With more flaccid members on view in the opening five minutes than what you can shake a sample of Viagra at, director Casper Andreas continues to delight the boys in his trademark 'gay to the core' style.
For here we find sexual compulsive Chelsea scene queen Luke, a walking gay cliché, or so Luke’s sex shop co-worker Zeke thinks. Then again and ironically surrounded by an array of dildos and hardcore porn, it would appear that this New York cutie is possibly the only person without a man in Manhattan. Take Luke’s friend and recovering alcoholic Marilyn for example, now engaged to the man of her dreams, but a bag of pre-wedding nerves, in dire need of a drink. And then there’s lovers of the long-term variety Peter and Derek about to move in together, only is it too soon? But then who wants monogamy? Certainly not Luke, nor any of his manhunter circle of friends. Nor for that matter aspiring painter and local hunk Stephen; a man who gets paid for his services and put it this way, we’re not talking art here. Only when their one-night stand starts to become a regular feature of the week, surely these two sexual predators haven’t fallen in love with each other. They haven’t, have they?
If two of the central characters seem familiar, then they are, given co-writer and actor Jesse Archer aka Luke, alongside Virginia Bryan as Marilyn starred in director / co-writer Andreas’ earlier 2004 romantic comedy Slutty Summer and who here clearly take delight in reprising their roles. Only added to the vastly improved mix on offer is local stud Stephen, a man who on face value would appear to be everything that Luke is not. And of that he is, only in ways that are not evident at first, in a role that Charlie David of Dante's Cove and Mulligans fame relishes for all of its scantily clad worth, just as Archer is every inch the stereotypical gay boy of the piece; an in-your-face man-slut at first, only to change as the film progresses courtesy of Zeke’s preaching from the pulpit sermon on sexual morality, namely a noteworthy bid for the cinematic spotlight from Cory Grant, in a race that also saw Steven M Goldsmith as Peter and JR Rolley as Derek go for cinematic gold.
And perhaps that is what makes this gay romantic comedy work, given it has clearly been a work of love from one and all, aided by a script that is laced with a series of good, not so good and downright sharp one-liners. Sure there are negatives to be found; the played for laughs self-help group scenes do not work particularly well, whilst certain characters are crying out for development. Yet as an exploration on gay relationships, let alone the soulless environment of backroom life, Andreas delivers the goods, along the way continuing to put the gay firmly in the romantic comedy genre, given this raunchy feast of harmless fun concludes with a speech on love. Only to say who delivers it would give the game away, as the real hopeless case here may not be who you think. But then and as we all know, appearances, even pretty boy ones, can at times be deceptive!
starring: Jesse Archer, Charlie David, Cory Grant, Steven M Goldsmith, JR Rolley,
Virginia Bryan with Jeremy Gender, Allison Lane, William Hernandez, John Kaisner and Margret Echeverria as Audrey
With more flaccid members on view in the opening five minutes than what you can shake a sample of Viagra at, director Casper Andreas continues to delight the boys in his trademark 'gay to the core' style.
If two of the central characters seem familiar, then they are, given co-writer and actor Jesse Archer aka Luke, alongside Virginia Bryan as Marilyn starred in director / co-writer Andreas’ earlier 2004 romantic comedy Slutty Summer and who here clearly take delight in reprising their roles. Only added to the vastly improved mix on offer is local stud Stephen, a man who on face value would appear to be everything that Luke is not. And of that he is, only in ways that are not evident at first, in a role that Charlie David of Dante's Cove and 