Mad About the Boy

Rusty's Review:

Four stories told by a narrator who is “reading” from letters that men have sent to him, describing a relationship that really affected them.

As “limp-dick” gay porn goes, this is above the average, but it’s still simulated sex, no acting ability and absent plot. However, there are some pretty bodies (in the later stories), lingering shots of limp dicks (if that’s your thing), and lots of men kissing men.

I’m probably being unfair, but I prefer one thing or the other: great movies or porn. This kind of soft-core erotica does nothing for me. Once more, I suggest you get hold of Queer As Folk (the US version) and enjoy! It has everything these soft-core films have (great bodies and lots of simulated m/m action), but it’s also got fabulous plotlines, incredible acting talent, wonderful characterisations, great music…. I could go on. Do you get that I’m a fan of QaF?

Don’t bother with this one.

Palmer's Review:

This movie promises a lot:  erotically charged, featuring some of Europe’s most beautiful boys… romantic…sexy…arousing.   Hmmn.  Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood. 

It’s made up of four stories based on letters, telling about a relationship, how they met, what happened, etc.  They’ve gone through changes, all kicked by life, but have pulled through and are stronger for their experience.   The format reminded me of ‘Our Tune’, a schmaltzy slot on BBC Radio 1 long ago, when DJ Simon Bates got listeners to nominate a special song, then he’d read out their story to treacly background music before playing the record.

Mike Esser makes a lot of soft core erotic films, and they’re pretty similar in style and structure.  This one has a bit more plot and therefore some substance, but the voice-over got irritating and there was just too much padding.

Jamie is a gay man who hasn’t come out, studying A-levels at college. Then he meets Jason and his life turns upside down.  The camera is clearly infatuated with the boys and their bodies, with fetching blue-lit backgrounds, lots of erotic slomo, tasteful nudity (i.e. doesn’t show anything much).  Soft porn movies all suffer from their artificial nature.  They’ll show so much but no more, so passion, any sense of real emotion, is absent as soon as they get groiny.  Which is a shame because the acting isn’t bad.  There’s a nasty gay bashing scene pivotal to the story’s ending, which is intense and realistic.

Daniel is a rent boy looking for love who one night takes a call that changes his life. There’s some stylish B & W photography and nice pulsing music, but the acting in this sequence isn’t great and it’s the weakest story.

Tim and Philip are childhood friends who move to London together to work, share a flat and girls.  Then one day Tim gets home early to find Philip in bed with a man. He watches transfixed, and inevitably friendship becomes something more.

Tom is home for the weekend on the anniversary of his mother’s death.  He sees Mark the hunky new gardener and is immediately consumed with lust, like Forster’s Maurice and Scudders.  Tom is an unlikely voyeur in an Aran jumper. Lots of limp soft porn here, substituting for the real thing which would’ve worked much better for this storyline, though Mark keeps on his white socks like a hardcore pro, and has very distracting nipples. 

Overall the film is disappointing.  The sex is frustratingly coy and gets very repetitive.  Esser has very obvious fixations.  I didn’t find any of the boys particularly beautiful, more boy-next-door.  There were some good erotic moments but those were spoiled by absence of passion so I wouldn’t call it sexy or arousing.  Still, I’ve seen worse.

Buy Mad About The Boy from Amazon UK here