Issues 101 (2002)

Movie about a college guy who is confused about his sexuality. He's in a fraternity and keeps it hidden from his fraternity brothers. Then he meets a male student he's attracted to and things come out in the open.PLOT SPOILERS!!! I caught this a few years ago at a Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. I had blocked it--for good reason--until I saw it here. It's all come roaring back. First off, the basic plot is OK but this takes forever to get going. Secondly, the acting really REALLY sucks. I notice that most of the "actors" here never made another movie. Thirdly, it's flatly directed with faded color and occasionally inaudible sound. Fourth, you don't care about the characters or situations for one second. Five, the reactions of the fraternity brothers to one of their own being gay were so accepting it's almost comical. Six, it's so obvious the two actors are hating every second of the(one)gay kiss in this. Some people mention there was some full frontal nudity and butt shots (I seriously don't remember any) but you don't want to see ANY of these guys nude. You can rent a gay porno for hot nude guys.This may have been made with serious intentions but the lousy script and bad acting destroy it. At the film festival this was met with dead silence and lots of people walked out complaining how bad it was. There are many other better gay movies out there. Skip this one.

This movie was amazingly bad. The characters were cardboard, the script was painfully poorly written, and to top it off, the story (and I use that word loosely) was boring. Also, I had the feeling I was watching home movie by someone who had a video camera handy and a few hours to spare. Having watched several of the recent gay themed movies, and in spite of the fact that many of them have also had limited budgets, several of the others were able to pull the viewer into a story with the element of drama, emotion and a connection to the characters. Most of the time spent watching Issues 101, I couldn't keep enough interest to see if the story was in fact going anywhere, nor did I really care what happened to any of these characters. So regardless of budget, this film could have been made so much better. Enough said.

almost anyone with any kind of budget can make an alleged 'movie'. And that generally for the better. There's been some creative low budget gems. "Two Brothers", made for under $600 Canadian is a good example. "The Journey of Jared Price", shot in 5 days with a budget of $30,00 is a great little movie. Unfortunately, Issues 101 pales by comparison. My mouth open in aghast, I kept thinking I was watching someone's home movie. A bad home movie, with bad casting, little to no acting ability . . . oh, it's easier to summarize by saying nothing, absolutely nothing works in this . . . digital video footage. It doesn't deserve to be called a movie, or be listed in IMDb. It's only redeeming value may be to be watched by aspiring actors and/or directors to see what NOT to do. On the other hand, I will keep an eye out for Dennis W. Rittenhouse, who plays Christian, in porn. Nice face and body, and the simulated sex scenes in which he bottomed where the only times he seemed comfortable in his role.

Issues 101 is without a doubt the worst movie ever made, with absolutely no redeeming values except for a few shots of some nice boy ass, and proves once again that anyone with a cheap video cam and a few friends can make a film. Not only is the story absurd and the acting so amateurish that it rivals the worst kindergarten play, but the characters are so stereotyped that gay and straight people alike will be offended by the depiction of the characters. It was like watching a train wreck; I could not avert my eyes and I was horrified the entire time. God only knows why I watched the whole movie. Most gay actors are capable of portraying straight men with no problem; these guys were not. The gay characters were total flames, vapid and shallow and able to fall in love and have their hearts broken in the time it takes most of us to enjoy a good meal. The so-called straight characters were not far behind. One expected them all to drop their pants at any given moment and have an orgy in the fraternity house. To wit, did the writer, director or any of the people involved in the making of this trash ever go to college or ever go inside a fraternity house??? Quite frankly, I've seen more convincing acting and stories in gay porn films.In short, I cannot say enough bad things about this piece of garbage and would exhort any reader to avoid this movie like the plague.