This wide-ranging but severely flawed drama is set during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. Combining elements from Randy Shilts' powerful book with fictionalised characters, writer Arnold Shulman and director Roger Spottiswoode have created a piece of 'faction' that centres largely on the 'detective' angle of rival researchers in the US and France on the track of the deadly virus. Real-life researcher Don Francis (Matthew Modine) encounters government indifference, hospitals that won't screen potentially infected blood, and a myriad of national and personal interests, notably those of Dr Robert Gallo (Alan Alda in another of his 'nasty' characters), all of which produces some genuine tension. Intertwined with ruthless medical and national politics are snippets of personal lives and tragedies. But the movie is so star-studded - Ian McKellen, Richard Gere, Lily Tomlin, Phil Collins, Anjelica Huston, Steve Martin and many more - that the sprawling story tends to tip over into soap opera. For all its faults, the film remains a worthwhile attempt to deal with a tragic subject and, in its best scenes, is very moving.

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