10 Attitudes (2001)

10 Attitudes was so much fun! I would give this DVD to all my friends. This film made me feel I was not alone. It was about real gay men who are not perfect. Jason Stuart is the voice of the everyday gay guy. the hell with all the west Hollywood muscle Marys. Also all these Hollywood actors who think it is so brave to play gay. with there cowboy hats and perfect everything. Jason is the new breed of gay who is invisible to the mainstream studio films. he is funny, sweet and yeas sexy. Also a really fine actor who deserves the same PR as the straight actors who play the roles gay actors should of got. I just loved this film because it was so original. I cant wait to see what Jason does next!

There may be worse gay indy films out there...okay, not that many, but one or two...okay, one (but I can't remember the title right now). This poor excuse for a flick is definitely bottom of the barrel movie-making. The leading man is gay combination of Gary Shandling and Christopher Guest but not nearly as appealing or funny as either. Unfortunately, he's also the writer. The videography is awful, poorly lit, with unwatchable camera work from start to finish. My grandparents could do better with their 1982 beta cam. The tone is all over the map; from farcical comedy to syrupy melodramatic romance - with success at neither end of the spectrum (or anywhere in the middle, for that matter). My finger itched for the FF button on my remote from the movie's very first scene. How David Faustino, Judy Tenuta and JM J. Bullock ever agreed to this film is beyond me! The title is totally misleading (why not call it "Ten Dates", which is what it essentially is?) as the only attitude on display will be the viewer's - who will be sporting major 'tude sitting through this dud.

This gay "romantic tragic-comedy" was not made, I think, to be watched by oneself after renting it from a mainstream video store. As the writer/director in the screening I saw here last week suggested, it is best (and perhaps only) appreciated at a gay film festival watching it with an audience predisposed to its sense of humor and philosophy of life. The video is low grade, the situations are actually a satire of West Hollywood, being so over the top stereotypical of the area and its reputation.Though several very well known actors from "Baywatch" other major Hollywood comedy series, and network soap operas are featured, it is a very low budget production, and it shows. So, for me, living abroad, in a continental-sized country the size of the US, with a similarly monolingual culture, the true test of its success is whether the audiences here "got" the film, and whether it made them laugh or moan in the right places.And the film did that. To a packed house. And Portuguese here is like English elsewhere - it's the only language you'll ever hear even in this, the largest and most cosmopolitan city in Latin America. Many American cultural icons (known "worldwide") like Barbra Streisand, heavily used in the movie in jokes and comments, are unknown here to anyone under 50, and I mean among gays! So, a lot of the humor and understanding of the situations are totally lost to the audience. Yet the "10 attitudes" or Ten Chances for Love (as it is known here) are UNIVERSAL, and the film makes its point very well indeed. Even here and with laughs galore! But again, it is for this specific audience or the gay friendly audience (I think it goes down well with liberal young women). And DEFINITELY do not rent it (didn't even think it would be launched as a DVD) for your Flat Wide Screen High Definition Screen. The quality of the image would be enough to make me turn it off.Yes, we have had Flat Screen, European type (1.85 to 1 aspect ratio) TV with the same advanced audio as anyone in LA or London has for years. And nobody I know here would watch such a film on one of those. This is a definitely something to be seen at a festival screening with the right crowd, and screened there, it is a very enjoyable, funny and insightful personal experience, in addition to the movie viewing. My only negative words would be that it is about 10 minutes too long. Maybe 8 or 9 attitudes would have been enough. Still, if you're in this target audience, you'll like it.

10 ATTITUDES is a low budget, first film by director Michael Gallant that examines the highs and lows of contemporary dating that feels so spontaneous that it seems more like overhearing conversations in a cafe rather than a scripted movie. And for this tale of frustrated companion shopping, the minor details of awkward editing, obvious hand held camera use, and making the best of available lighting in real locations just doesn't matter.What does matter is the pacing and the funny (and not so funny) lines of each of the characters in this ensemble piece. Josh (Jason Stuart - in a very solid performance) is a thirties-something gay caterer in a long-term relationship with a lothario who embarrassingly discovers his partner's lifestyle en flagrant. Devastated and disillusioned, Josh wants to leave West Hollywood and return to Cleveland, but his closest friend Brandon (Christopher Cowan - a very fine, young, natural actor) supports him by promising to arrange ten dates within a weeks' time, a cadre among whom Brandon bets Jason will find a new love and remain in West Hollywood. If no new love is found, Jason will return home to lick his wounds.Josh gets the clothes makeover from Tex (JM J Bullock) and some tips on dating from various friends and therapist types (Judy Tenuta, Alexandra Paul, Lydia Nicole and more) and begins his arranged dating with 10 of some of the most diverse types everyone who has played the dating game has encountered (and incidentally there is a lot of fine eye candy here!). None of the 10 "attitudes" (for that is what these men represent) works out and Jason is about to depart for Cleveland (Brandon obviously lost his bet) when things change. And that change is well written and worth the surprise wait.What this film lacks in technical skill it makes up for in spirit, and if you are able to dispense with the production means and concentration the acting and the message of "10 ATTITUDES", you are in for a treat. This is a fine social comment about a problem that afflicts not only this gay population of the film, but relationships across the board. A brief, if technically flawed, breath of fresh air from some very talented people!Grady Harp