Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

good back-story, and good acting

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The reviews here have been uniformly negative and in some cases even nasty and although I would like to understand all the negativity I really cannot. I thoroughly enjoyed this film because the male lead really had me going and frankly I did not give a hoot how many holes there were in the script and there were plenty because I just could not stop looking at this guy he's that incredible. The story, let's face it, is far-fetched but hey it's the movies folks and we don't go to the movies to watch everyday life - we want to see something new and different and this film stretches the point almost to the breaking, but even still it works for me because I just could not take my eyes off the male lead. Even the ending which most here found absurd worked for me because it showed exactly what happens when a straight guy thinks he has been screwed by a gay guy and this is just what the straight guy here thought - and in fact he had - not literally but mentally and that was just as bad.

I'd like to defend this as a wonderful film, one of the best I've seen in 5 years or so. Other reviewers obviously have a different take on the film and I can respect those views but I'd suggest a different interpretation from the one they present: The story revolves around David, a handsome and macho construction foreman who is in love (secretly) with his childhood best friend Theo. David has acclimated to casual sex on the side as long as his primary emotional bond with Theo is intact. When Theo becomes seriously involved with a woman David is in a crisis.David O'Neil is a man who has reached the age of 23 without having had an adolescence. Like a lot of us gays he has hidden his true feelings until well past the era when there's something of a 'safety net' around him in the form of friends and older siblings who help most teens navigate treacherous the waters of love and the pain of rejection. David has the usual flaw which comes with growing up gay in a homophobic society. He's been prevented from gaining emotional maturity by expressing love for the person he loves when he's 14 or 16 years old. So he's making the sort of blunders which most people make when they are 16 years old, though unfortunately with adult consequences.I think Aisling Walsh (director) and Mark Burt (writer) are highly sympathetic with David's plight and they understand him quite well. The film is unflinching in its treatment of its subject and certainly does not end with a rosy soft focus closure. We last see David bloody and rejected by most everyone, and yet smiling and saying, "This has been the best day of my life." That is the central theme of the film.Steve John Shepherd gives a riveting wonderful performance as David. John Simm (as Theo) is one of the most effortlessly naturalistic actors I've seen, comparable to Russel Crowe in his early-90s Australian films. Acting does not get much better than this.-Steve Robertson

I bought the DVD based on a couple of reviews that I read. Of course, they were on the website, that was selling the DVD. I normally will check out the movie from the library or video store, before buying it. I guess I should have with this one. The acting was fine, but the storyline was easy to predict. The entire movie seemed rather slow to me. I'm talking about the pace, not lack of action. Although it lacks in that area as well. I think a movie should be entertaining, AND thought provoking. I found this movie to be neither. I realize that everyone has their opinion. Mine, is that I wasted my money. Sorry. I guess as a gay man, I expected more.

I enjoyed watching Steve John Sheppard and John Simm in the lead roles. They handled their parts as competently as the script allowed.The script, unfortunately, is the problem. It appears that homophobia is alive and well in the UK, as is the convention that gay romances must end in violence to show how unspeakably nasty the gay character is.Boy comes out. Admits to his best friend of 14 years that he loves him (on a Jerry Springer type of show, no less). Father throws boy out of house. Ex-best-friend assaults him with a pipe. End of movie.This is formulaic to the point that reactions are not developed. The scriptwriter assumes that the audience will use their own prejudices to help advance the development of the story and, thus, things occur without background exploration. They just happen, in a typical homophobic way.The mother makes a homophobic comment about an ex-schoolmate, but it's she who supports her son when he comes out. The father--for no reason we're given--throws the boy out of the house. The best friend of 14 years seems to have ignored the signals that must have come from a close relationship of that length. If this is typical of UK television, I'll stick with HBO and Cinemax, thank you.Rent the movie if you must, but don't buy it. That will just encourage more of this type of tripe being produced in the future.