The Ski Trip

Channel surfing and caught this on LOGO. It was one of those "I have to watch this because it's so horribly bad" moments, like Roadhouse without the joy. The writing is atrocious; completely inane and the acting is throw-up-in-your-mouth bad.

There's low budget and then there is the abyss which is where this epic should be tossed and never seen from again. I mean, the main characters go to a ski retreat in some rented house and the house is, well, ordinary which is no big deal, but they choose to show all the houseguests pouring over it like it was the Sistine Chapel. I'm sorry but watching 6 guys stare into every 10'x10' boring room with a futon in it and gushing is lame. I guess they didn't learn anything from the Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (see hotel room check scene)...wow a toilet !!! yaayyyyy !!!! I don't buy the its all over the top so anything goes routine. If it smells like...and it looks like...well, you know the rest.

Avoid like the plague.

edit: Apparently other more close minded reviewers believe that since I disliked this movie, I am an "obvious hater" which I can only assume means I am phobic, which of course is not true. I decided to do this wacky, crazy thing and judge the movie based on the actual content of the film and not by its mere presence (i.e. its refreshing to see...)

Sure, it may be refreshing to see but that doesn't equate into a great movie, just give them some better material to work with and tighter direction. In fact, I applaud the effort. Frankly, I'd rather go listen to my Kitchens of Distinction catalogue than watch this again.

I just saw this movie last night at a film festival. When it first began I thought to myself, not another "queen" or "club" movie. For a while it seemed like that was the direction that it was going in. For me things began to change a little when John Rankin who plays Omar appears on screen. As the movie goes on you see what an adorable character he is. He is the modest, down to earth, boy next door type. He is such a beautiful and charming man. He is totally believable in his role. I felt like I could fall in love with him because he is so my type. Omar is not the main character in the movie, but he was for me.

Getting back to the rest of the movie, things got better and this turned out to be a pretty good movie. There were good, unexpected twists in the plot that you didn't see coming. There were a lot of laughs and some good music. I felt that a few things about the ending didn't seem too realistic, but other than that I really liked this movie. There are not that many black, gay romance movies out there, so I give props to the writer, director and star Maurice Jamal for bringing his vision to the screen. This is my favorite movie of the year so far.

I am actually surprised that more people did not like the film. I know that it was "low-budget", but a lot of good movies are "low-budget" and are still worth watching. I think the storyline was very fresh and rarely seen: Black gay men living in New York and dealing with life after 30 and there is hope, love and even a few laughs to help you make it through. I think also that it showed the diversity that exists even within the black same-gender loving community. The characters were ones that we were familiar with...or so we thought and then now they are presented in a different light, which makes us think about them, and perhaps ourselves, differently. Honestly, as soon as the movie started and I saw the tell-tell "low-budget" look to the set, I wanted to turn it off, but, I am glad that I gave it a chance and it proved itself worthy.

This movie was different in that it didn't show the typical gay stereotypes that I'm used to seeing. But that doesn't change the fact that it totally lacks a storyline. I'm sure that there are many gay men who are just happy to see themselves depicted on screen, since Black gay characters are seldom seen, and when they are the characters are usually not fully developed. But, how hard would it have been for the writer to actually script a story with a beginning, middle and end. Or how about a story that was focused. There really doesn't seem to be a point to this film, and even though it is a low budget film, that is still no excuse for the lack of story or plot.

The dip to every chip, it is movie gold, relatable and charming . Never a far fetch climatic climb the cherry is it hold its weight in the occult classics and mainstay stream Binge feasts. Love it. Family through and through.