I've seen very good, even excellent, low budget gay themed films which despite low ratings from some IMDb.com users, nonetheless show talent and imagination and ingenuity by the cast and filmmakers. Issues 101 is however the work of a writer-director (John Lincoln III) whose supreme lack of talent is at the level of the infamous Ed Wood.
There is not a moment of credibility in this mess of a movie. Michaael Rozman, the above the title lead, is 10 years too old for the part and does not for a moment convince the viewer that he is gay. On the other hand, Dennis W. Rittenhouse Jr., has not a moment of believability as a straight man, even one who is "straight with issues." That anyone other than a hopelessly smitten girlfriend would doubt for a minute that he's as gay as a goose is beyond belief. Bad casting from the get-go. There's also an excruciatingly bad "performance" by Gary Castro Churchwell as the fraternity president. Faring much better are Jeremy Smith and Trevor Murphy, who are charming and believable in their supporting roles. But a couple of supporting performances do not a good film make. (Oh, Kelly Clarkson does make a cameo appearance in the film--for a full 11 seconds!)
Another IMDb.com user has commented on the incredible scene in which fraternity brother Todd invites total stranger Joe to his house for beers and is then shocked when Joe assumes he's gay. (Who wouldn't?) But this is nothing compared to the scene in which the viewer learns that in this fraternity, pledges are forced to perform oral sex on eager fraternity brothers while in the same room another pledge is paddled bare bottomed. A gay porn fantasy, absolutely, but I didn't buy it for a moment, and from that point on, nothing was believable, if it had been slightly so before then.
There is some full frontal nudity by Naked Boys Singing original cast member Michael Haboush (certainly hired just because he was willing to show his goodies) though Rittenhouse, while cute enough to do gay porn, keeps his hand over said goodies and is otherwise shot from the back. Jeff Sublett, as Rittenhouse's gay younger brother, is also a cutie, but exposes less.
I can't say I hated watching this movie. I might watch it again just to marvel at it's horribleness (and to check out a few of the cuties again).
I don't regret buying it for the above reasons, but those who have better things to do with their money would be better off renting, or skipping this untalented writer/director's first, and hopefully last, film.
(I truly doubt that the 10 star reviews posted here were written by anyone other than someone connected with this film.)
There is not a moment of credibility in this mess of a movie. Michaael Rozman, the above the title lead, is 10 years too old for the part and does not for a moment convince the viewer that he is gay. On the other hand, Dennis W. Rittenhouse Jr., has not a moment of believability as a straight man, even one who is "straight with issues." That anyone other than a hopelessly smitten girlfriend would doubt for a minute that he's as gay as a goose is beyond belief. Bad casting from the get-go. There's also an excruciatingly bad "performance" by Gary Castro Churchwell as the fraternity president. Faring much better are Jeremy Smith and Trevor Murphy, who are charming and believable in their supporting roles. But a couple of supporting performances do not a good film make. (Oh, Kelly Clarkson does make a cameo appearance in the film--for a full 11 seconds!)
Another IMDb.com user has commented on the incredible scene in which fraternity brother Todd invites total stranger Joe to his house for beers and is then shocked when Joe assumes he's gay. (Who wouldn't?) But this is nothing compared to the scene in which the viewer learns that in this fraternity, pledges are forced to perform oral sex on eager fraternity brothers while in the same room another pledge is paddled bare bottomed. A gay porn fantasy, absolutely, but I didn't buy it for a moment, and from that point on, nothing was believable, if it had been slightly so before then.
There is some full frontal nudity by Naked Boys Singing original cast member Michael Haboush (certainly hired just because he was willing to show his goodies) though Rittenhouse, while cute enough to do gay porn, keeps his hand over said goodies and is otherwise shot from the back. Jeff Sublett, as Rittenhouse's gay younger brother, is also a cutie, but exposes less.
I can't say I hated watching this movie. I might watch it again just to marvel at it's horribleness (and to check out a few of the cuties again).
I don't regret buying it for the above reasons, but those who have better things to do with their money would be better off renting, or skipping this untalented writer/director's first, and hopefully last, film.
(I truly doubt that the 10 star reviews posted here were written by anyone other than someone connected with this film.)