Customer Reviews

Everyone

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

EVERYONE is very much like a Smoothie: many different characters/ingredients are thrown into the blender and out comes a puréed concoction better than the individual parts. Writer, Director and Actor Bill Marchant take a refreshingly different look at gay marriage and in comparing it to straight counterparts develops a story that is funny, touching, and makes a lot of significant points.

Grant (Mark Hildreth) has been living with Ryan (Matt Fentiman) for three years and the story opens with preparations for their 'wedding' or 'union' or 'blessing' - a ceremony that is fraught with tension from the undecided title to the agreed apparel to the decor to the timing. Clearly this is a couple in conflict though they manage to resolve most problems physically!

The invited guests are to be family only - the brothers of both grooms and their spouses. Grant's mother Rebecca (Katherine Billings) is the first to arrive with a 17-year-old hustler Dylan (Brendan Fletcher) she met at the bus stop and whom she engages to carry her box of wedding decorations, and upon arrival she takes over the place plastering the yard with garish flowers and glitter. Dylan is 'cleaned up' by the men and becomes the tuxedoed doorman, greeting all the guests with outrageous comments and a fair sprinkling of drugs.

As each brother arrives we find through flashbacks that each couple carries significant baggage into this festivity: Shep (Bill Marchant) is an alcoholic surgeon drowning in guilt over the loss on the surgical table of a young girl patient while his wife sneaks away for trysts with a weekend lover; another brother is so career oriented that his wife's announcement of a pregnancy signifying her willing end of her successful acting career makes him plead for abortion; another brother is desperately trying to have a child with a wife who secretly aborts every successful fertilization out of disdain for carrying a child by him; and anther brother is a landscape architect married to a fragile woman who still lives in mourning for the child they lost exactly three years to the day of the now present 'wedding'. It rapidly becomes clear that the drive toward procreation that many acknowledge as being the core of straight marriages is in reality the target of the weaknesses in these couples' relationships.

As the day progresses the seductive randy Dylan plays an ever increasingly important role: he is the comic relief as well as the focal character that pries open all of the foibles of the people present. How his presence alters the day and the way the ceremony ends forms the conclusion to this comedy of errors.

The cast works well in the ensemble feeling of this film. Particularly outstanding is Brendan Fletcher as the pivotal hunky, Puckish Dylan. Carly Pope who plays the 'wedding planner' Rena is a natural comedienne, a sparkling star who delivers the best and zaniest lines with exquisite finesse. But each member of the cast has terrific moments. The ending scenes bring a nice sense of closure without resolving everything in a cloying manner. Bill Marchant shines in this first venture into writing and directing and one would hope he gains enough support to continue working on interesting and challenging films. Grady Harp, May 05

This movie was not all that great at all. I bought it because I have a passionate love for Mark Hildreth and that should be the only reason anyone should see this movie. The plot was flawed, the acting was lacking, the dialogue was slow, and the characters were extremely under-developed. I was extremely disappointed in this product and would not recommend anyone buy it. Rent it if you want to see it, but it is definately not worth purchasing.

Today is the day Ryan (Matt Fentiman) and Grant (Mark Hildreth) will host their civil union at home. Their collective brothers, step-sister, and Ryan's mother all show up, most with spouses. Ryan's mother (Katherine Billings), needing help carrying a box of decorations, enlists the help of a street urchin, Dylan (Brendan Fletcher). Let the party begin.

The audience becomes aware of problems the guests have, many revolving around children or the lack thereof. Attitudes toward each other and toward the thought of a gay civil union raise tension levels within and between the participants.

Homeless Dylan has a sense of the dramatic and of the inner workings of the people around him. He can nudge some people toward happiness, but it is hard to keep matters in balance.

There are a variety of outcomes, but I was very pleased at the choices made in resolving the most damaging situations. The movie as a whole makes a good impression.

The lighting, sets, and direction were all right. There were skin shots of all the males and two of the females.

Although some of the acting may routine and some of the dialog may be unlikely, special mention must be made of the performance of Brendan Fletcher as Dylan. He was able to keep his emotional intelligence on view as he dealt with the characters and combinations of characters he faced. Even when he had no lines, as when he listened to the motor-mouthed party planner Rena (Carly Pope), he was able to stand in the background and indicate he knew exactly what was going on. His performance towered over everyone else's.

I first noticed him in the short film "Touch" in the "Boy's Briefs 2" collection. He was terrific there too. I think a film that could show a plausible arc of his life from "Touch" to "Everyone" would be spectacular.

