This movie looked like it wanted to be searing drama, but just didn't really rise to the occasion. It's primary message seemed to be "if you have unsafe sex you will get aids" with the corollary "if you have aids the gay person you slept with just once is the one who gave it to you". A public service announcement about safe sex is laudable, but not a movie. The corollary is a little insulting. There were other things implied too in their dialog: if you're a guy and slept with one guy you are secretly really gay and are probably sleeping with a lot of guys; and if you go to bars to meet people you're a slut. All those unpleasant implications aside, the movie just never offered any sparks or emotional resonance between the two characters. It was also kind of hard to believe, particularly the captive who seemed to largely just sit quietly through it all. At one point the captor goes to a bar and gets drunk with a woman (to prove he's not a slut I guess) and the captive is yanking on the arm of the ratty old sofa he's handcuffed to , and it looked like the actor had to work pretty hard to make sure he didn't actually snap the arm off and get free. They also spent a fair amount of time talking about Charlie's Angels (the TV show). Were these guys even old enough to have seen it? I like the actors in general, but the movie was preachy, implausible, and dull.
Review of The 24th Day
