As a story this one tries hard. That's the best I'll say for it. I never found a way to really like the characters. Each of them is self involved and absorbed to a degree that makes them stereotypical and ugly. While the main character has an all too common and real dilemma, and his mother's obtuse denial is nothing out of the ordinary, they simply aren't handled in a way that makes the viewer sympathetic towards them. I quite disliked them both at certain points while hoping that I would find them warm and fuzzy.
The saddest thing is the boyfriend and how he's treated. He is perhaps the nicest on the bunch but the plot and development leave him starched and angry more than genuinely loving and kind.
This film was also a coming out film, and though that's often painful and dramatic this one wasn't. It wasn't often funny or dramatic and though it wasn't the oft repeated teen-aged angst fest that many coming out movies are, it wasn't much different except for giving the main character an ethnic spin.
The film did try to get there, but emotionally left me flat. As is sometimes the case, gay themed means poorly done. I hate that, but the market is somewhat starved and often simply having a gay theme gets a movie made that shouldn't or wouldn't get made on it's own merits. I think there should be tons more gay themed movies, but I think they need to be good movies that are gay themed not simply expect to be good because they're gay themed. In the same way that simply seeing Disney on a label doesn't guarantee a truly fine film, seeing the word gay doesn't mean a movie is relevant or meaningful to gay people.
Though it had good intentions I don't think this was a relevant or meaningful movie to gay/lesbian audiences. It might be more to the point to say it could entertain those not in the community in the same way shows like Will and Grace do. By being over the top parodies of real life, they entertain but never enlighten and never really touch the people they are supposed to be about.
The saddest thing is the boyfriend and how he's treated. He is perhaps the nicest on the bunch but the plot and development leave him starched and angry more than genuinely loving and kind.
This film was also a coming out film, and though that's often painful and dramatic this one wasn't. It wasn't often funny or dramatic and though it wasn't the oft repeated teen-aged angst fest that many coming out movies are, it wasn't much different except for giving the main character an ethnic spin.
The film did try to get there, but emotionally left me flat. As is sometimes the case, gay themed means poorly done. I hate that, but the market is somewhat starved and often simply having a gay theme gets a movie made that shouldn't or wouldn't get made on it's own merits. I think there should be tons more gay themed movies, but I think they need to be good movies that are gay themed not simply expect to be good because they're gay themed. In the same way that simply seeing Disney on a label doesn't guarantee a truly fine film, seeing the word gay doesn't mean a movie is relevant or meaningful to gay people.
Though it had good intentions I don't think this was a relevant or meaningful movie to gay/lesbian audiences. It might be more to the point to say it could entertain those not in the community in the same way shows like Will and Grace do. By being over the top parodies of real life, they entertain but never enlighten and never really touch the people they are supposed to be about.