Best Day Ever (US 2014)

The Gist: 

Facing a midlife crisis on turning fifty, David examines his life and considers ending his current unfulfilling relationship in a favor a starting something new with man he just met who is fifteen years his junior. 

Comments:

A man dealing with a midlife crisis and dealing with his own hangups about dating younger men has potential to be interesting. This movie however doesn't quite make it the entire way to interesting, stalling out somewhere between "meh" and melodrama. 

Part of the problem is casting and writing. David, the man turning fifty, has a boyfriend described as being financially successful, but what we actually onscreen see is an actor who seems miscast in the role and who despite (or maybe due to) saying things like "this deal is coming together," shows no actual evidence of having money. The only part of his characterization that comes through is that he's such a terrible jerk that the conclusion of the movie (stay with boyfriend or leave him) is never in question.  

Another problem is that the boyfriend is not the only inconsistent character. The lead simultaneously wants to have money and also doesn't care about money,  content to “merely” be okay and make movies (he's an indie filmmaker). However, instead of coming off as a real conflicted person, he just comes off as a wishy washy not entirely well written character. 

The main issue though is that while seeming a very personal, being an indie movie about an indie filmmaker, it feels very separated from any actual real life experiences. At least in terms of of the lead's personal life and relationships. He doesn't want to date a younger man, but why? He's settled for being in a "bad" relationship, but why? Has being part of a generation of gay men where AIDS happened right as they came of age affected his expectations of getting older? 

There are no answers provided.

There's potential for an interesting movie about queer men facing life and relationships as they face life after 50, but again this movie doesn't quite reach that potential. 

Women:

No

People of color:

No

Gratuitous nudity:

Quick butt shot

• Director: Jeff London
• Writer: James Handshoe, Jeff London
• Actors: Mel England, Tom Saporito
• 82 Minutes
• IMDB

Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate (US 2018)

The Gist:

In the previous Hurricane Bianca movie,  a teacher who had been fired for being gay got revenge on his nemesis Debbie, via his drag persona Bianca. This time around Debbie is back in town and comes up with her own overly complicated plot for revenge, sending Bianca to Russia where she will be sent to a gulag for the crime of being gay.

Comments: 

The movie is terrible. The first flick wasn't very good either, but it at least managed to hover on the edge between being bad and merely meh due to having an actual plot, almost having something to say about discrimination against the LGBTQ community, and a certain odd naive charm (mainly due to being new). 

Those mild positives are all missing here, leaving the sequel a mess of not particularly funny, obvious jokes and odd situations that throw out any idea of resembling reality. 

The movie has several throw away guest appearances (Wanda Sykes, Sally Jessie Raphael) and adds new RuPaul Drag Race queens to the mix, including Katya. I normally love Katya, but not so much here. Her normal style of stream of consciousness humor is only evident in outtakes shown during the credit sequence. During the actual movie she doesn't do very much despite being a relatively major character. 

Unless you have need to watch everything remotely Drag Race related, the movie is pretty much skippable.

Women: 

Yes 

People of Color: 

Yes

Gratuitous nudity: 

No 

• Director: Matt Kugelman
• Writer: Derek Hartley, Matt Kugelman
• Actors: Debra Ward, Richard Martinez, Brian McCook
• 85 minutes
• IMDB