Amazon.com
After the comparative success of
Boys Life, four more budding filmmakers were invited to share their talents in a quartet of unorthodox--and very different--20-minute stories about being a gay male in the four corners of America.
Boys Life 2 isn't as affecting as the original, maybe because the stories are less personal, have less time to develop character and narrative, and focus more on surface effect--they're rather like going cruising instead of looking for true love. In fact, only one of the shorts--"Alkali, Iowa," by Mark Christopher (who later directed
54)--has real resonance and depth. The rest are tainted by stereotypes and buffed-up eye candy ("Must Be the Music" by Nickolas Perry); oddball black humor ("Nunzio's Second Cousin" by Tom DeCerchio, which stars Vincent D'Onofrio doing that ranting and raving thing he does so well); and enigmatic wisp ("The Dadshuttle" by Tom Donaghy).
Boys Life dealt with freshman themes--first crush, first love, and first realization of one's sexual identity--while
Boys Life 2 is a second glance, older and a little bit wiser, and more jaded. Like many second efforts it suffers from that thing called "sophomore curse" and doesn't live up to the early promise and the more soulful impact of its predecessor.
--Paula Nechak
