...where the best friend falls in love with the protagonist and discovers he was ALSO gay/bi/queer this whole time. The limp dick and even the campfire smooch at the end had me worried!
And before anyone comes for me, let me be clear (insert queer pun at your leisure). I love a good gay bff love story. I do! But I'm very appreciative that this movie was truly a story of friendship and support. Anyone else?
agreed.
not that i would be upset if it went there, but i like that it didn't.
i had a hard time conceiving the lead had a hard time finding a date and overall the guys were way too attractive so it didn't feel very realistic to me. but at least the friendships seemed very legit and the guys had a lot of chemistry. i was jealous of his circle of friends.
another thing that didn't seem realistic or came off as unnatural to me were several "gay facts" delivered in the movie like they were reading from a talking points list. like when they were arguing about who turned him gay, the very sexy guys is like, 'come on guys, it's obvious he was born gay, no one made him'. i felt like they were trying to educate the audience a la Glee.
I also agree.
I like it when movies show the importance of friendship--and that includes movies where the main characters are straight.
Adam was a nice, attractive guy. Once he has his act together, he's not going to have any problems finding another (gay) guy to date. What was holding him back was all of his anxiety related to coming out, his fear of losing his friendships, and not having been out there to get a sense of gay dating culture.
I also thought that the movie did a good job of considering the different points of view. On the one hand, yes, it was silly of the friend to assume that Adam would be sexually attracted to him. But on the other hand, the only relationships Adam has with attractive men his age are . . . his friends. I think that it was his comfort with his friends and desire for a trusting relationship (well, and too much to drink!) that leads to that disastrous almost-kiss on the couch.
I liked that the movie acknowledged that a friend coming out can change or make you reevaluate your relationship with that person--but that does not mean that it destroys the relationship. It just changes it a little. I appreciate that the movie took its time to show how the dynamics of the group went through some awkward phases before settling into a new normal. Most of the friends' nervousness came from a place of ignorance, not hate or homophobia.
One subplot I did not care for was the neighbor. She was such a one-dimensional, scattered character. One minute she's handing out a pamphlet about conversion therapy (!), and then later she's like "Oh, who cares? It's the 4th of July!!". The character seemed like she was all over the place and was just there as a prop villain representing the judgmental outside world. I wish those scenes has simply been edited out--they were not needed.
I agree with all your points except with the last one I find the subplot useful, I guess its not only representing the judgmental people but also to show how silly they look compared to the accepting people - and this includes one of lead's dates who has a case of internal homophobia (I love the "scarface" date, a little crazy is very sexy). And personally, I believe that not all of the non-accepting people are hateful or homophobe. I believe that just like gay people, some of them are just confused especially because of how some religions and communities describe and instill fear wrt gay people. We need a lot of this kind of movies so people will see that there is really nothing wrong with gay people. And the straight people will feel more comfortable around gay friends/people.
I also agree with the OP, I was really rooting for them NOT to be together. As IMHO, that would ruin the film. After all, as also stated in the movie, being gay is inborn. I love the kissing scene, not for the kiss itself, but how it was handled. That kissing a straight friend most of the time, just feel like kissing a brother - not always romantic.
I don't mind having a character to represent the people out there who are still judgemental/hateful/ignorant.
My problem was more to do with how cartoonishly the character was portrayed and how inconsistent she was in her beliefs.
The movie had a light tone, overall, which is perfectly fine. But her scenes take it a step beyond, like the part where she is literally peering around the hedges bug-eyed while the guys work out in the backyard. Her character felt like it was imported from a cheesy sitcom.
And I really don't think it's believable that someone who would hand out pamphlets about conversion therapy would later shrug off someone being gay just because "Whatever it's a holiday." She was taking it all super-seriously until the movie decided she just didn't care anymore--that didn't feel even remotely realistic to me.
Her character never realized that his sexuality didn't matter. She never had a moment of realizing that her judgement was inappropriate and hurtful. In the end she just . . . gave up? I thought it was an unsatisfactory subplot.
It's like the movie couldn't decide if it just wanted to mock people like her, or if it wanted to humanize them and say "See, even bigots can get over their ignorance."
I've spent the last 6 or so years around people in this category: people who are mostly benign, but who are also opposed to homosexuality. The way that most of them seem to come around is when they say "Okay, I don't like this, but it's not really my business and it doesn't really affect me." One little moment like this would have made her a person instead of a prop.
I agree. And I believe that is exactly their point. To mock them or humanize them. Or better yet to encourage them that not because they are against homosexuality that they need to go overboard. They can be "against" homosexuality and be "okay" with it at the same time. I am not sure if I worded it correctly, but I hope it makes sense. I guess the direction was a bit out of place, but I am pretty sure depending on perspective, it will either mock the homophobes from their perspective or humanize them from another perspective (those who are not against homosexuality). I understand what you mean though, I guess that bit could have been handled better but the message came across clearly, at least for me. :)
shareit will either mock the homophobes from their perspective
I agree too - it could have still been a good movie if Chris was gay too and that kiss was fireworks, but it was so much more realistic and touching that they hit that subject head-on without using the most cliched resolution.
I turned off the movie thinking that Adam was looking forward to a pretty awesome life with three 3 straight buddies that loved him and confidence that he'd find a great man to share it with.
I would have been fine with it going either way but I understand the filmmakers wanted to make a statement with that.
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