MovieChat Forums > Boy Meets Girl (2015) Discussion > Worth checking out

Worth checking out

posted 9 years ago by Cobb05
10 replies | jump to latest

I've seen all of Eric Schaeffer's movies. I didn't know anything about this movie going in, other than he wrote and directed it. It is a good movie, but I did have a couple of problems with it.

First off, great cast. They were all good. Michelle Hendley was really impressive for her first starring role.

My first problem was that Francesca and Ricky kiss way too soon. I would've liked to have had one more scene before they kissed to have them get to know each other more. It felt a little rushed for me that Francesca would make a move so quickly, when she is engaged, never kissed a girl before and only knew Ricky for less than a day.

Second, having David come off as homophobic, because he was hiding his feelings for Ricky is so cleche. We've seen it done so many times. I think a more original way of coming at it would've made the movie better.

And everyone is way too accepting of everything. Francesca finds out that David bad sex with Ricky and doesn't even bat an eye.

Same goes for Ricky and Robby's relationship. Having them end up together just seems too convenient. I didn't buy it. I think just having him be a friend who accepts why Ricky is and shows unconditional love is more important.

My biggest problem is Ricky having two folders on her desktop, one that says "Mom" and she acts shocked that they found it. I can understand not havung icons on the screen, because they would have to pay for them and it was a low budget movie, but throw a few extra folders up. Or have the little brother look through different folders and find the one that says "Mom". It's not that hard and would be more believable.

The movie had a lot of similarities with Chasing Amy. The scene where they are talking about sex is very similar to the scene in Chasing Amy where Ben Affleck asks "Why girls?"

But it's a good little movie. Ironically Scheaffer's best two movies are the ones he's not in (Boy Meets Girl and Never Again.) The actors did a good job. The story was ccompelling. I think correcting the couple of problems would've made this a really good movie. But it's worth checking out.

[–] stacy0912 9 years ago

I just saw this movie and was surprised at how much it touched me-- I was even crying at the end. Although I do agree with you on how everyone seemed just too accepting, especially with Robby and Ricky's new romance, I don't, however, think David's homophobic is the cliche reaction.

I took it that he was being so over the top about Francesca hanging around Ricky, not really because she's a transgender, but he was terrified of his fiancé finding out he slept with her, and had real feelings for her. He used the homophobic rage as a cover that a big strong marine, once upon a time, fell for a transgender girl.

~Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable~

[–] Cobb05 9 years ago

It's true that he didn't want anyone to know and was angry about his girlfriend hangig around with Ricky, but it still comes off cliche. I think it could've played better without him acting homophobic. It was used as a misdirect, but it also plays into the cliche of guys who act homophobic, secretly like guys. It doesn't hurt the story though.

[–] kay_rock 9 years ago

I agree that the first kiss happened way too quickly. It didn't make sense for either character.

Movies are IQ tests; the IMDB boards are how people broadcast their score.

[–] ryapo 9 years ago

This was a great movie, I'm a 56 year old Hispanic and I'm not suppose to like love stories, but what makes it different is that it's fresh, you kind of know where the stories going but it adds more where it finally satisfies the soul. Again a great love story and a hooray yes kind of movie.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] cwin13 9 years ago

Kind of agree with you that the resolutions were all too neatly tied up. However, for this kind of film, it's better to be positive than dragging people down with shame, guilt, sadness, or whatever.

Good movie. I'm quite shocked that it's so under the radar.

[–] scott-marlowe 9 years ago

Pretty good review, although the twist with David caught me out. More importantly, you need a great big giant spoiler alert at the top of your post.

[–] dwellman21 8 years ago

Francesca finds out that David bad sex with Ricky and doesn't even bat an eye.

Well to be fair on that point, they BOTH have confessed to having sex with Ricky (damn, Ricky's getting around, huh? I'm kinda jealous of her game ), so it'd really be hypocritical of her to suddenly get all uppity and have some problem with it.

That all just served as a sign that neither one of them were really ready for the marriage they were about to rush into, so instead of doing it for the sake of their image-conscious parents (the dad's aight, but *beep* the mom), they're gonna slow it down and really get to know each other now; be more open with each other now after their experiences.

That's my takeaway from that exchange, at least.

[–] greenebean-33615 7 years ago

Just a note that the fiance is not an example of homophobia, but transphobia. You might see it as a small distinction, but it matters.

[–] Stovepipe99 7 years ago

Just a note that the fiance is not an example of homophobia, but transphobia. You might see it as a small distinction, but it matters.

Actually, I think that it's both. I think that David is homophobic because of his shame at having had sex with a man (yes, Ricky is a woman, but to a guy like David, I think that having sex with someone with male genitalia would count as "gay sex").

I think that David is also transphobic because he can't deal with the idea of being attracted to a woman who is "really" (again, in David's perception) a man. I think that for a lot of men regarding trans women, transphobia and homophobia are intertwined because of the fear of being "fooled" into what turns out to be a "gay" attraction (again, using the term "gay" in that I think some men would regard their attraction toward a trans woman as being a gay attraction).

I liked the movie a lot, but I felt like it was waaaay to much of a stretch that two people who happen to be engaged BOTH coincidentally end up having experimental affairs with the same transgender woman. To me that felt just way too contrived--Franchesca just happens to fall in love/lust with the transgender woman who, years ago, had an illicit encounter with her fiance?

Ultimately I think that the movie would have been a lot stronger if David's character/subplot had been removed. His transphobia in the Skype chats felt over-the-top and almost afterschool special in their bluntness. I'm not saying that there aren't people out there with similarly blunt and hateful ways of talking about transgender people, but the movie had a lot of nuance and subtlety to the way that it portrayed the characters' struggles. This was not just a movie about a transgender woman in a small town--it was about being a person and trying to figure out who you are (this is true for Ricky, Bobby, and Franchesca). David's character felt very one-dimensional in a movie with characters around him who were much more realized.