hall895 Lyle Maze is a successful painter and sculptor. But he lives a very lonely life, knowing he will never find love. He has Tourette's syndrome, with some OCD thrown in for good measure, and his affliction pretty much shuts him off from the world. What with the spasms, the tics, the strange noises he emits Lyle assumes nobody would ever love him. Loving him would be too much of a challenge. He really has one friend in the world, Mike, a doctor. Mike provides Lyle with the newest medication which would perhaps better control his symptoms. But Lyle refuses to take the pills. A stubborn man he is. But Mike's pretty stubborn too, not to mention oblivious. He's determined to save the world and flies off to Africa for seven months of humanitarian work. He leaves his pregnant girlfriend Callie behind. To be fair he doesn't know she's pregnant but you get the sense he wouldn't much care. So Mike's gone, Callie's all alone, and Lyle is perpetually alone. Pretty easy to see where this is headed.With Mike out of the picture Lyle and Callie connect. It starts innocently enough with Callie modeling for Lyle. As innocent as nude modeling can be anyway. But the more time they spend together the closer they become. Too close for Lyle's comfort as he doesn't want to betray the absent Mike. But Callie talks him down off the metaphorical ledge and the relationship blooms. He is there for support during her pregnancy. And she draws him out of his shell a bit, opening him up to the possibilities of life and love. She even sets him up on a date with a friend of hers, which his Tourette's causes to go less than well. But at least he tried. Truth is though if there's any woman he's going to love it's Callie herself. Which is obviously problematic.Rob Morrow, who not only played Lyle but directed the film, made a noble effort here. Lyle's battle to overcome his Tourette's and live a full life is a story which is surely worth being told. But the movie doesn't really work. As an actor Morrow works hard to sell Lyle's Tourette's. But as a director perhaps he should have reined himself in a bit. Morrow oversells it to the point the film quickly becomes very uncomfortable viewing. At some point all the tics and shakes and sounds just become a distraction. The movie's pacing is very slow and there's not much inherent drama. Once Mike takes off for Africa the whole thing becomes rather obvious. The relationship between Lyle and Callie evolves slowly, there are really no big moments to hook the viewer. It all leads up to an ending which on first glance seems clever but when you then think about it it's really a cheat. It's an ending the movie hasn't earned. Nothing we've seen beforehand sells the ending, which is jarringly abrupt, as being particularly plausible. This film was obviously a labor of love for Morrow but he didn't quite pull it off. He got a very good performance out of Laura Linney playing Callie. But his own performance left something to be desired. A challenging character to play to be sure but Morrow never seemed to find the best way to get Lyle's symptoms across. He went too far with his portrayal and the movie didn't go far enough with its story. There just aren't enough interesting things going on here. It's a film with a good message, about an affliction which need not destroy a life. But it's a message which deserved a better movie.

rocket2242003 Craig Sheffer and Rob Morrow worked good to make this film great I loved it.It was a good film and it was good But Craig Sheffer was talented once again in the film like all the others.It was truly a great film.Craig Sheffer puts alote of heart into every movie he is in and show. Rob Morrow also had a very exciting performance. But Craig Sheffer's was better. Well He is outstanding. Craig also looks like David Boreanaz the guy off of Angel. Heck I loved this movie so much I laughed at it. Because Rob Morrow is so funny. This movie rocked but it never was in any theaters and that sucks. This was a Great performance for Craig Sheffer since KIllerBuzz was made in 1998.Awesome Movie!

tedg Spoilers herein.I have a hobby of carefully selecting films to see back to back. The very best experience is when you find two films that are imperfect by themselves, but when merged in one's mind become complete and powerful.This worked for me with `Maze' and `Immortality.' Both are about diseased, talented men who fall in love in an unwanted fashion. One involves birth, the other death. In perfect symmetry, one involves creative artifacts as art looking at bodies, the other art as actually being produced by bodies.One is a vampire movie. Vampire movies NEED redheads. The other film has the redhead, in almost irresistible, lovely, perfect openness. The vampire film eschews the compulsion and involuntary action usually found in the genre, where the other one embraces it.You really need to see both to see how perfectly these merge, how the impossibly sweet love of `Maze' fixes the problem with `Immortality' that the power of the love just isn't there. And similarly in `Maze,' the curse of the blood is always present, but never MEANS anything beyond a few comedic moments. Conflate the two and you have something constructed like Lynch's `Blue Velvet,' where darkness and light, love and curse, are played out as the battle between two film genres. `Velvet' had those two genres in the same film, but you as an intelligent viewer need not be so limited.You can even use the hooks each already provides: `Maze' shifts to shaky POV when the Tourette spasm strikes. Insert there, parts of `Immortality.' `Immortality,' on the other hand - following the French tradition - introduces the viewer (the policeman) into the story. He `creates' the vampire by watching: insert Lyle Maze's artistic process here, which in his home film is equated to the literal creation of a human (which is then introduced at an exhibit).Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Jan Lisa Huttner We also liked this film very much. Morrow works hard, as an actor AND as a director, to help you see the world thru Lyle Maze's eyes. It's fascinating to watch him work -- when he's sketching, he becomes totally engrossed as an artist & his spasms stop. Then the "real world" intervenes. & his behavior gets worse & worse the more he tries to control it.But the name of this film is totally wrong. Maybe it's based on a true story (the credits have a reference to National Public Radio but don't provide any detail), nevertheless, calling it MAZE is very misleading & won't help people find it. So if YOU saw it & YOU liked it, do your part to spread the word!