SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Micransix Crappy film

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

John Nail (ascheland) "Poster Boy" tries so hard to make a statement—so very, very hard—that I really wished it was better than it is. Henry Kray (Matt Newton), the closeted gay son of a conservative North Carolina senator (Michael Lerner), grudgingly agrees to introduce the senator at a rally held at the fictional New York college he attends, if only so his father will stop smacking him at the breakfast table. But then Henry attempts to escape the duty, high-tailing it to the family's house in Palm Springs. Alas, an eager-to-please young Republican (Ian Reed Kesler) is sent to retrieve Newton and drag his ass back to NYC, though not before Newton can drag him to a gay bar then rent Kesler a shapely call girl for the night. Meanwhile, Anthony (Jack Noseworthy), a former gay activist and recently fired fashion house go-fer, is looking for love but only finding one-night stands while his roommate, Izzy (Valerie Geffner, doing her best Ally Sheedy-in-"The Breakfast Club" impersonation), pops Prozac and snarls at anyone within spitting distance as she tries to cope with being HIV-positive. As is to be expected, all these characters' paths will cross and collide (at times literally) on the way to a Big Moment.Heavy-handed though it is, the script actually has a few good points to make. If only screenwriters Ryan Shiraki and Lecia Rosenthal put as much thought into telling a story as making a statement, especially when they're preaching to the choir. As it is, the narrative is more like a series of contrivances meant to move the characters toward that Big Moment rather than plausible events arising from believable circumstances. Luckily, the movie is buoyed somewhat by fairly solid acting. Karen Allen is a welcome presence as the senator's chain-smoking, heavy drinking wife, even if her Southern accent is a tad bit overdone (conversely, Lerner's Southern accent is almost nonexistent). Director and co-editor Zak Tucker packs the movie with lots of style—from quick cuts to split screens to moody gels and filters—making his movie nearly unwatchable in the process."Poster Boy" also has continuity errors galore. Cigarettes are a particular problem, be it a reporter lighting a half-smoked cigarette in the opening scene, only to be shown seconds later with a fresh one dangling from his lips unlit; or Allen smoking a newly lit cigarette, then shown lighting it a quick cut later. There's also the extra so nice we have to see her passing Newton and Noseworthy twice in the same scene (made worse by the fact that Newton calls attention to her the first time around), and Lerner is shown getting into a limo with his hair a mousy brown when in the rest of the movie it's white. Other distractions: How do Noseworthy and Geffner—one unemployed, the other a bookstore clerk making $7 an hour—afford a chauffeured Town Car? And why the gratuitous female nudity in a movie that features gay men with hyperactive sex lives? Sadly, the two male leads are only fleetingly shown in their skivvies.For all its problems, "Poster Boy" isn't awful, but it made its statements so loudly and so often that I found myself tuning them out, wondering instead whether anyone in wardrobe was going to rustle up something else for Ms. Allen to wear besides that lavender suit.

markj-64 So, the hand cam got on my nerves rather quickly.Spent the first part of the movie trying to figure out what kind of film I was watching. The film is obviously set up to be a "worlds collide" situation. Perhaps I was expecting that those 2 worlds, or their separateness, would have been better defined from the beginning.The whole project comes off like an amateur attempt judging by the lack of polish. The lighting is crap. The camera work is distracting. The casting is good. The dialogue is effective but the plot jumped around too much for me to follow. Makes me feel like I have A.D.D.The technical flaws kept me out of the film and I was left with an overpowering sense of watching a film rather than experiencing it.

arizona-philm-phan The overall theme of this film provides a passably good take on the Republican party's dislike of things gay and the damaging effects such causes and thinking can have on someone's emerging life and persona. Well, I should point out here that the preceding statement has "let a cat out of the bag" about this movie---despite DVD cover notes indicating people falling for one another, this is in no way a romantic movie. Sorry, no falling involved.A newer, younger actor, Matt Newton (playing Henry Kray, a US Senator's damaged gay son), acts the socks off an 8 or 9 years more experienced Jack Noseworthy----who truth be told isn't given much to work with in the way of a script (a most inactive activist). Example: During Senator Kray's campus speech, when Henry unleashes the big G-Incendiary in the form of a K-Bomb, Noseworthy, as Anthony, just stands there open-mouthed (only figuratively, most certainly not literally). It's a mouth position that Noseworthy could have put to much better use in the more sexually oriented scenes of this movie---but didn't (and Noseworthy does have wonderfully sexy lips).Speaking just a bit more on the topic of osculation, the best kiss in entire movie is one Noseworthy's character gives his fag-hag (which doesn't provide much enjoyment for gay movie-goers). And more specifically on the guy-to-guy bussing in this film, one is tempted to comment: how about opening your mouths some time........yer not kissing your grandmothers, for Pete's sake; ya probably won't give each other a disease.And let me again highlight a specific acting performance in this film: If a possibly gay actor (Noseworthy) is gonna take on a gay role, you'd think he, of all of them, could do it realistically and give us gay sex scenes that actually come across as sex scenes (hey, Jack, take a tip from young newbie, Daniel Letterle, as **Ethan Green, will ya.....he doesn't stint at kissing and making out). You know, I'm beginning to think we get more realistic gay sex when straight men play the roles.Some disjointed here + there thoughts:Oh, if you're looking for even a little sex, you'll find more on the hetero-side than the homo-side.What kind of scene shooting finds us guys laying around naked in the afterglow of sex......while actually in our boxer shorts. Yikes! Such a scene reminded me of the all too frequent hetero love scenes we see on prime-time TV, complete with the requisite undergarments and wraparound sheets.Something really enjoyed--the further opening up and growth in Newton's acting skills. With a little directorial help, he could maybe play a truly believable gay character in some future project.What sort of writer/director thinking is it that gives us lead character, Anthony, who chases his romantic(?) interest throughout the movie til he catches him........then sez: "Well, see ya." And what's with the fast-cut, extreme close-ups "over-liberally" sprinkled throughout this film.......this director must really like to highlight pores + blackheads.---------------------------------------------The End---------------------------------PS--So......have you by now found out whether what they say about sex & politics is true? No?!?!---well, then, just ask Mark Foley.**"The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green"

Havan_IronOak Henry Cray is a young gay man who's gone away to college and is enjoying the liberty of coming out, away from his family. Only problem is that the boy's father is a powerful, conservative U.S. Senator and around campus the son's homosexuality is a bit of an open secret.Enter Anthony, a 28 but younger looking gay man, who's been a member of Act Up but who is now more interested in spending his time with affluent gal pal Izzie and perhaps getting into the pants of some college boy when they crash a campus party.Despite being 28 Anthony can easily pass for a college guy and quickly meets several guys willing to show him a good time including Henry. Unaware of Henry's name Anthony hooks up with him and spends a fun evening on the floor of the school's darkened gymnasium. Only in the morning, after Henry has left him alone on the floor, does Anthony find out Henry's full identity. Looking for any chance to take a shot at the conservative government that he detests Anthony decides to take this opportunity for political action. Only problem is that he finds himself beginning to care very deeply for Henry and he must decide if he can use someone he cares for in this way.