Issues 101 (U.S. 2002)

The Gist:

Joe is man (aged 18? 36?) who in quick succession comes out of the closet (more or less) and goes off to college (as a freshman?). Once there he meets, and falls in and out of love with a straight frat dude in less time than it takes to drink a beer. This feat accomplished, he rushes a frat and quickly ends up sleeping with his "older" frat mentor Christian. Despite Christian's habit of sleeping his way through fraternity pledges, he is "straight," or at least "straight with issues." Then again considering  Christian sets up Joe with his openly gay younger brother (despite obviously wanting Joe for himself), dumb is probably a better descriptor than straight with issues.

While all this is happening, Joe runs for student body president (as a freshman?), people are angst filled (or at least as angst filled as their acting abilities allow), male actors flash their bare butts at the camera for no reason, and you as viewer end up wondering why you're watching such schlock in the first place.

Comments: 

This movie is bad. No, that's too kind. It's terrible. This is "gay movies suck" stereotype kind of horrible. 

There's a lot wrong here. Nonsensical story, ridiculous sets (one of the frat houses seems to consist solely of a bare wall with Greek letters taped onto it), non-existent acting skills, this movie has it all. 

Even with all this going on, one of the strangest things about the movie is the protagonist Joe. It's not clear just old he is supposed to be. The story is more or less written as if he were 18-ish, yet the actor playing him is a thin haired man who looks to be in his mid-thirties (and at least 15 years senior to his "older" frat brother mentor) so it feels like he's an almost middle aged adult who've decided to go back to school to join a fraternity. His characterization is also wildly inconsistent. Depending on scene, he is unbelievably naive or a sage elder, a wide-eyed brand new baby gay or jaded old bitter queen. 

To be fair, it's not all bad. A good thing about the movie is... well, if you're into skinny white guys, there are occasional flashes of skinny white butts. Then again considering you can see much better looking bare male butts on the internet for free, this is not really a selling point. 

There's also... I guess you could watch it as a lesson on what not to do if filming your own independent movie. 

Sadly, the best thing I can say about this movie is that there are even worse ones out there.

Women: 

If you count roles with any lines at all, a few. 

If you count roles with more than a single line, then two. A mean woman running against Joe for student body president, and Christian's girlfriend who by movies' end apparently still doesn't know that her boyfriend is a total power bottom who constantly cheats on her. Somehow this is supposed to be a happy ending.

People of color:

Nope. 

Gratuitous nudity:

Yup.

• Director: John Lincoln
• Writer: John Lincoln
• Actors: Michael Rozman, Dennis W. Rittenhouse Jr.
• 90 Min
• IMDB