Ladymol's Review

I think I’ve enjoyed this movie almost more than any others I’ve watched (but then I have just watched some utterly dire ones like Endgame, so I’m feeling jaded and just wanted entertaining!). This film defines the word joyous. It’s an eleven-year journey in the lives of two men, Alan and Tommy from the late 70s when they meet to the early 90s when they are reunited for a road trip in Mexico.

When the film started I wondered for a moment what I was watching. The 70s recreation is hysterical: the wigs dreadful, the sets so brown and orange! But it’s utterly authentic and everyone is enjoying themselves so much that you are soon totally sucked into the progression of the years and forget how deliberately dated it looks.

I think the two lead actors in this movie are more convincing as lovers than in almost any film we’ve watched. They’re best friends and their attraction for each other shines out of every scene. They share laughter, which is pretty rare in lots of the movies we’ve watched.

The film is a story of Alan and Tommy growing up, but it’s also the story of gay rights in America. Not told in a heavy way, but through great clips from gay rights rallies, the boys' love defines the gay rights issues and the issues affect their lives. It’s very clever and very believable.

The film ends up in the 90s, with a very contemporary look, which is quite startling after the believable aging of these men. Larry Sullivan, who plays the initially straight, Republican Alan, is the most chameleon of actors. He is utterly stunning, but seems to flawlessly become a 70s man or an 80s man. It’s quite a trick. I’ve just been to his website http://www.larrysullivan.net/ and was intrigued to see how many guest appearances he’s made on shows I’ve watched. As the image gallery will show, he can just blend into a look of a role.

The soundtrack of this movie is wonderful; it’s a real trip down memory lane, and each track just suits the moment its chosen for.

Do watch this movie. I don’t think you’ll regret it. Don’t expect gay sex or a great deal of nudity, but if you want superb acting and a great love story between two men whose chemistry lifts off the screen, then this will be the film for you (if you can bear the wigs).

Cerisaye's Review

This isn’t another road movie.  Though there is, eventually, a trip by car from Mexico to Texas, it’s a metaphorical journey of self-discovery…coming out…finding that perfect first love that lasts forever. 

Straightlaced Alan is a repressed young republican trying to exorcise his demons by writing an anti-gay book.  One night at a party in LA he meets Tommy, scruffy, long-haired gay radical activist.  It's love at first sight, opposites attracting.  Alan is living a lie, like so many gay men, in constant anxiety, mostly to please his authoritarian father (who thinks Richard Nixon too liberal).

It’s almost painful to watch Alan wrestle with his desire, a subtle but effective performance.  Tommy wants Alan but not unless he comes willingly, without shame or guilt.  He’s in this for the longterm, not a casual encounter.  One night a kiss leads to a lot more.  Then a hilarious scene next morning when Alan’s parents arrive unexpectedly.  It’s moot whether dad would be most upset Tommy’s a man or that he’s a pot-smoking radical activist.

We follow Alan and Tommy over more than ten years, sequences linked by effective use of contemporary newsreels with footage of gay activist parades and protests, then backlash by Anita Bryant and ‘family values’ rightwing moralists.  Alan’s road to self-acceptance mirrors the rise of the gay movement during the time period, 1973-1984, the golden age of gay lib and sexual freedom, that ended in the tragedy of AIDS.  Tender romance mixed with gritty politics and a hefty dose of reality.

It’s an ambitious movie with so many flaws it shouldn’t work, but somehow- and I really don’t know why- it does.  Manipulative, stretching credulity, relying on stereotypes, and sometimes silly, but made from the heart and love overcomes.

The main problem is the unsettling way it lurches from comedy to melodrama to tragedy to slapstick.  I get the point: make a serious film watchable by making the audience laugh.  It’s human nature to find humour in the most dire circumstances, a survival mechanism.  But it really did my head in, emotionally exhausting.

The main conflict is contrived, but I went along with that.  The prelude to it wasn’t quite convincing or maybe I’m too cynical.  Though I love the notion of Tommy teaching Alan how to be gay.

You can tell they’re getting the most from sets, costumes, etc. but the filmmakers have done a great job making the film look historically accurate.  And I know because that was my era.  The soundtrack is good, too.  There are some really awful 70s wigs- Angelus bad-  but time’s passage leads to shorter length and smaller hair pieces.  Ending up almost shaven headed.

The two leads are excellent.  Alexis Arquette over-does campy queen Michael but I ended up liking him, as he has a good heart.  Best friend Beverley is convincingly flaky and fun.  Peter the older, predatory male hiding in the closet, is suitably reptilian, and shows what Alan’s fate might’ve been if Tommy hadn’t saved him.  What IS it with gay movies and ageing actresses?  We’ve had Jacqueline Bisset and Karen Black.  Now Jill St John as Alan’s mother stops just about short of scenery chewing.  Are young directors so goshdarned happy to land big name glamour they’re scared to risk a warning to tone it down?  Her liberation is true to the spirit of the era, and works well with Alan’s coming out.

I think this film succeeds in the end because of its uplifting message that you must fight for what you believe in, whether that’s love or human rights…they go together.  In 1973 homosexuality was still treated as a mental illness.  The gay movement changed things for the better, leading to the more open and tolerant society of today.   By personalising the struggle with Alan and Tommy, this film has strong emotional impact.  Alan starts out in fear, but by journey’s end he’s free, gay and proud.  Worth watching.