The Wish Makers of West Hollywood

It is a low budget attempt to deal with a theme that has certainly been done to death both in mainstream and gay themed movies. Young hopefuls arrive in LA with a desire to break into the big time.

Overall, if you stick with it beyond the rather lame beginning, it's not that bad. While the idea is hardly original, the characters are not quite the usual over-the-top stereotypes. It doesn't include pool- side shots with all the buff, beautiful people trying to outshine one another. Everyone is not doing coke in the bathroom or prostituting himself to every aging queen with supposed studio connections. The angst and disappointment is relatively low-key without a lot in the way of tears and histrionics.

The characters are, for the most part, more typical of the "boys" who probably do arrive in "tinsel town" with unrealistic expectations and, for the most part, they are atypical of those we've seen too often in similar movies that deal with the same subject.

The movie depends quite a bit on one-on-one dialogue and mostly verbal interactions between individual characters. At times that is refreshing, but possibly it attempts to be too cerebral too much of the time and at times the humorous exchanges fall flat. Some of the acting is fairly good, some not so much. The scene where the most flamboyant character, Corey, played by an actor credited with the name Matt Achine (which sounds suspiciously like it was borrowed from the Mattachine Society) tells Ben that he just wants to be held is fairly touching. The bitchy, supposedly humorous exchanges between Corey and Mary are definitely fast-forward material as are some of the uninspiring dance scenes.

It's difficult to get too enthusiastic about it, but we've all seen a lot worse. If you do watch it, don't get put off by the lame beginning. It does improve somewhat.

It's a comedy, but most lines and situations meant to be funny fail to deliver. Maybe it would be better to say they don't soar. They get off the ground, but they don't soar.

Three friends in LA wade into gay culture, West Hollywood style. While doing so, they critique it, and themselves. There is a lot of self-questioning, a lot of self-doubt. And there is also fierce individualism and determination. There's an attempt to define--in a lighthearted way--what it means to be a gay man. And there seems to be the expectation that we will come away having witnessed something profound.

On that score, I'll say A for effort. The movie wants so much to tell us something important, but, alas, it doesn't. I'll also say A for effort re mixing scenes and themes. It's close, but still not a cigar. Ultimately we get quite a lot of talking head stuff. The characters, for the most part, tell us what they are, what they're feeling, and what they're experiencing, instead of just showing us. It doesn't take long to notice the deficit.

This is not a good movie. But it's a movie that was aiming high, so failing at that makes it better than a lot other gay movies. I will say I stuck with it, so that's something. Generally, when I see a movie with scene after scene of 20-somethings sitting around talking, I bail. Even more so when it's a bunch of 30-somethings playing 20-somethings. But with this one I didn't.

I think some people will like this movie, and get a lot out of it. Being younger would help with that. Others will quickly become bored. And there's a middle ground that I apparently found.

With the explosion of gay cinema nowadays, and with so much of it dreck, I try to say whether or not I found a movie worthwhile. I don't know that I can this time. I think you might have to try it and see for yourself...