Product Details

• Actors: Candy Clark, Amy Lindsay, Paul Preiss, Bart Fletcher
• Directors: Damion Dietz
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: TLA Releasing
• DVD Release Date: November 18, 2008
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001ATWK2Q
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,669 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Dog Tags" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Emotionally daring and bristling with powerful performances, Dog Tags explores the cost of self-discovery as two unlikely souls connect. Abandoned by his father and raised by his single mother, handsome and sexually confused Nate obligatorily joins the Marines to support his fiancée. On leave, the detached Marine meets Andy, a magnetic and seemingly free-spirited young man with big dreams of Hollywood. Initially their bond is purely platonic, but the smoldering chemistry they share is undeniable as it sizzles into something sensual and intimate. Together they plunge headfirst into waters of vulnerability and desire, while the identity of Nate s father finally rises to the surface.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A heartbreaking modern romance with lessons in masculinity, October 29, 2008

By 

Thomas A. Heald "tomalhe" (Rapid City, SD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dog Tags (DVD)

Nate Merrit (Paul Preiss), a Marine just entering boot camp, is a superhero with an identity crisis: He's neither Superman nor Clark Kent. He's trapped by both a fiancee (Amy Lindsay) and a mother ("American Graffiti" Oscar-nominee Candy Clark) who don't love him for who he is, but for the the man they think he could be.

Andy Forte (the incredible, intense Bart Fletcher) is an equally lost "careless... carefree" loner who "loses track of time" and "can't remember whether something happened four minutes ago or forty years from now." Like Nate, Andy is on leave from his responsibilities when the two meet at an ill-fated "Straight Marine's First Gay Sex" porn shoot that neither thought they'd be involved with thanks to the maniupulation of its sleazy producer.

Nate, a wannabe mechanic, helps get Andy's car fixed and the two learn more than they should by eavesdropping on conversations each has with the white trash families they're trying to escape. Both have abandonment issues and while lost in dreams of the future fall in love with the idea of one another. The two can't change one another's destinies, though they both wind up choosing to be better men than they'd ever planned to be by wiping the slate clean.

A picture frame, a drive in movie theater screen, and a titular set of "Dog Tags" all fit into place in the haunting mystery of who Nate is, who his long lost father isn't, and the heartbreaking love story between a pair of stray animals.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique coming-of-age story of two young men., November 17, 2008

By 

Bob Lind "camelwest" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dog Tags (DVD)

Raised by his single, working mom, Nate never had a father, older sibling or close friend as a role model, and has been pretty much sleepwalking through his young life, doing what he was told but neer following through on anything he started. To make money to buy his older girlfriend a nice engagement ring, he enlists in the Marine Corp and, having completed basic training, has a leave to visit home before he takes combat training and gets deployed to Iraq. Hitchhiking to a jewelry store near the base, he gets detoured to a place where he meets up with Andy, a seemingly free spirited young gay man who is on a "road trip" to leave his responsibilities behind. The two misfits form a mutually supportive friendship, and travel together, visiting Andy's mother (a Hollywood actress turned recluse) and looking for Nate's father whom he has never met. Along the way, their friendship turns from platonic to a sexual affair, and the two take a big step toward becoming responsible adults.

This isn't really a gay romance, as the sexuality of the young men seems as confused as they are, meaning this might just be one side trip in their paths to adulthood. But it is a beautifully-told story of life and love, how loneliness and lack of direction can affect a person, and how much difference a good friend can make. Film is not rated, but would be a soft R for sexual content and rear nudity. DVD has director commentary and trailers. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A charming tale about an unlikely romance..., July 14, 2009

By 

Hulka (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dog Tags (DVD)

This is a story about a young man with an identity crisis who finds his father, with the help of an unlikely companion. Nate, played by gorgious hunk Paul Preiss, is a young man who finds little emotional support in the two women in his life---his trashy mother, and equally trashy and unfaithful girlfriend.

Coaxed by the women into becoming a Marine, he has just finished boot camp and headed for Iraq. Of course, before he goes he wants to meet his father, whom he knows nothing about. By mistake he meets goth gayboy Andy, played by Bart Fletcher, who is immediately infatuated with handsome masculine Nate, and latches onto him. Interestingly enough, Nate is has a baby boy, and Nate responds to the pair in a protective masculine way. Andy is also a empathetic confident, providing Nate with the emotional support he does not get from his mother or his girlfriend. So naturally emotionally wounded Nate connects with Andy, and they end up having sex.

This plot could have worked just as well if Andy had been an unwed mother, but the fact that he is a guy just adds a gay theme to a story that was not really about gay issues. Sadly, the script has some confusing twists that just do not make for a coherent satisfying story...which is why I gave this 3 stars.

For starter, the beginning sequense that seems to conflict with the rest of the story. And what were those gratitious sex scenes between Andy and someone other then Nate supposed to have been about? Also, Bart Fletcher is really a little too old to be playing a teenage Hollywood goth gay boy, and seems a lot older then 18 year old Nate.

It would be sweet to imagine that after connecting so intimately, and Andy being the perfect yang to Nate's masculine ying, that Andy would move in with Nate's mother and wait patiently for his man to come home from Iraq. If Nate was killed in combat, the beginning sequense---and perhaps the sex scenes with a guy resembling Nate---would have made some sense. But instead we get what we got, and thus a great potential is reduced to a somewhat confusing story.

However, there is enough substance to this movie, and some great performances---espcially by Paul Preiss---that with a little imagination you would find this movie to be a sweet, warm-hearted experience. But it is sad that you have to use your imagination to do so. But bad as most gay movies are, this one is really tolerable, if not enjoyable. Cautiously recommended, especially if you are bored with conventional "gay' movies.