KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

eschetic-2 Taking the concept of a "love potion" (the elixir which, painted on the eyes of a sleeper, will cause the "victim" to become enamored with the first he or she sees on awakening) from Shakespeare's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (being done in a high school production at the behest of a strangely "arty" teacher), but eschewing all the other substance of the play, WERE ALL THE WORLD MINE is a semi-musical whose healthy but overly optimistic premise is that bigotry will not survive experiencing the object of the bigotry first hand. It is only a semi-musical although it would seem to like to be more. Nearly all Shakespeare's plays had music in them, but seldom more than the two or three passing songs that the play-within-a-play in WERE THE WORLD... indulges in, and more to the pity, none of these are set to the Bard's lyrics. While somewhat shaky in construction, the cast and physical production of WERE THE WORLD... make it a mild pleasure, but it would be far *more* pleasurable had the author/director incorporated more of Shakespeare and less of well meaning contemporary farce.

Marcus Lee I'm all about Shakespeare. Have been since forever. So when my friend told me about this slightly skewed adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, I was all for it. Fairies, lover's quarrels, Puck just in general screwing things up? It's basically and old fashioned Rom Com. Long story short, the main character finds a recipe for this magic love flower from the actual play, somehow makes it, and then uses it as a revenge tool for a town that has bullied him for being gay for forever (incidentally, or maybe on purpose, literally every relationship he makes with this magic lover flower ends up gay). Once you get passed that suspension of disbelief, concept wise I loved it. The idea of taking that one element of the original story and bringing it into the real world is amazing, and I find the havoc he wreaks with it more than amusing. The movie incorporated original lines of the play in too, while at the same time not over flooding the play with these sections or making areas hard to follow or difficult to understand. My problem with this movie? It's a musical. That alone isn't so bad, until you see the execution of it in the film. Some scenes are beautiful. When he sings in order to make the flower, it seems like a magical spell is cast over the whole film. But a lot of the singing sections are awkward. There's no real transition or reason to be singing, but suddenly we go from being alone, in an auditorium, auditioning, to weird ballet rugby players that some from nowhere and this overly dramatic lighting, meanwhile the main character went from simple school uniform to fairy wings, silver shorts, and elaborate eye makeup in two seconds flat with no real connecting context. Don't get me wrong, I think the plot of this movie is fair. While I'm not too fond of yet another gay bullying narrative, his accidental turned purposeful revenge plan is amusing. Not to mention anything involving Shakespeare automatically gets a thumbs up from me, especially modern adaptations or ones that re-envision a classic plot in a new way, as this did. As a ridiculous film, one to smile and laugh at this is a good choice. It's one of those films that originally was meant to be serious, but while watching it there's no way anyone could keep a straight face. But if you're intending to watch a serious or more realistic film, this is not it. There are too many ridiculous dance numbers and odd transitions for that.

thesar-2 Man…I would use that flower over. And over. And over.Okay. Now that's, well, over, I must say: what a fantastically romantic, musical and powerful movie Were the World Mine was. And this is coming from someone who barely likes musicals (to date and prior to this movie, I've only really took to Chicago, The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz) or Shakespeare.Yeah, I'm really not into the so-called master Shakespeare's plays/movie adaptations. But a friend of mine convinced me to finally view this "love story" and boy I'm glad I did. It's the best gay-themed movie (or musical) I've seen in years.Sports jock Timothy (Cohen, who apparently runs his own band in real life – The Guts) is influenced by his – AWESOME! (Sorry, gay-moment there) – teacher (Robie) to try out for one of the "fairies" in the school's adaptation of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" despite the backlash he'll have from his stereotypical and homophobic teammates. He joins with the boy of his dreams and learns a lot along the way…such as the love potion #9 of sorts.Meanwhile there are some subplots that are not 100% relevant, but entertaining nonetheless. Such as Timothy's mother's new door-to-door career which includes homophobia and more gay bashing across the town.I asked a straight friend of mine that I have regular "straight talks" with to hear the other side of the fence's POV about how rampant homophobia still is. He told me, without hesitation, that it was still out there and strong. This is both sad and depressing. I was overwhelmed in this movie on how MUCH they portrayed gay-bashing and thought that since I rarely see/hear it, that it was actually unrealistic in the film and it's actually going away. So naïve!I hate hate. And I could not belong to any group that consistently ragged on any creed, sexuality, color, race, or ANY group of people. So, I guess I've sheltered myself from the prejudices that not only still exist but are actually encouraged. Ouch.Well, I'm not going to downgrade this movie. If anything, I'll praise it for being a duel fantasy and realistic film. It gives you a nice romantic and fantastic journey through a real life setting using musical segments that are never unrealistic. Much like Chicago, there were reasons behind the "Break out and Dance, Everyone!" sequences. And those musicals are the only ones I like.Okay, as I've mentioned, I am NOT a Shakespeare fan. I won't knock him or his writing – who am I, anyways? – but that said, I'm not familiar with the basic plot of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" though I knew it existed. I found it rather strange that some mystical "happenings" occurred towards the very end of this film, Were the World Mine, such as the aforementioned flower that I would use over and over. Apparently this magical love-dipped flower casts spells to make love happen despite sex and sexuality. Timothy uses, or abuses, this power, with some humorous side-effects and the only cure can be in, well, the climax. Thanks, teach.Though this is really…REALLY…geared to gay audiences, I would highly recommend this extremely light-hearted and wonderfully choreographed film with great songs/music to all audiences. I had very few gripes and one involved the f-bomb in the closing that, to me, was completely unnecessary. This could've easily be PG and left to a broader audience. Nevertheless, if you can get past that (or bleep it for some audiences), this is really for all ages.

benc7ca Damn, I wanted to love this movie and I did. Well, parts of it. It's based on a short film called "Fairies" by Tom Gustafson, and starring some of the same actors. I think some positive feedback for that 24 minute movie, encouraged Gustafson & Co. to go back and expand it to a full-length production. Too bad. It WANTS so badly to be a musical, but there aren't nearly enough songs to make it one. The Midsummer Night's Dream mash-up is quite wonderful, but the plot veers off into the ridiculous when it should have stayed in the charming and touching world in which it begins. I love Tanner Cohen's voice; he's the absolute star of this movie, but he's sinfully underutilized. The choreography is so bad I really shouldn't call it that. It's unlikely to happen, but I hope director/writer Tom Gustafson rewrites this one more time for live theatre. This belongs on the musical stage.