr. Chris Taub on the Fox medical drama series ''House''. He also starred on the USA Network science fiction drama ''Colony'' as former Proxy Snyder ...

as Jeffrey's hook-up #1 * K. Todd Freeman as Barney's waiter *

Robert Klein Robert Klein (born February 8, 1942) is an American stand-up comedian, singer, and actor. He is known for his appearances on stage and screen. He has released four standup comedy albums: ''A Child of the 50s'' (1973), ''Mind Over Matter'' (1974 ...

as Skip Winkley *

Christine Baranski Christine Jane Baranski (born May 2, 1952) is an American actress. She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Maryann Thorpe in the sitcom ''Cybill'' (1995–1998). Baranski is als ...

as Ann Marwood Bartle *

Patrick Kerr Patrick Kerr (born January 23, 1956) is an American actor, currently recurring as small town grocer "Mr. Johnson" on Apple TV's "The Big Door Prize" starring Chris O'Dowd. Career Previously, he is best known for his recurring role as Noel She ...

as various *

Victor Garber Victor Garber, (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian stage and film actor and singer. Known for his work on stage and screen, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2022, he was made an ...

as Tim *

Camryn Manheim Debra Frances "Camryn" Manheim (born March 8, 1961) is an American actress who first came to attention with her off-Broadway one-woman show, "Wake Up, I'm Fat", in 1994. She is known for her portrayals of Ellenor Frutt on ''The Practice'' (1997 ...

as Single Woman * J. Smith-Cameron as Sharon *

as Debra Moorehouse *

Kathy Najimy Kathy Ann Najimy ( ; ; born February 6, 1957) is an American actress and activist. She was first nationally known for her feminist play ''The Kathy and Mo Show'', which she wrote and performed with Mo Gaffney. On film, she is best known for her ...

as Acolyte *

Ethan Phillips John Ethan Phillips (born February 8, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for his television roles as Neelix on '' Star Trek: Voyager'' and PR man Pete Downey on '' Benson''. Personal life Phillips was raised on Long Island, New York. ...

as Dave *

Thom Fitzgerald Thomas "Thom" Fitzgerald (born July 8, 1968) is an American-Canadian film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright and producer. Life Fitzgerald was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. His parents divorced when he was five years ol ...

as Guy in Central Park * Peter Maloney as Jeffrey's father *

Debra Monk Debra Monk (born February 27, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and writer, best known for her performances on the Broadway stage. She is the recipient of a Tony Award (1993), two Drama Desk Awards (1988, 2007), the Helen Hayes Award (19 ...

as Jeffrey's mother *

Michele Pawk Michele Pawk (born November 16, 1961) is an American actress and singer. She is also an associate theater professor. Biography Born in Butler, Pennsylvania, Pawk attended Allegheny College and the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, whe ...

as Young Mother *

as Father Dan *

Lenka Peterson Lenka Peterson (born Betty Ann Isacson; October 16, 1925 – September 24, 2021) was an American theater, film, and television actress. Early years Peterson was born in Omaha, Nebraska, a daughter of Swedish and Hungarian immigrants. Her father w ...

as Church lady #2 *

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, in some 60 films, and in approximately 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in the ...

as Mrs. Marcangelo *

Gregory Jbara Gregory Jbara (; born September 28, 1961) is an American actor and singer. He is known for his roles as Deputy Commissioner Garrett Moore in the CBS police procedural ''Blue Bloods'' (2010-2023), Dan O'Keefe in the Fox sitcom Grounded for Life ...

as Angelique Marcangelo *

Kevin Nealon Kevin Nealon (; born November 18, 1953) is an American comedian and actor. He has earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. He first gained widespread attention during his tenure as a cast member on ...

as news reporter (uncredited) *

Jimmy Somerville James William Somerville (born 22 June 1961) is a singer from Glasgow, Scotland who rose to prominence in the 1980s with the synth-pop groups Bronski Beat and the Communards. With Bronski Beat, Somerville achieved commercial success with the 1 ...

as pride attendee (uncredited)

Production

Filming took place from July 11 to August 14, 1994.

Critical reception

Reviews to ''Jeffrey'' were positive, as it holds a 71% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 31 reviews. The critical consensus reads, "''Jeffrey'' offends as readily as it amuses, but an outstanding performance from Patrick Stewart keeps it from going completely off the rails."

Caryn James Caryn James is an American film critic, journalist, university lecturer, and writer. Biography She grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, and obtained her doctorate in English literature at Brown University. She began working as a freelance jour ...

from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote, “For anyone who missed the play, the film offers a strong echo of its best qualities and a couple of truly hilarious moments.”

got great acclaim for his supporting role, winning several critics awards, and even generated

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

buzz, but failed to secure a nomination. The film grossed $3.488 million in the U.S.

Home media

''Jeffrey'' was released on VHS after its initial theatrical run and on DVD in 2003.

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

released the film on Blu-ray in 2019.''Jeffrey'' Blu-ray
Blu-ray.com.

References

External links

* * * ;References
''Jeffrey''
at

MSN.com MSN is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps provided by Microsoft. The main webpage provides news, weather, sports, finance and other content curated from hundreds of different sources that Microsoft has partnere ...

''Jeffrey''
at

LOGO A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

*
Review
by

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

On-set photos at GregoryJbara.com featuring Jbara, Weber, Dukakis, and Stewart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffrey (Film) 1995 films 1995 LGBTQ-related films 1995 romantic comedy films American LGBTQ-related films HIV/AIDS in American films American independent films American films based on plays 1995 directorial debut films 1995 independent films LGBTQ-related romantic comedy films Gay-related films American romantic comedy films Films with screenplays by Paul Rudnick 1990s English-language films Films directed by Christopher Ashley 1990s American films English-language independent films English-language romantic comedy films