This flick has its funny moments and it had a lot of promise but it fell down flat somewhere midway the movie, and none of the characters were interesting enough to carry the story the rest of the way through its 92 minutes. There seems to be no point to the plot because the story is just as thin and shallow as the lead characters. At the end of the movie I found myself wondering what the heck it was all about anyway. Was this a story about friendship, lust, and falling in love? Was it about Gabriel's confusion about his sexual identity? Was it all about Billy's life as a long-suffering and hopeless romantic in search of the elusive Mr. Right? Or was it a tale about a never-to-be romance between two unbelievably hollow people? I suspect the screenwriter attempted to do a combination of all of the above and simply failed to come up with a smoother and more logical ending.
Brad Rowe plays the role of the handsome hunk Gabriel, a painfully stereotypical butch-boy character that most gay men can only fantasize about. At First Gabriel seems to be a really cool, down-to-earth, nice, charming, sensitive, and sweet guy. But he, quite predictably, turns out to be an insensitive, flake who toys with the emotions of his rather average-looking admirer, Billy, a gay victim-of-unrequited-love stereotype played quite well by Sean Hayes.
All through the movie, Gabriel keeps us guessing about his sexuality, from his troubled relationship with his girlfriend (whom we never see), to his homoerotic lead-ons with Billy (especially in the bedroom scene), and to his hanging out with a really goodlooking guy and girl at the Catalina sioree. Billy eventually convinces himself that Gabriel is probably questioning his own sexuality and extends a hand of friendship to help him come to terms those feelings. But the cold and unfeeling Gabriel then tells Billy that he was never unsure about what he wanted at all, and he walks away hugging his gorgeous model boyfriend whom he had apparently been seeing all along, leaving Billy standing on the beach. Now, that was cold! At the end of the movie we want to feel sorry for Billy, his having been dumped by Gabriel for a super goodlooking guy. But it is unfair to say that Gabriel dumped Billy because they were never really 'together' in the first place. It just doesn't make any sense that Gabriel made such an effort to befriend Billy and to lead him on the way he did, unless he was interested in being more than just platonic friends, or, at least, in platonic friendship, albeit with an undertone of homoeroticism. But, the way Gabriel discarded Billy during that beach scene made it clear that he wasn't really interested in Billy's friendship at all. Something is missing here, and it is the key that would explain Gabriel's transition from being a nice guy to the son-of-a b*tch that he turned out to be. Did he ever really have a girlfriend, or was that just a lie he made up to keep Billy at bay? Was Gabriel's 'girlfriend' really the dark-haired guy that he eventually ended up with? Did Gabriel ever even like Billy as a friend, or did he just use Billy as a means to get the modeling contract and the Catalina shoot? Unfortunately, the movie ends without even attempting to explain it.
Notwithstanding, as much as we like Billy, its difficult to muster any empathy for him because he's really a victim of his own superficial fixation on having a prettyboy stereotype for a boyfriend. This begs the question: is it really so that lonely gay men like Billy are doomed to a life of singleness because they can't find Mr. Right. Or, is the singleness self-imposed because they're holding out for fantasy stereotypes like Gabriel? Unfortunately for the producers of this film, they've successfully made a statement in support the latter argument.
I give this movie 3 stars out of ten. It could have been a lot better.
Brad Rowe plays the role of the handsome hunk Gabriel, a painfully stereotypical butch-boy character that most gay men can only fantasize about. At First Gabriel seems to be a really cool, down-to-earth, nice, charming, sensitive, and sweet guy. But he, quite predictably, turns out to be an insensitive, flake who toys with the emotions of his rather average-looking admirer, Billy, a gay victim-of-unrequited-love stereotype played quite well by Sean Hayes.
All through the movie, Gabriel keeps us guessing about his sexuality, from his troubled relationship with his girlfriend (whom we never see), to his homoerotic lead-ons with Billy (especially in the bedroom scene), and to his hanging out with a really goodlooking guy and girl at the Catalina sioree. Billy eventually convinces himself that Gabriel is probably questioning his own sexuality and extends a hand of friendship to help him come to terms those feelings. But the cold and unfeeling Gabriel then tells Billy that he was never unsure about what he wanted at all, and he walks away hugging his gorgeous model boyfriend whom he had apparently been seeing all along, leaving Billy standing on the beach. Now, that was cold! At the end of the movie we want to feel sorry for Billy, his having been dumped by Gabriel for a super goodlooking guy. But it is unfair to say that Gabriel dumped Billy because they were never really 'together' in the first place. It just doesn't make any sense that Gabriel made such an effort to befriend Billy and to lead him on the way he did, unless he was interested in being more than just platonic friends, or, at least, in platonic friendship, albeit with an undertone of homoeroticism. But, the way Gabriel discarded Billy during that beach scene made it clear that he wasn't really interested in Billy's friendship at all. Something is missing here, and it is the key that would explain Gabriel's transition from being a nice guy to the son-of-a b*tch that he turned out to be. Did he ever really have a girlfriend, or was that just a lie he made up to keep Billy at bay? Was Gabriel's 'girlfriend' really the dark-haired guy that he eventually ended up with? Did Gabriel ever even like Billy as a friend, or did he just use Billy as a means to get the modeling contract and the Catalina shoot? Unfortunately, the movie ends without even attempting to explain it.
Notwithstanding, as much as we like Billy, its difficult to muster any empathy for him because he's really a victim of his own superficial fixation on having a prettyboy stereotype for a boyfriend. This begs the question: is it really so that lonely gay men like Billy are doomed to a life of singleness because they can't find Mr. Right. Or, is the singleness self-imposed because they're holding out for fantasy stereotypes like Gabriel? Unfortunately for the producers of this film, they've successfully made a statement in support the latter argument.
I give this movie 3 stars out of ten. It could have been a lot better.