Q. ALLAN BROCKA
Bil’s rating (out of 5): B.5.
USA, 2004. Ariztical Entertainment. Screenplay by Q. Allan Brocka. Cinematography by Keith J. Duggan. Produced by Danielle Probst. Music by Dominik Hauser. Production Design by Melissa Fischer. Costume Design by David Devincenzo. Film Editing by Phillip J. Bartell. Podcast: Bad Gay Movies.
Kyle really likes Marc, but Marc doesn’t even know Kyle exists. Kyle’s roommate Caleb has a thing for Gwen, who is Marc’s roommate and only has eyes for gay men. When Marc finds himself attracted to Caleb, under the mistaken impression that Caleb is gay, Kyle begs Caleb to keep up the charade and go on a date with him in order that he might be closer to the boy he likes, while Caleb agrees in order to bag the girl. This round-robin of complications reaches its climax in more ways than one, when some post-dinner sex on the couch involves the major players in this comedy pushing their personal boundaries. Other than this really sexy scene, however, this indie effort is an absolute mess, featuring the odd fun line of dialogue amid awkward performances and direction. Writer/director Q. Allan Brocka enjoys the situations he creates for these people, but he completely misses out on creating any sympathy for them: Jim Verraros as Kyle is such a whiny mess that no one watching him would want to date him either, Emily Brooke Hands‘ Gwen is brash and obnoxious, and Ryan Carnes as Marc and Scott Lunsford as Caleb are too colourless to be worthy of our time, despite being so easy on the eyes. It’s such a wonderful attempt to really reflect a “modern” sensibility of sexuality, but its production values are far too poor to make it worth watching.