A cast of depressive characters and disappointing gay stereotyping all
wrapped in one film. A potentially wonderful plot device turns sour as
a string of dark scenarios unfold. Few comic moments followed by
repeated diatribes from unsympathetic characters. I was ready for a
fresh approach to the subject matter, but was sorely disappointed by
the contrived script which reduced both character and plot to
depressing clichés. I had hoped the days were over when Hollywood
viewed gay characters with such obvious disdain and stereotyping.The
only standout performance is by the kooky mother whose love for her gay
son was refreshing and funny.

The first few scenes of this movie are somewhat amusing and enjoyable. But... that all changes. What could be a good romp and a reaffirmation that gays are as good as straights and that there really isn't that much difference between the two (and that both have their relationship problems), turns into a dysfunctionality fest that goes much too far.

In fact, it becomes insulting at a certain point, especially in regard to the two gay partners. While it is true that most relationships have problems, the conglomeration of problems suffered by the relationships portrayed in this movie go so far over the top that they make one feel that if all humanity should be wiped off the face of the earth, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

If there were enough time in the movie to develop the characters and show the viewer how they came to their current states of pathos, it might be better. Instead, we are asked to simply take at face value that all these people are completely unable to cope with each other and with life, and not only that, that they choose to remain with each other while making each other, and being made by each other, supremely miserable. There are a few attempts to explain the current behavior of a few of the characters, but in large part, they are so extreme that they make no real sense.

At least one of the two central gay characters reinforces some pretty ugly stereotypes during the film (shallowness, promiscuity, etc.), and in fact rubs them in your face. One scene is particularly disturbing when one of the grooms is freaking out and starts repeating over and over that the Christians are right, gay people are sick, etc., etc. Is this supposed to be entertainment or a neocon training film?

And in the final moments of the film, there is gratuitous full frontal female nudity that served no purpose whatsoever. I'm not a prude, and when there is reason for nudity in a film, I'm all for it. There is no reason here. If there were corresponding male nudity, it might make sense, but the most we see of the male of the species is a couple of brief butt shots during the movie.

The acting itself is relatively good, which is why I gave it three stars. My opinion is that they simply had bad material to work with and the director had a questionable vision about what he wanted to accomplish. In retrospect, I didn't really enjoy most of this movie, and didn't really find it to have much to recommend it to any audience.

I must be a sucker for punishment because I actually sat through the whole movie while hating every moment of it. The acting is not good! Neither is the screenplay. It's difficult to sympathize with anyone in this movie.

"Everyone" has all the pros and cons of an indy movie. The subject matter is important and quite well handled yet the quality of acting is in some cases debatable and the script would probably benefit from a bit of doctoring.
This is a story of a gay couple who wants to commemorate their three years together with a marriage (whatever is the name they actually use in Canada) - they throw a party for their relatives who come with a lot of baggage. We have a couple who lost a baby, a couple who cannot conceive, a couple on the verge of divorce, another one going through a rough patch after the man failed to save the life of his young patient while the wife has an affair, and three single women who also find it difficult to cope with their lives. All of these problems start to resurface once the big family meeting gets under way and the gay couple is not free from their own issues as well.
A street punk boy Dylan invited by one of the gay men's mother stirs things out of control, it is his presence that helps the characters see through their problems and start to deal with them. Some of them find this liberating, some remain stuck in their ruts but indy movies usually don't have happy endings for everyone.
This is not a gay movie in the sense of "Will and Grace" or gay porn so keep your expectations very low if your looking for one-liners or hot action. The message seems to be that although the two main characters are gay, they are just a couple like all other couples, being gay doesn't make them better, worse or special.
This is a movie that talks of things we seldom see discussed in earnest in big productions. It does not aim to please, it aims at making you think where you are because everyone means you too.

It seems fitting and terribly pertinent that a film about same-sex marriage should eminate from Canada, where as of this writing, it is about to become federalized across the Nation. In this respect, Everyone is certainly a relevant and interesting film, and it raises some provocative issues, not just about marriage, but also about the fluidity and the delicate nature of relationships in general. But the problem is that for a cutting-edge, independent film, Everyone is surprisingly predictable.

Ryan (Matt Fentiman) and Grant (Mark Hildreth) are an intimate, loving couple who are getting married in a small ceremony from their house. They're both a little nervous about the wedding and have been spending the morning arguing about what to wear, and what kind of service they really want it to be, whether to call it a civil union or a marriage. Ryan wants it casual, but Grant wants it to be more formal. Grant even has hesitations about the whole thing and at one stage begins to question their relationship, shouting to Ryan that, "the Christians are right about us!"

Only close family is being invited to attend, but they come with a fair amount of emotional baggage. Grant's brother Kalvin (Andrew Moxham) is a sexy, stoned-out landscaper whose girlfriend Jenny (Anna Williams) lost her child. There's Madeline (Nancy Sivak), a long time friend of the couple and her husband Shep (the director, Bill Marchant) who is a neurologist and is distraught over the accidental killing of one of his patients.

