Customer Reviews

The Houseboy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This movie had it's moments, and it was worth watching once, but I wouldn't call it a "gem". Hard to see where that adjective fits in, but to each their own.
Not bad, not good, just an average gay themed movie.

I think people are WAY too hard on this movie. It deserves more positive reviews particularly because of the lead actor, Nick May. He does a fantastic job creating a character who you can really sympathize with. He's this young kid who gets tangled up in a 3 way relationship with two older men (believe me, there are lot of old guys out there looking for that) and he realizes that nobody really cares about him. The two older guys go to visit their family and ditch him on Christmas. The boy ends up finding himself turning to sex just to get some affection. He tells his hookups he's going to kill himself just hoping that somebody will care enough to tell him not to do it. I really felt bad for this character. His parents disowned him and his sister is horrible too. The actor does a brilliant job of making this character feel like he's all alone in the world.

There are a couple of horrible scenes in the movie that should have been left out. One involving a Santa and Mrs Clause jumping around and another involving an orgy. The orgy was just exploitative. Probably to try and get more people to watch the movie. Which is a shame because it takes away from the serious subject matter.

Anyway, I hope Nick May finds more work because he's a really good actor.

Ricky (Nick May) is a cute twinkish 21 year old who is "The Houseboy" (2007) to a gay couple in New York City. Or, more accurately, he is their frequent bed partner, or "toy" that they use to try to convince themselves that their relationship is as solid as it was when they first met ten years before. When the couple goes to one of their parents for Christmas, Ricky is left alone to housesit and care for their small menagerie of fish, bunnies, hamsters and feral cats.

What they don't know is that Ricky overheard one of them lament that he wanted a "new toy" for Christmas, which devastated the young man, who had recently become estranged from his family after coming out to them. Already depressed by being alone during the holidays, and devastated at the thought of being tossed aside by the couple he thought loved him, he plans to commit suicide in their home on Christmas Eve, so that they will discover him when they return. In the meantime, he hooks up with anonymous tricks he meets on the internet, agrees to go home with a kindly older man, and has a couple of dangerous liaisons with a rough-trade hood he met in a park. The one bright spot of his week is meeting Blake (Blake Young-Fountain), a guy his own age who seems genuinely friendly and real, but is put off by Ricky's premature push toward intimacy.

Despite some delightful eye candy, the film's overall impression is darkly emotional and somewhat depressing, at first. Stick with it, however, as there are some surprises in store. Acting is adequate, the direction a bit sloppy in parts, but, overall, this is a noteworthy dramatic film that won some kudos at gay film festivals, though a bit uneven for my taste. Not rated, but likely would have been an NC-17 due to some full nudity, graphic drug use, and simulated sex. DVD includes some outtakes. I give it four twink-ling stars out of five.

This film is an aimless story about a guy recently disowned by his family. Sadly, that's the only thing about the character that inspires sympathy. The one facet in which this movie succeeds is showing a young guy with absolutely no self respect and his series of increasingly dangerous and drug addled trysts while he plans to kill himself on Christmas eve. Yes...it's that depressing.

This movie represents everything that's wrong and stereotypical about gay cinema - dark, depressing and self-absorbed characters. Poignant only in its depravity.

This movie isn't the greatest, but for a gay movie it's not that bad. There was a lot of sex, but the one full frontal scene turned into a rather strange public service announcement. I enjoyed the happy ending the best. The dynamic of the his relationship with the sweet black guy from the park was a little too stark of a contrast with his life. You can easily imagine them breaking up about a week after the movie ends. The deleted scenes/outtakes were funny, the best one is where an actor tells everyone a joke.

I don't know what the reviewer "Gordon Larko" is smoking. For some reason, he feels compelled to leave the EXACT SAME horrible review and 1 STAR rating for all GAY-THEMED movies. Probably a "personal problem" of his. Hopefully this review will help correct this imbalance. I can't believe AMAZON is allowing this GAY BASHER to use their website as a venue to spread his hate.
By the way, This is an absolutely WONDERFUL movie!

