Sadly Over-hyped

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This movie made me really angry. It is a partisan attack on republicans who happen to be gay. Where is Bill Clinton in all this the man who signed the Defense of Marriage Act? No where, but poor old Bush is made to be the devil incarnate. The documentary is so biased it made me sick.I am a conservative republican who happens to be gay. I vote for politicians I think will help promote the economy and make the country stronger and wealthier...if they have to pirouette on issues like gay marriage to get elected it does not matter to me. If you extend the logic of this documentary to its ultimate conclusion, I myself am some sort of dysfunctional cognitively dissonant closet case for voting for republicans. I am apparently only allowed to vote for people with pro gay rights agendas and records irregardless of whatever else they stand for and have accomplished in their careers. These people like Michael Rogers running around like gossipy old maids exposing gay republicans are the ones who are morally compromised. What right do they have to ruin these men's careers? The mind set of this documentary is the sort of thing that gives gays a bad name and sets us back. They should also remember when attacking these politicians that these politicians are supporting their constituencies norm; they are not actively seeking out novel ways to harm gays. 99.99% of their legislation does not involve gay issues. The end result of Roger's crusade will be to get people in those elected posts who truly have zero sympathy for gay issues. It is wrong from every angle.Apparently this country will be a paradise if only the Congress was filled with Barney Franks---now there is a real nightmare.

The big question whether or not it serves the cause to out those closeted politicians. That is a question that is outside of this documentary.The big question here is whether or not the makers of this film did a good job of covering the issue. Expectations were high on my part as Kirby Dick did the outstanding "This Film Is Not Yet Rated." I was captivated throughout by the stories and those who told of their experiences with the individuals covered. I really thought my own Charlie Crist would just have insinuations, but I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Florida will have her first gay Senator.The fact shown that the Republican Party used the marriage issue to get votes was repugnant. But, these people will stop at nothing to gain and maintain power. They truly have no shame.Outstanding.

Outrage is aptly titled. Very aptly. It is an indictment of closeted politicians who lobby for anti-gay legislation in the U.S. They are dishonorable people who do dishonorable things out of weakness. If one were to tell me they thought this film was too judgmental of its subjects, I would disagree on the grounds that it remains objective to its found footage and interviewees, but I still might understand the opinion. The film is designed to outrage us by showing us the grave, sad and cyclical injustice that is being done to the gay community right this minute. But it should, because it is a view of the subject that is sadly muted in day-to-day consciousness.The reason we have generally successful politicians in a technologically developed melting pot like, apparently, the United States such as Sen. Larry Craig, Gov. Charlie Crist, Rep. David Dreier and Ed Koch is because people have family and friends whose rights as a person they vote against because they think Charlie Crist is just the most charming guy, or Larry Craig wants to do something as abstract and arguable as protecting our family values. The year is 2009 in a superpower country that claims to the rest of the world to be free and ideal. Is there any significant reason to be nice about it anymore? Kirby Dick went to great lengths to be more honest than anyone else has ever been about the MPAA Ratings Board for his vital documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated. Doing the same here is the sole key to his achieving a state of pure rage and disheartenment at the vanity, the spinelessness, the disingenuousness required to be embraced as a candidate in the Republican Party in this day and age. Yes, even that one. Of course he seems honest and down-to-earth and brave. The subjects of this documentary appear the same to that very constituency.In This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dick actually began an official investigation into the lives of his subjects. Similarly here, he accompanies an investigator already working on uncovering the truth about the candidates who have fought to conform to an ideology in order to use a public office to seal the deal against those who share their pain and deal with it to more constructive ends. We see some of them, too. And they make a lot more sense when they talk, because they're Mass. Rep. Barney Frank, playwrights Larry Kramer and Tony Kushner, and columnist Michelangelo Signorile.The film is exactly what your conservative family and friends need to see. I know about the unspoken peace treaty on talking politics, and you don't have to. Just recommend a documentary that just blew you away called Outrage and tell them to sit down because they've got to watch it. It beats the eggshell-ridden small talk about school and work and other people.

