Rating of
2/4
The Ending Had a Bad Message
Franz Patrick - wrote on 10/19/08
I usually like gay and lesbian films from Europe because most of them are more honest and are able to delve more into the lives of their characters than American films. However, this is one of those unfortunate exceptions. Overall, I liked the movie: the acting was okay, the cast is pretty good, and the story was tolerable. However, I didn’t like the movie’s ultimate message because it’s very inaccurate when it comes to portraying homosexuality. With that egregious ending, I was completely turned off by the film and I almost gave this a one star out of four prior to writing my review. But I did like it up until the ending so I decided to give it a break. It’s a really disappointing picture because, with a little tweak in the story here and there, this could’ve turned out to be an insightful commentary about gays that are entering or in their thirties. That issue of wanting to find the one and ultimately settling down is not fully explored, but only glossed over. The chemistry between Kevin McKidd and James Purefoy was cute but nothing groundbreaking. I also thought the bit about the friend (played by Tom Hollander) and the real state agent was distracting even though it provided the much needed humor. Overall, this movie had serious problems and needed a complete rewriting (especially the end) if it were to end up a good movie.