Don't be misled by the cover. The two guys disappear within five minutes of the opening credits leaving the boy in the center to his own devices and mainly to face imaginary monsters of his own making.
There is no conflict to speak of. The main hero apparently believes that his more adult friends (who left for Christmas to spend it with the family of one of them) intend to replace him with a younger specimen of the same breed and plans to commit a spectacular suicide so that his companions could know what harm they made.
Unfortunately, the whole story (hardly credible from the very beginning) is played rather badly so instead of a story we get a sequence of scenes in which our hero tries to drown his pain in mindless sex. At least there is sex but be forewarned - the adjective mindless was fully intended. And it applies to more than just sex.
In case you refused to listen to this (or any other) review, and then fell asleep or switched the video off halfway through the movie (warning: spoiler follows!) there is a happy ending. But I swear - by the time it comes, you will hardly care.

One star for a potentially great idea turned into the lamest movie imaginable. The issue of young people committing suicide is unfortunately a growing problem. So the story of a lonely, depressed 21-year-old gay man -- (well, in this case a 21-year old gay boy) could have been very worthwhile.

The dialogue and acting are just dreadful. And, I could be wrong, but it should be possible for a movie to show someone being bored (and depressed) without the movie itself being boring (and depressing.)

Ricky, the main character, is in love with his former college professor Simon, and is having a 3-way affair with Simon and his lover of 10 years. Simon and "husband" go off to visit the folks for Christmas, leaving Ricky to house-sit and take care of the various animals for a week. Ricky picks up anyone and everyone, acting like a needy, pathetic shnook. It's actually embarrassing to watch him go about his business. He announces to anyone who'll listen that he's planning on offing himself on Christmas and letting his hosts find his dead body when they come home. Supposedly what drives him over the edge is the fact that Simon's lover is tired of Ricky [gee, I wonder why] and wants a new "houseboy." The various characters' reactions to Ricky's pleas for attention are somewhat interesting -- for the most part they don't believe him -- but like everything else in the movie, not done very well.

It's hard to have any sympathy for a character who is so selfish, thoughtless and just plain stupid. Lucky for him, a sweet black guy, the gay son of a lesbian couple, shows up and they all live happily ever after and hopefully don't plague us with any more terrible movies. I had to fast forward through several sections of this one; otherwise it would have been impossible to sit through.

If the religious right needs more fuel for their anti-gay crusades, I'm sure they would be happy to add this film to their ammunition. Promiscuous sex, drug use and the whole concept of an older gay couple using a young boy as their "toy" is bad enough. Nick May is very good in the title role and manages to create a sympathetic portrayal of a young guy desperately in need of love. This is quite an accomplishment considering that the script basically only uses one sexual encounter after another to paint his plight. The last five minutes promises a glimpse of what this film could have been. Too bad the viewer has to sit through total dreck to get there.

The cover of this film suggests a working relationship between two men and a young man who is their houseboy. What you actually get is a few moments of interaction between these characters to establish the fact that the houseboy is no different than the other pets that the two men own, apart from the sex, I'm hoping. Treated more as a possession than a person, the houseboy recognizes this indifference and spends the entire film commiserating himself to whomever will listen. Having no common sense he internalizes this apathy as a valid judgement of his character and feels his only option is to kill himself. This comes across not only as ridiculous and unbelievable but also manipulative. This aspect is strengthened when he confesses to everyone he meets that he is going to kill himself on Christmas Eve, hoping, I guess, to provoke some concern for his miserable existence. Of course this makes him a perfect target for those who would advantage themselves at his expense, which he seems to not mind, after all his life is unremarkable anyway. Interject a love interest (Blake) who has his life together, disallow the fact that the houseboy is self-destructive, mix it together with a shallow uneventful relationship and you have a film called "The Houseboy". You are left only with the thought, Run Blake, RUN!!!