Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

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

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I recognized a whole lot of character types in Hate Crime as I watched this film. It ought to be shown to various police departments as part of LGBT sensitivity training.Seth Petersen and Brian Smith are a gay pair who have a new neighbor move next door. When he finds out that Petersen and Smith are lovers Chad Donella becomes downright hostile. He's the son of local preacher Bruce Davision who takes his theology from the Fred Phelps school.While planning a commitment ceremony and remember this 2005 and Texas did not have same sex marriage legal then, Smith goes out walking their dog one night and never returns. He's found unconscious in the park as Matthew Shepard was and dies a few days later in the hospital in Dallas.The original cop on the case Farah White realizes this is a hate crime, but when it goes to homicide the new lead detective Giancarlo Esposito starts working on a new theory that Petersen killed his partner for the insurance.Back in my working days at Crime Victims Board in New York State I had a double claim for a lesbian couple. One was wounded and the other killed in a break in robbery. The cops in the Brooklyn precinct where this happened insisted it was something cooked up by the surviving partner and my agency would not pay because of that. By dumb luck they caught a burglar on another case and he confessed to the homicide and the other shooting as well. I can totally sympathize with the frustration that Petersen and Cindy Pickett, Smith's mother must have felt that led them to do what they did. Oh, we did eventually pay our wounded victim.It's good to remember that this is Texas where gun laws as we know are loose and the right to bear arms is held sacred. My attitude has always been that I've paid for the burial of a couple thousand homicide victims in my 23 years at CVB. Gun control to me seems a no brainer. But God help us if in the LGBT community we ever do an about face and decide maybe bearing arms is in our interest. Seeing what I've seen I'm amazed that something like what unfolds here hasn't happened in real life.As it turns out Chad Donella is a closet case and hates himself for it. Are there straight viewers of this film out there who don't think this is a recurring story? I give you Ronald Crumpley who one night in December of 1980 who was a closet case himself took an Uzi and shot several people congregating in front of the Ramrod and Sneakers bar on West Street in New York City. I two of those cases myself back in the day in my second year of service at the agency.This is a fine film and one can only that it is not a predictor of the future.

Writer/director Tommy Stovall's first and only film is worth the time to watch for a very good story and some great characters.Brian J. Smith does his first film as Trey, partner of Robbie (Seth Peterson). Trey is the victim of a hate crime, presumably at the hands of the religious kook who just move in next door. Turns out this isn't his first hate crime, but no one locked him away after the last one.Cindy Pickett does an outstanding job as Trey's mother, and Bruce Davison is perfect as the pastor and the father of the kook. Granny Boone (Lin Shaye) is also present as a neighbor, and you just have to love her character.The police did not seem interested in finding the person who beat and killed Trey, so it was up to Robbie to find out what happened. Some secrets get exposed, and a killer is found and dealt with in a manner where it could be said that justice is served.

For movie night tonight we have chosen Hate Crime. What a disappointing and lack luster movie this turned out to be. I have lost 100mins of my life that i will never get back. To its credit there are some positives: * Gay characters that fit into society like in reality. They aren't cliché queenies. * A clever twist to finish it off. Now why didn't they put this creativity into the other 80mins of the movie. * Closets are usually gay themselves. I love this revelation and believe this to be true in most instances of homophobia. A great expose of the psychological dynamics of straight s who hate gays. Now the negatives: * The movie evolves so slow i started to focus on the irritating texture of the couch covers i was sitting on while watching this. * Characters lack depth, i had no emotional connection. So when the tragic pivotal event occurred I decided to make a cup of coffee. * Its like a B grade thriller. With little build up and suspense. I was never participating in the movie itself. * This movie's content is created by the intolerance of one way of thought to another. Yet portrays intolerance itself in it's journey. ie. Church mongers hate gays. Horrible events occur. Church people are closeted gays who hate gays!. As a gay man this film has a responsibility because of its content which it clearly ignores. "I don't put down others to make myself feel better". The content base is controversial. Though this movie is not the movie to depict it. Stay Clear...

A gripping and at times brutally violent film Hate Crime explores the devastation wreaked on the lives of those closest to the victim The difficulty of understanding the senseless killing and coping with the grief becomes chilling when justice appears to be a dicey commodity Overall the acting and direction is gripping.I was profoundly moved at this deepening tragic tale. Stereotypes for sure,but the characters' torment and pain is at times harrowing. A great film handling social and personal issues. Christianity as portrayed by the insanely righteous hellfire and damnation evangelical type or the more sedate god is love variety, the justice system choking with pessimism and poor PR The movie says a lot, and says it well.