Out To Kill (U.S. 2014)

The Gist:

A gay private investigator moves into a gay condo complex where he meets his gay neighbors: a gay middle-aged couple, a gay singer, a mysterious gay, a gay dentist, and a gay threesome of three gay sex positive, hot gay men. Before he can settle down into his new gay life in the gayborhood there’s a gay murder when one of his gay neighbors ends up gay dead, but who did it when almost all the gays hated the dead gay guy?

Comments with some minor spoilers that do not reveal the solution to "who done it": 

Okay, I’m obviously being facetious with my overuse of the word gay in the plot summary. Unfairly so, as this is not the first, last, nor only movie where essentially every single person in town is gay. Well, except for the lone woman present and presumably the unseen Tampa police (who are described as not caring if a gay guy is dead). It is just that for whatever reason it seems more obvious in this movie than most, just how insular and gay specific these men’s lives are.

Despite all this ‘gay’ going around, the murder plot is not actually ‘gay’ dependent, and (given some changes in gender to force it into the 'real' world) could easily be a murder mystery of the week TV movie, well, if murder mystery movies of the week were still a thing that is.  The mystery is a fair play one, more or less, and if you pay attention to the clues is solvable. Maybe too solvable? I tend to assume any story where I can figure out the murderer before the end as being too easy. 

Mystery aside, switching to the quality of the movie, it's clear that many of the actors were hired for their looks rather than acting skills. Which brings up that the casting is a little odd in that it’s not just attractive mostly white men, but rather attractive mostly white men who all appear to be roughly the same age. I don't think it is actually the case, but given there are jokes about the middle-aged couple being an entire generation older than everyone else, it is weird how everyone seems to be within five-seven years of each other. 

In the end, it’s neither overly bad nor good, just an average meh movie, and no loss if you miss it or not.

Women:

One

People of Color:

One

Gratuitous nudity:

Is a bare butt shot of a guy described in story as being a slut character development rather than an excuse at fulfilling gay flick stereotypes of nakedness for the sake of nakedness? Considering the way the rest of the movie is done, in this case I'd say yes it is. 

• Director: Rob Williams
• Writer: Rob Williams
• Actors: Scott Sell, Rob Moretti, Marc Strano
• Time
• IMDB

The Men Next Door (U.S. 2012)

The Gist:

Facing his 40th birthday alone because all his friends have bailed on him, things are not looking good for Doug. Until he meets his new hunky 30 year old neighbor and they hit it off. Although in truth things were not really that bad for him, after all he is also dating a hunky 50 year old as well. At least things weren't bad until the 30 year old and 50 year old meet each other and it turns out they are father and son. 

Commentary:

Despite the daddy / son porn set up, and the occasional gratuitous (and frankly distracting) penis shots, this is not a kinky porn video, but rather a romantic comedy. One with issues. The lead's main personality trait seems to be that he's indecisive then again everyone else comes off as shallow, so maybe being wishy washy isn't too bad. There's is also a bit too much reliance on goofy comedy that's not so much with the funny. 

My main problem with the movie is the overindulgence in the indie gay flicks MUST have nudity stereotype. A scene with two friends talking should have the viewer paying attention to dialogue, not to wonder why one of them is standing around wearing only a shirt without pants or underwear showing off his dick for utterly no reason at all. 

There are plenty of ways to include nudity in a movie that makes sense and helps push the story along, but that is not what happens here. Instead the near random use of it gets distracting, and for me at least it leads to wondering about the thought process actors use when deciding whether to play nude roles or not, the casting process, and what their contracts look like. In other words, pulling me out of the story entirely. 

All that aside, it's not exactly a bad movie. The acting is, well, not horrible, and the story is sort of interesting (if overly melodramatic). In the end it, it's just a mostly average, fluffy gay flick.

Women:

One

People of color:

None

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes

• Director: Rob Williams
• Writer: Rob Williams
• Actors: Eric Dean, Michael Nicklin, Benjamin Lutz
• 84 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