I Want To Get Married (U.S. 2011)

The Gist:

It's six days before the 2008 presidential elections. In California this includes voting on Prop 8 which will decide the fate of marriage equality in the state. Against that backdrop we have a nerdy man who despite being successful in business, friends, and home, is unsuccessful in love and so decides he wants to get married. 

Also his mother leaves his father, the nerdy guy has to decide if he wants to betray his community to make money, and a drag queen (playing a woman?) repeatedly sings a terrible song.

Comments:

Some movies are so bad that they swing around the scale back into being good or at least worth watching. This is not an example of that. It's just bad. 

The most obvious of the issues is Matthew Montgomery's acting. I normally like him, but here he either decided or was directed to play his socially inept nerd role with spastic tics, OCD quirks, and barely comprehensible mumbling that makes Jerry Lewis at his most exaggerated seem subdued. His acting is so bizarre that it nearly distracts from the movies other problems. Nearly but not quite. 

His character of a highly awkward adult who can barely speak is somehow also supposed to be a dynamic successful business owner which strains credibility. Aside from his contradictory character, the other roles are so thin as to barely exist. His story and that of his parents (conservative wife leaves her husband and ends up stuck in a casino becoming friends with a singer that coincidentally her gay son adores) are so disparate they don't really work together. The movie can't seem to decide what it wants to be. The songs, or rather the singular song that's repeated over and over again, is terrible. 

The very basic idea of a small portion of the movie, a person has to decide what is more important: money or integrity should have been enough for a good story, but with all the problems going on it never had a chance. 

Women:

Yes

People of Color:

Yes, by way of a single minor Chinese character that is arguably racist. Embarrassingly so. 

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: William Clift
• Writer: William Clift
• Actors: Matthew Montgomery, Rebecca Wright, Mathew Martin 
• 107 min
• IMDB

Long-Term Relationship (U.S. 2006)

The Gist:

X = Mr. Slutty Gay

Y = Old fashioned romantic gay man new to town. 

Looking for a relationship Y takes out an ad in a gay newspaper. Yes, considering it's actually not that old, the movie is already badly dated. Anyway, tired of his slutty life X answers the ad. X meets Y. They date and fall in love, but have a problem. Can they make a relationship work when X + Y = terrible sex?

Comments: 

The silly equation of X + Y = terrible sex is an over simplification. The two leads have many other issues beyond sex. In fact so much time is spent showing us that these guys are not a good match that no amount of counterpoint "we are so cute together" montages can overcome the negatives. 

Despite an unrealistic romantic comedy "everything will work out in the end" attitude, a mutual love of Douglas Adams' work is probably not the core value needed for a successful relationship to work. In the real world they would make much better friends than husbands.

Questionable romance aside, The acting ranged from ok to fairly good, I liked that it was pointed out that our slutty protagonist uses condoms, and overall the movie was good enough that while not great, it wasn't exactly bad either, just a little boring.

Women:

Two and a half. The half being an off screen voice. 

People of Color:

One female best friend. 

Gratuitous nudity:

Full frontal within the first five minutes, so yes.

• Director: Rob Williams
• Writer: Rob Williams
• Actors: Matthew Montgomery, Windham Beacham
• 97 min
• IMDB

Redwoods (US 2009)

The Gist:
Everett (Brendon Bradley), is a man in a comfortable but stale relationship where he and his partner appear to be together more for their autistic son than for each other. While partner and son are away on a trip, Everett meets writer Chase (Matthew Montgomery) and the two develop an instant passionate emotional and physical attraction for each other. Will Everett abandon responsibilities and family for his soulmate?

Possibly spoiler-ish comments:
While it never quite reaches the level of "good" I liked the movie more than I did not. There's a core of potential in it, although if edited to remove the extraneous elements, it would be a very short story featuring pretty much only the leads and shots of the Redwoods. At times shots of trees and nature are the best thing going for the movie.

Which is harsher criticism than it deserves. Compared to other low budget movies, it is fairly well acted, not totally one dimensional, and makes good use of the Russian River locale.

The movie does deserve some credit. In order to ensure that Everett is not cast in any sort of negative light for wanting to jump on top of Matthew Montgomery, a less well done version would have gone for painting everything in stark black and white instead of gray, and cast Everett’s boyfriend as cruel instead of merely dull.

Having the son be autistic (at least I think he is supposed to be autistic) to add to Everett's internal conflict might be a bit over the top, but then again, maybe it was the easiest way of downplaying the option of simply breaking up and working out shared custody of their son.

The biggest problem with the movie though is the ending, which nearly negates everything I wrote implying that the movie was not overly simplistic. I won't spoil it, but it goes way too far into "wrap everything up and put a bow on top" territory taking it from what could be real life into movie drama land.

While not a great movie, it is fine for what it is, a fairly low budget gay flick that tells a story where people just happen to be gay instead of a "gay story."

Women:
A few minor roles of mother, friend, and cousin. Considering that the movie is very sparsely populated (other than the two leads there's barely anyone else in it) this isn't too bad.

People of color:
Seems the Russian River area is all white.

Gratuitous nudity:
A couple of full frontal shots (not of the leads) that having nothing to do with the story or plot and are little more than distractions that pull you out of the movie. There's also a quick flash of flesh that depending on your attitude towards showing skin during love scenes may or may not count as gratuitous.

• Director: David Lewis
• Writer: David Lewis
• Actors: Matthew Montgomery, Brendon Bradley
• 82 min
• IMDB