All the Rage

I was extremely bewildered by the purpose of this film, but even more bewildered by the positive reviews a few people have left for it. It truly holds almost no value as a movie or social commentary at all. The acting is static and makes you feel like you are watching the first performance of several understudys. The subplot involving Merle Perkins' character Susan is unrelated and incomplete. The random black and white vignettes featuring the main character "Christopher Bedford" are intrusive and uninformative and I didn't care for a single one of the shallow, archetypical characters we were supposed to relate to.

The fact that people found some scathing commentary on the emptiness of the pretty boy "gym-bunny" gay lifestyle within this contrived film astounds me. Did I miss something? I saw a story about one man who sleeps around, cheats, and ends up lonely...Was that not an obvious conclusion? The emotionally charged ending seems out of place and adds 5 minutes of drama to a film that was an hour and a half of blah blah blah....YAWN

Just what I needed, a gay "Your Friends and Neighbors." Not. Add to the down, tired material dialogue that sounded as if it were being read off cue cards, boring camera work, dull locales, and endless conversations, often as people plodded along in some park. Ugh! What a disappointment! I kept waiting for it to get better. It didn't.

As a gay man, I can honestly say I HATED this film. It does TRY to show a certain type of gay man (obssessed with the gym, high-paying job, can't commit, treats everyone like dirt) but it fails miserably. Crummy cinematography, really pathetic script (I couldn't believe the actors actually SPOKE these words without gagging or barfing), even worse acting, not ONE sympathetic character, and an ending that doesn't make a bit of sense, seeing it just tells us the same things we've been hearing since the beginning of the movie! This film actually makes the characters in "The Boys in the Band" seem like positive gay men! Also, this "group" of people just shows a VERY small portion of the gay society. It also portrays every gay man as a vicious queen. I can't believe a gay man wrote and directed this movie. Talk about "internalized homophobia"! A total waste of time (I can't say talent). DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!

Here's a film that holds a mirror up to the sometimes shallow, narcissistic, gay male urban world. But why did it take so long for a movie like this to be made? Instead, the "gay" films that do receive distribution tend to be either light comedies about queens or depressing dramas about AIDS. So along comes "All The Rage" like a breath of fresh air--multi-dimensional characters, gay and straight people as friends, and, yes, a fair amount of humor, both light and dark. For a low-budget movie that was adapted from a stage play, the film is very cinematic, with beautiful colors and fluid camerawork. The acting is uniformly strong, with Jeff Miller's quick appearance at the end an especially powerful performance. Although the film has been a hit at festivals around the world, it's no surprise that it hasn't received wide release from a major distributor. It takes a hard look at a certain subculture and resists stereotypes. And everyone knows Hollywood operates out of fear and rehashing what worked before (sequels). Since "All the Rage" breaks new ground, it's deemed too "difficult" for mainstream audiences. What a shame. Writer/director/composer Roland Tec should be applauded not only for having the guts to take on this subject matter, but for pulling it off with such finesse. This first-time feature director is already head and shoulders above many veteran directors who keep churning out trite, recycled, safe "entertainment". Bravo!

Roland Tec's full length movie debut easily holds its own against other recent breaking-the-mold independent films like "In the Company of Men." This is one of the most thought- provoking, enjoyable films I've ever seen.

This film leaves you lost in thought and practically forces you to reexamine your life and your attitude toward others. All in all, "All the Rage" is a remarkable debut for Tec -- definitely worth seeing!