Family Fundamentals
Family Fundamentals
| 26 May 2002 (USA)
Family Fundamentals Trailers

With a rare gift for unflinching impartiality, director Arthur Dong delves into the lives and attitudes of fundamentalist families who actively oppose homosexuality, despite having gay offspring themselves.

Reviews
Matialth

Good concept, poorly executed.

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Micah Lloyd

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

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Tobias Burrows

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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Cristal

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

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jaroslaw99

The description was pretty honest in that the documentary covered both sides of the debate. My confusion is what purpose was accomplished with this? One side makes a statement, but doesn't back it up with facts and vice versa. I am pretty sure I have seen documentaries that have included "editorial comments" from a reputable source. For example if someone says "these are three reasons for X" no matter how stupid, the "stupid" VIEWER is going to say in their mind "I agree with this, what is the problem?" To the person who knows it is factually wrong says in their mind "I already knew this and we are not going to change this (possibly ignorant) person's mind. Why am I watching this?" Just listening to people's pain and disagreement doesn't help me much.

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brunodutch

The real problem with this film is that the so-called Christians are all so self-obsessed and vain, so full of the cruelty born of ignorance that it's very difficult not to hurl bricks at the screen. The Mormon has it worst. But in my experience Mormons persecute their gay children more venomously than any other denomination. In the case of the 'support group' run by the 'Spatula Ministries' (I'm not making that up) that the children of these half-wits talk to them at all displays a level of tolerance wholly undeserved. As for Brian and his mentor Bob Dornen... I can't for the life of me think why he would have wasted five minutes of his life on such a pig. His speech on the floor of the house is one of the more repulsive displays I've ever witnessed. Though he manages to be quite oblivious of his racism he revels in his homophobia. That the men and women persecuted by these fools have raised themselves to live useful lives and to find some measure of personal happiness in the face of such oppression speaks volumes. This is the real value of the film. I lost most of my family when I came out and have had no contact with my father for years. If I had to do it over I might well get this film and let them see it in the hopes that they would see their own behavior in the actions of these self-righteous bigots. In time let's hope young men and women won't have to go through such torture.

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Thomas Mayer

This documentary depicts three families where gay members are shunned, or made to feel that "reparative therapy" is the only way they will once again be accepted by their families. Arthur Dong, director of "Coming Out Under Fire" and "Licensed to Kill", films both sides of this issue with quiet grace and subtlety.

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shroud41

As a conservative Christian, I'll admit I was mildly uneasy walking into the movie theater about how the film maker would handle the subject matter. However, I needn't have worried--he documents both viewpoints very fairly. The movie challenges nobody to change their point of view--but it challenges everybody to understand each other a little better.

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