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34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
One of the worst, May 13, 2004
This review is from: Ben & Arthur (DVD)
I'd rather give it negative 5 stars, but it seems I have to give it at least one. I had read a few reviews elsewhere, and this seemed like it might be an ok movie. Is it possible to get a refund? The acting was poor, as was the direction, the sets (did a child draw that "stained glass window"?), and especially the script. Pretending to be an indictment of the Christian Right and support for same-sex marriage, the plot was loaded with self-loathing, internalized homophobia, and unintended parody. It doesn't even work as camp, and there is certainly no irony. Must we be recommended these films just because they are gay-themed? How this even got distribution is beyond me. DO NOT BUY OR RENT OR BORROW OR ACCIDENTALLY VIEW THIS FILM. Unless of course, you don't really care how we are portrayed, just as long as we are portrayed.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Amazingly bad, July 2, 2005
This review is from: Ben & Arthur (DVD)
To call this the worst gay film ever is an act of charity. Any list of worst films would have to include "Ben & Arthur." That may cover a lot of ground, but the movie makes you wonder how a film can be this bad by accident. There are home movies with more talent and craftsmanship than this turd on a disk. I wish I could sue the filmmakers to get back the 85 minutes of my life I wasted on it.
If I listed everything wrong with the film, it would use up all the available space. But I'll give the basics. The actors speak as though remote-controlled from outer space. The photography is sometimes so out of focus it induces headaches. The sequence of events is so choppy, it seems to have been edited with garden shears and chewing gum. And the location work is laughable. When the couple in the title arrive in Vermont to marry, they are surrounded by palm trees and tropical plants.
Now the story--you won't know whether to laugh or cringe. It concerns a gay couple (Ben and Arthur) who want to get legally married. When Arthur's Chirstian fundamentalist brother (with bleached hair, tattoos, and garish apartment) learns of this, he and his priest decide to murder them. Just like real life! Also Ben's crazy estranged wife enters the mix. At one point, they struggle over a gun. They wrestle for it in a polite, obliging way, like a brother and sister playfully roughhousing.
Another point is why an actor as unattractive and untalented as Sam Mraovich (who plays Arthur) is the star. It's because he wrote, produced, and directed the film. What's mind boggling is that he thinks he's a hottie. At one point during the film, he applies for a job as a stripper and dances like a disabled war veteran. And the club owner propositions him! And he does the only nude scene in the film. He does provoke some sympathy, as he resembles a beached baby whale, but it's still an embarrassing spectacle.
Every second of this film is so false and incompetent, it's like watching something from antoher planet. Why was it even filmed at all? Maybe Sam Mraovich thought this was the only way he could romance an attractive guy without running up his credit card.
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
hilarious, inept, and odd -- but fun, February 7, 2005
This review is from: Ben & Arthur (DVD)
Talk about not judging a book by its cover! Considering the seductive, well-built man on the cover of this DVD, one might expect a great story inside -- or at least a sexy one with enough pretty people to make even a bad story palatable.
Not so. There are only two attractive men in this hilariously inept film. One is Jamie Brett Gabel as Ben, who graces the cover. The other is exquisite Arthur Huber who plays a private investigator. The brevity of his appearance in the film is certainly one of its two greatest crimes.
The story sounds interesting: a gay couple wants to marry but are thwarted by virulent, violent, homophobic christians, but the incompetence of the script, acting, and film design thwart the production of a promising film. A glance at the credits indicates that the director's entire family helped create and - pun intended - execute this film.
The script is so disjointed it's hard to keep straight, but here's the gist: Ben and Arthur are going to Hawaii to get hitched after living together for three years. Ben chooses this moment to announce that he is already married - and to a woman. She is, like so many in this film, completely insane and comes to their apartment with a gun. Arthur's 'christian' brother, equally insane and well-armed, takes rather immoderate steps to prevent this blasphemous marriage - like murder and mayhem. There may be more gunplay in this little West Hollywood drama than at the OK Corral. Every time the boys open their door (strangely, they never ask who's there) a gun-toting psychotic appears, but no amount of shooting in their apartment seems to get a rise from neighbors or police.
There is added confusion due to the locations. Ben and Arthur eventually settle on Vermont for their long-awaited nuptials, but palm trees figure prominently in the landscape when their plane lands, and in the lush tropical garden where the ceremony finally takes places.
If you find yourself wondering about the whimsical miscasting of Arthur - a tubby little nebbish who wears socks and sandals with bermuda shorts and runs like an unathletic girl - remember he's the writer/director. The film's other great crime is that Arthur is the only man to be undressed for any length of time.
One burning question remains: why beautiful, brawny Ben would be living with, ever-apologizing to, much less marrying a peevish nerd who, when chided for causing Ben's bike to be stolen, flounces out of the room, plops himself face-down on the bed, and sulks. Suffice it to say that in some hands, reel life is very, very different from real life!
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