Adam & Steve

Romantic comedies are formulaic and predictable. Still, there's such a thing as a "superior" genre film, and Adam & Steve is one of the lamentably few that rate that description. Although it's a gay romance, there's nothing that made me as a straight guy remotely uncomfortable. I do think the fact that gay actors played gay characters made things a bit more fluid- much better than, say, "Jeffrey," which featured straight actors overacting gay.

I laughed a lot more than I remember doing at any Rom-com in recent memory. Parker Posey really stole the show for me, but I've always been a fan of hers. The romantic aspect of the film is campy and farcical to the point of absurdity, and hence didn't bother me too much- and the jokes are constant and quality.

If I were to register any criticism, it would be of the generic plot devices- hidden identity, comical misunderstandings, the obligatory Rom-com chase-across-town-before-it's-too-late. But as I said, it's a genre film, and well done for what it is.

Nothing more here than a standard, cliché, romantic comedy that you would find in a dozen Adam Sandler films or poorly written African American comedies except for that it focuses on a homoesexual relationship. None of the characters are believable, the tone is mostly a farce but there is not a lot of intelligence behind it.

I believe this film is getting a decent buzz, primarily because the two leads are actually gay and rarely do we see supposed "real-life" portrayal of gays in romantic comedies.

The filmmakers intent was to show what it is really like to be in a homosexual relationship and that they have the same feelings, concerns, desires, etc as heterosexual couples. The main problem is that the tone is so absurd and light and none of it seems like real life at all, you don't believe or engage in the characters at all so the message is lost. I am not gay and did not leave the film feeling any more informed about the difficulties of gay relationships or anything even close.

There are some funny scenes and lines but also many awkward moments and irrelevant scenes just thrown in, and dialouge that just doesn't work. Many parts tried to be over the top and absurd just for the sake of doing so, nothing real or organic about them. The acting and pacing also needed work. I just didn't engage or become interested in the characters at any level.

It didn't need to be as heavy or shocking as Queer as Folk or other gay films but moving the tone more toward Kissing Jessica Stein would have served it much better. Beleiving in the characters as actual people instead of over the to characatures would have let me empathize and allowed me to learn a lot more than I did

The 9-11 references were empty and useless. I lived in NY at the time and if your're going to try to capture it at least give it some time, attention, and drama.

Any I don't mean to focus on the gay aspect, it fails as a film period, straight, gay or other, but the producers/filmmakers are promoting it this way so that will inevitably be the focus.

I'd be interested in hearing any opinions from anyone gay who saw the film to see if they felt it represented their struggles properly or if they were maybe just happy to see a light comedy focused on gay life.

Will be interesting to see what happens if/when it is released

Adam (Craig Chester) and Steve (Malcolm Gets) have an embarrassing one night stand in the late 80s. Then the movie fast forwards to 2005. They meet again but have no recollection of their earlier encounter. They fall madly in love...but then Steve remembers. Can they survive this? Also Adam's best friend (Parker Posey) falls in love with Steve's best friend (Chris Kattan).

This is no masterpiece. It has its dead moments and there are some painfully unfunny moments--and where the hell did that two-stepping sequence at the end come from? Still it works more often than it doesn't and is easily one of the best movies I've ever seen dealing with a gay couple. When it's funny it's hysterical and some of the observations Adam and Steve make about being gay and in love are VERY accurate (Chester and Gets are gay in real life so it adds more to the lines--they speak from experience). Also Chester wrote the script AND directed it as well as starring in it--this guy is very talented.

Acting is good all around. Gets and Chester are just great and perfectly believable. It's always great to see Parker Posey and she's just wonderful (catch her outfit at the two-stepping). Even Kattan is good--he annoyed me totally in SNL. And the supporting cast includes Julie Hagerty, Sally Kirkland and Melinda Dillon--all are just great.

I saw this at a sold out viewing at the Provincetown Film Festival. The demand for this was so great they had to ADD an extra showing! This is the most truthful movie I've seen so far about gay life and love. Not perfect but damn close. A must-see for gay men.

Okay, so this movie had some funny moments, but most of it just left me cold--like it was trying too hard and somehow ended up being too artificial and too phony. I thought the love story was cute, for what it was worth, but some of the subplots left me scratching my head. For example, I find it hard to believe that there are a great many red-Becky Jersey boys (and hillbillies, apparently) in the Village who are going to throw beer bottles at gay men who express affection towards one another. I've been to the Village before and think the bottle throwers would definitely be bashed back. Not to mention the harassment from the window...omg....is this a lame attempt at humor or seriousness towards the fact that hate still exists? Either way, it felt very out of place.

And Adam's family (ba ha ha--just got that one...!) seemed nothing but a one line lame joke. Did we have to cross over into 3rd rate physical comedy to make some point about a curse? The movie did have its highlights--Parker Posey and Chris Kattan had their moments, the dance off was funny and it did make some interesting points about the human condition and relationships: I liked it when Adam asked Steve what he wanted, and he blurts out: "I don't know!!" Not an easy thing to admit.

All in all, "Adam and Steve" has given me a little bit of hope that someone out there might make a gay-themed movie that won't insult my intelligence.

Craig Chester and Malcolm Gets (particularly this latter hunk, who's just so winsomely huggable---he seems so right at home, so comfortable with himself) have some real warm moments, and that doesn't often happen in gay-themed films these days. Unfortunately the pluses of this are more than a few times imbalanced by some of the following minuses:

-An overage of what other review sites have called "gross-out" humor. I easily could have stood the early on diarrhea sight-gag, had its use not been later overloaded by the sometimes diarrhetic mouth of a stand-up club's master of ceremonies (Michael Panes, was it?) and of Parker Posey's character, herself, upon occasion. Why are such remarks, like the female-bestiality cracks in "The 40 Year Old Virgin" considered such fair game in humor these days? Puke!!

-Perhaps a little over-reliance on Jewish "sensibility-moments."

-Guess, overall, I just feel that Chester has been around long enough to: know better, turn out something better, just plain old be better. It can't have been inexpensive to roll out this product, so it just seems he could'a gotten a lot more for his buck (and we for ours).

WHOA.....WHOA......WHOA.........STOPPpppp! You know what? I went back and "re-looked" this movie last night, and in the midst of my millionth laugh, it suddenly hit me that I hadn't really laughed any less the first night. Say, maybe I've been trying to make something too serious out of this little production, and that's not what it's about at all. It really doesn't have to be another "Brokeback Mountain" (as great as that was). Isn't it nice, instead, to have something that keeps our spirits up? Well, you bet.

And we can have all the "sensibility-moments" they can throw at us......cause isn't there a good, old Hebrew word that just perfectly describes Adam? Isn't it something like.......Klutz (and a lovable one at that)? And being "sad-sacky," that can be funny too, can't it? Right on!

Finally, on an even more positive note (for someone like me who's always placing gay kissing scenes*** under the old microscope), I'd have to judge that this production has not been afraid to give us a goodly number of 'osculating-lips-in-action' shots. Don't you agree? They weren't all perfectly aimed, but there were some really good ones.

PS--So, congratulations, Adam & Steve, on your wedding and for being able to live in a world far removed from that of Jack & Ennis.

***And for scenes in which "lip-locks" were done as well or better, try these: "Just A Question Of Love" / "Latter Days" / "All Over The Guy" / "Brokeback Mountain" / "Maurice" / sorry, gotta stop somewhere)