There's also Ryan's brother Gale (Michael Chase) and his actress wife Trish (Suzanne Hepburn). Trish has just found out she's pregnant and has told Gale she wants a divorce. There's also Ryan's other brother Luke (Steven Park) and his wife Rachel (Cara McDowell) who desperately want to have a child but can't conceive. When Ryan's mom (Katherine Billings) shows up with a mystery guest, a spunky homeless man she finds sleeping at a bus stop, the sexual sparks begin to fly, and Ryan and Grant themselves becoming so heavily conflicted that they begin to wonder whether they should be getting married at all.

While the production values are high and the line deliveries exactly right, the script is often trite, the narrative periodically drags and is nothing special, and the actors are surprisingly boring, and apart from the two leads, they don't possess a lot charisma. Director, Bill Marchant seems to have gone out of his way to make all the women in the film callow shrews, and the men shallow, nasty, and self obsessed. In fact, Marchant has instilled the proceedings with such an uneasy mixture of comedy and drama that the film often doesn't play out that well.

Does the director want to make a socially relevant hard-hitting docudrama on an important social issue? Or does he seek to entertain us with a comedy film perhaps in the style of The Big Chill? Everyone is often neither one nor the other and ends up being a rather strange and lackluster hybrid of the two. However, you certainly have to admire Marchant's earnestness and good intentions, and the film is imminently watchable, but most viewers will probably come away from Everyone either annoyed at the shallowness of the characters, or positively loathing them.

There's the usual obligatory neurosis and the predictable patterns of pre-wedding insanity brought on by jitters and awful family members - one brother is particularly nasty to the couple behind their backs making derogatory comments about them every chance he can get. There are a few laughs as various couples are caught in flagrante delicto and there's also lots of mandatory same-sex wedding humor. There's no doubt Everyone is an admirable effort, and it is certainly recommended viewing, mostly for the contentious subject matter, but much of the movie ultimately ends up feeling a bit dreary and empty. Mike Leonard July 05.

Everyone in Everyone is selfish. In one way or another, this fact comes to light as each character is introduced. The gay couple, one calling their soon-to-be union a marriage and the other saying the whole thing is a stupid ruse, are the ones bringing the madhouse of selfish people together. These two men are supposedly in love, but the way they talk to each other implies that they have only really known each other for a fraction of the three years they've been together. As for the others... there is a couple who have lost their baby... three years ago, and they are still dealing with grief. They are both confused as to why the 'Wedding' had to be on the same day as their baby's death. There is the couple trying to get pregnant and the man just does the deed to get it over with leaving his wife craving for emotional and physical tenderness. There is the couple that is pregnant, but the woman hates the man and decries him as being a part of her and her unborn childs life. There is the doctor, who killed a little girl during surgery and his wife who pretends to be supportive and strong but she is actually out getting her rocks off with another man who faces turmoil and confusion in an un-manly way. The mother of one of the gay men brings a homeless stranger to the ceremony, and things get massivly upheaved from there. There is the pointless confrontation between the cheating wife and the minister as she labels her a lesbian because she is wearing pants (all because the minister indicated remorse for her husband) and then everyone gets together with everyone else to talk about their problems. The movie ends the same way it opens... with a meditation sequence. With all the chaos in between, it seemed a little out of place.
Sloppy images, some disastrous lines, actors who really weren't into what they were doing, and some ill-concieved plot twists make this film suffer. The concept was nice and there were some actors who took their roles to heart... but overall the execution of Everyone comes off a little stale and a bit unsatisfying.

I'm glad I paid attention to the few positive reviews of this movie instead of the many negative reviews, because I really enjoyed it. I disagree with at least one other positive review, however, in not loving the ending. In my opinion, its moral - that yoga heals all wounds, or something like that - is the only trite moment in the movie. UNLESS that is where the "comedy" mentioned in some official descriptions suddenly appears, in which case it flew right over my head. But until then, this is an amazingly intelligent and complex movie, which manages to present thirteen major characters without a single caricature or stereotype - except the mother, who is a painfully and teeth-gratingly annoying caricature of The Gay Man's Tasteless Wedding-and-Grandchildren-Obsessed Faghag Mother.

Among the other twelve characters, not one is predictable or familiar from countless other gay and straight dysfunctional-family movies. Although few are likeable, each one is interesting and unpredictable, with substance and more than one dimension.

That may be why so few reviewers like this movie: it is NOT predictable, it is NOT full of familiar, predigested, easily pigeonholed stereotypical movie characters. Except for the mother, there is not a single familiar character in this movie; each one (and twelve is a LOT) must be looked at individually and with attention and care, and that is not what movie audiences are used to. This very intelligent movie challenges the viewer to pay attention, and evidently most do not want to. Maybe they are thrown for a loop by the abundance of riches this movie offers.