This is a new documentary from filmmaker Kirby Dick and it is a pleasure. Outrage looks at notable people in American politics who actively fight against any legislation that may help gay Americans achieve the same equal rights enjoyed by heterosexuals. But the twist is, these politicians are themselves gay and are living a hypocritical double life.The film also looks at various journalists, mostly from the independent and underground press who investigate gay rumors and then confront the guilty with the truth and in doing so, effectively "out" them.Outrage makes the salient point that the reason so many of these intrepid journalists come from the non-mainstream media is because the mainstream media outlets simply prefer to ignore these kinds of stories, in part because of guilt over their own complicity in demonizing something that is not wrong, i.e. being gay.But those people expecting a salacious film full of trashy rumor and innuendo will be disappointed. Outrage is a well researched and balanced documentary that takes a difficult topic and still manages to find moments of humor without sacrificing the necessary seriousness.And this topic is deadly serious. People have died as a result of closeted gay politicians voting against AIDS funding and hate crimes legislation. And the elected officials who do that while still enjoying the "gay" lifestyle are beyond despicable, they are downright criminal.It's no surprise that most of the hypocrites are conservative Republicans and Outrage addresses why there is such a clear disparity between the humongous number of hypocritical politicians among Republicans and the vastly fewer number among Democrats.As it is explained, when Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter ran for the Presidency in 1976, at that time, it could be argued that both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party were about equal in their support for gay rights.But starting with Ronald Reagan and continuing downward to George W., the Republican Party has made a dangerous Faustian pact with the arrogant and bigoted leaders of the Christian Right (which is neither).So, in exchange for plenty of money and votes, Republican candidates have been forced to adopt their hateful anti-gay lunacy, along with their misogyny and complete religious intolerance.This means that many decent Republican candidates who are firm believers in solid Republican values of small government and creating a pro-business climate are now forced to go along with idiotic policies they don't agree with like banning gay marriage or forbidding adoption by gay couples.But they have to do it or they won't get the cash or votes they need to get elected in some parts of the country. This is a very sad state of affairs and the Christian Right will eventually destroy the Republican Party, if they have not already done so. You have been warned!Much of the film looks at some recent, but noteworthy cases of famous gay men who have been caught in double lives like former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevy and former Arizona Senator Jim Kolbe.It is completely amazing that all of them, to a person says that finally coming out of the closet was the best thing that ever happened to them with Jim McGreevy saying it most eloquently when he says (I'm paraphrasing) "the only right value is living the truth, not someone else's conception of the truth".But, for every breath of fresh honesty, there are ten douche-bags like Idaho Senator Larry Craig. This sanctimonious fool has been rumored to be gay for his entire career and was eventually arrested for soliciting sex from a cop in an airport bathroom, and the man still denies he's gay.But, you know something? I believe him. Senator Larry Craig can engage in sodomy or fellatio all day, every day and that won't make him gay. It just makes him a guy that likes homo-sex.Outrage even manages to make you feel sorry for the supremely deluded Larry Craig. Really, a guy with this much cognitive dissonance affecting the intimate parts of his life is a man in real, demonstrable psychological pain.He needs our compassion. He needs psychiatric help. What he doesn't need is a vote in the Senate. It's the same way I feel sorry for an alcoholic who can't stop drinking, I understand it's difficult, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you drive a car.Outrage, director Kirby Dick combines very excellent interviews with a treasure trove of local and national news clips that make the filmmakers points with a hefty sense humor combined with a political stridency that you would think would get tiring, but doesn't.I happened to see the film tonight at a Preview Screening with Kirby Dick in attendance answering questions and he proved to be as quick witted and knowledgeable as his film.If Outrage plays anywhere near you, please take the time to see it or most certainly add it to your Netflix queue when it is available on DVD