Adam & Steve (2005)

Though this movie takes place post-2001, it plays as if it takes place in the early 90s - the montage of the two men dating has repeated scenes of anti-gay (minor) violence, parents taking their kids away from seeing two men kiss, etc. As well, Steve's roommate talks about the gay scene as if it were still entirely defined by anonymous sex and bathhouses. While I suppose that the gay community is entitled to its outdated and belittling movies just like the straight community, this movie is not heartwarming or a good portrayal of the modern gay community. I was hoping for a happy-go-lucky and sweet movie, and just got annoyed and offended.

Sometimes the problem with movies from a writer or director (in this case both) with few (if any) produced credits is that they takes all these bits and pieces from all these ideas they have in unproduced or partially finished or contemplated scripts and stuff them into one movie. That is the big flaw in this movie: there are far too many and far too severe tonal shifts. While quirky (particularly in the romantic comedy genre) is the new flavor of the month, there is a limit to how much of it you need. While a largely G/L audience (and frankly, who else was going to -- or has -- watch this, Chris Kattan and Parker Posey notwithstanding?) can certainly laugh as something like the hair product scene in Something About Mary or at Borat, the ex-law scene was not the way to introduce that here.Also, if you are going to do a scene with your leads at well more than a decade younger that they are currently playing (or are in real life), find some younger actors -- no matter what your budget is! In addition to not being particularly convincing, as played and written, as the romantic leads, Chester and Gets should not have played there far younger self, even in Chester's case, with his Robert Smithish goth makeup. Unfortunately, under all that makeup, you could still easily see the lines in his face and around his eyes, which he certainly didn't have in Swoon. In addition to these inconsistencies in tone and genre, and the weakness of the chemistry between the leads (think Anne Heche and Harrison Ford, only both at the same age), the film also suffered from predictability in both the gags and the serious notes of the script.Worth a rental, at most - not worthing adding to your collection and certainly not worth theater admission.

My summary pretty much says it all. I hate to ponder all the glowing reviews of this travesty at IMDb which would lead me to believe that my fellow gay audience must be so starved for entertainment, that they would praise a mess like this.Let's go through the list of what's wrong with this movie.Firstly, it has a terrible script. The jokes fall flat everywhere, the characters are cardboard, and there isn't a single sympathetic character to be found in the whole movie. I love that some people have found it "realistic". Believe me, there aren't any people that resemble the idiots and misfits in this film; gay people, straight people, parents; you name it. They are mostly all unattractive, hapless people that you don't want to spend 90 minutes with.Secondly, the movie is horribly miscast. Craig Chester is not a good director regardless of the budget. He shouldn't have cast himself in the lead; he hasn't a wit of charm. Why Steve would want this guy is a complete mystery. George Bush has more personality. I always worry how much of an ego trip is really involved in someone writing, directing and staring in a movie. With results like this, it should be a criminal offense. The other actors are equally bad. Mr. Chester and Mr. Gets are so bad in the movie's first scenes, you know they won't get any better later on. Parker Posey looks bored with the whole project. Adam's parents and sister can't act; neither can Steve's; his mother looks the same age as he does. The straight room mate of Steve is a miserable actor. Where did they find these people and how did they survive Chester's direction??? Thirdly, the movie is badly edited. At least half of it should have gone on the cutting room floor. Some of the scenes are so bad I was talking back to my TV screen in a sarcastic manner. Why does the dog have to get stabbed??? Why does Parker Posy have to do three or four really annoying stand up routines??? The two step scene at the end would have worked in a more clever movie, but in this one it just seems like an appendage.I was glad to send this one back to Netflix never to be seen by me again. What is truly appalling is how many people enjoyed this misguided attempt at comedy. It really tells me that we are really getting stupid in this country.

It's 1987, New York City, and an oily, shiny, nearly-naked, big-haired dancer named Steve (Malcolm Gets) is on stage in a smoky night club dancing to "Obsession," when an awkward, out-of-place, Robert-Smith-looking, Goth guy named Adam (played by writer/director Craig Chester) walks in his with chubby, Goth, female friend Rhonda (played by Parker Posey in a fat suit), and Adam and Steve are immediately drawn to each other. A couple bumps of cocaine later, and Adam is dancing his heart out and taking Steve home with him. All is going well until a heinously humiliating bodily malfunction leaves a morbidly embarrassed Steve running out the door, and Adam is left to clean up the mess…literally (I've never laughed so long and so hard in a movie theater in my entire life). "Adam and Steve" is painfully funny, but sincerely warm and full of heart as well. Love may be complicated, but this is simply charming.