Customer Reviews

Issues 101

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

But I did just have to take some time to add to the chorus of how unspeakably bad this movie was. I mean, it was absolutely awful.

The first ten minutes of the film had me confused, because we see Joe (Michael Rozman) getting ready to go off to college... even he looks 35! We know he's about to come out, but the friend to whom he comes out -- the one who comments that one of their high school pals has turned out to be a "fruit" -- comes across as pretty darn gay too, even though he claims to have a girlfriend.

Then, Joe hits his new college and totally randomly meets Christian (Dennis Rittenhouse Jr.) playing volleyball. Christian is overly friendly and invites Joe back to his house, supposedly to talk up his fraternity... and is shocked when Joe reveals that he thought it was a date. Yeah, right.

The movie then gets progressively bad from there, with Joe and Christian unknowingly getting filmed in the act of hooking up, then with Joe meeting and falling in love with Christian's younger brother, and no one seeming to bat an eye that Joe has now hooked up with both Christian and his younger brother (even though Joe clearly still primarily has feelings for Christian and would probably dump Michael in a heartbeat if Christian actually finally emerged from the closet.

With one notable exception, the acting is horrific. It seems like every single "straight" boy in this film is played by a gay guy, and poorly at that. I keep reading things about how there's so few out gay actors in Hollywood films; perhaps this movie can give a small clue as to why: these gay guys can't play straight for the life of them. Dennis Rittenhouse, Jr., as "Straight with Issues" Christian, sets off any decently tuned gaydar from the moment he appears on screen. Gary Castro Churchill, who plays Bill, the fraternity president (whose sexuality is not really well disclosed in the film), is a terrible actor and also sends my gaydar into overdrive (and the spanking scene was further evidence of lame acting). The worst of all: every single fraternity brother, including those who clamor for kicking the "fag" out of the fraternity after he's found out, are gayer than gay. Despite the fact that they use the "f-word" and refer using vulgar terms to parts of female anatomy, those words compete with the handbags falling out of their mouths.

The notable exception above: Jeff Sublett, who plays Michael, Christian's gay brother. The only reason his acting stands out above the less-than-mediocre performances of his castmates is because, according to the DVD extras, he's played by a straight boy. You know, I never would have guessed, which I guess means that his acting was at least that much better, because he played a gay kid really well. Maybe his character was just very poorly written. Well, it was... but I still hate to say he gave a great performance. He gave a great performance only because he's straight, and I believed him as a gay guy.

Oh, and let's not forget the decidedly amateur camera works. I've seen low budget; I've even liked some low budget films. This took it to a new level. 'Nuff said.

The plot, to the extent there is one, is stale and cliched. Joe falls for Christian -- even hooks up with him -- but Christian won't come out of the closet and thus Joe is left pining for him while he continues to play it straight with a girlfriend. Meanwhile, Christian introduces Joe to Michael, his brother, and the two hit it off famously. Christian, torn between at-least-kinda-sorta wanting to be with Joe and seeing his brother actually get him and be happy with him, wrestles with this odd balance. And Michael can't understand why Joe (by now running for student body president) won't acknowledge their relationship in public.

But other than the cute faces (though lacking in corresponding body heat) and some gratutious butt shots (though they did serve to give me something worth staying tuned for), this movie was a complete bust.

This is the type of picture that gives gay themed movies a bad name.

It's amazing that the producers of this movie were able to find a complete cast of performers that is completely devoid of acting talent. How did this film get cast? I can't believe anybody got a role in this turkey as the result of an audition. This cast (no way they can be called actors) must all be friends of the filmmaker. There is not a single actor to be seen that is even halfway competent, and it is a fairly large cast. I guess there is no shortage of talent-free wannabes. Especially laughable are the obviously gay non-actors attempting to portray heterosexuals, commenting on various women's physical endowments and discussing their past sexual conquests. Now we're really in Fantasyland.

The script is ludicrous; totally without coherence and the production is definitely bargain basement quality. The picture and sound make it obvious that it was shot with a single video camera.

How do films this bad ever get made? It's a mystery. Avoid this one at all costs!

My boyfriend thought we should rent this huge mess because he is part of a gay fraternity and thought it would be fun to watch a movie about a gay man pledging a straight fraternity and falling for one of the Brothers. The only good thing about renting this crap is that we discovered one of the Brothers in my boyfriend's fraternity kept his participation in this movie a secret and now we can get on his case. Yup, unfortunately I know one of the actors playing a fraternity Brother in this so-called "film."

Bad acting, bad directing, and terrible dialogue are just some of the things wrong with this disaster. Add to that a storyline that doesn't make sense (since when are half the guys in a fraternity gay and all the other brothers accepting of it, since when do guys in a frat makes the pledges go down on them in order to be initiated, since when does someone so easily get invited to pledge a frat after an accidental meeting at the beach seconds earlier?) and a slow, tedious pace and you have one of the worst films ever made. Plus, it's obvious all the actors are gay and either friends with the direcor or slept with him at one point, and none are convincing playing straight men.

I don't know what the filmmakers were thinking. They had a decent $75,000 budget with which they could have at least made something even remotely worthwhile. This is just a step above a really bad porno. DO NOT SEE IT!!!

There is one good thing about this DVD. In the extras there is an interview with one of the "actors" who apparently is straight. THAT boy should have a mantel full of Oscars. Otherwise this is the BY FAR the worst thing you'll see this year. Your jaw will drop in amazement at the "acting" of the middle-aged college students and the "plot".

If you have a choice between being buried alive and watching this movie, grab a shovel.

I thought You Got Served, or even the gay film Denied, were the worst films ever. I was wrong.

Absolutely nothing in this movie makes sense. Since when do fraternity brothers strike up a conversation with a stranger at the beach, invite him over to his house (not the frat house) for a beer, and then *not* be gay? Since when do insecure pledges brazenly hit on fraternity brothers? Why in God's name are two perfectly and extremely attractive men both in love (even if one has "issues") with the main character of this film, when, frankly, the main character isn't exactly easy on the eyes and is a bit of a whiner (in other words, he has neither looks nor personality going for him...it's like a Ron Jeremy film, where you just can't understand what redeeming qualities his co-stars are finding in him).

These are just some of the problems I had with the film. Others are mentioned in other reviews, such as poor acting, poor directing, poor cinematography, but one wasn't: when I turned this on, before I saw a single character, I thought I was watching the beginning of a B-level porn film. THAT'S how bad this was.

I might also add that the ridiculous dialogue, which included the main character calling Michael "my little cream puff" after knowing him for all of ten hours, actually seemed as if it came from the pen of someone accustomed to writing porn.

A total and complete disaster.

Issues 101, directed by John Lincoln III, tells the ridiculous story of a gay man, Joe, who decides to attend college and finds himself attracted to a bi-sexual guy named Christian. It ends up that Joe falls for Christian's brother and in the process alot of pain is inflicted on the viewer. Bad acting, horrible sound quality, terrible music, and a script that has lost its way finds this movie both insulting with it stereotypical views of jocks, frat and gays. This movie was so bad I decided to have a few vodkas about a 1/3 of the way through to diminish the pain. The movie is so unrealastic it should be rated as fantasy / comedy. I advise all viewers to ditch the issues in this movie and save yourself some of your hard earned money.

This movie (if you can call it that) was totally gay. Just so...so gay. And I don't mean that in the sexual orientation sense of the word.
Alright, So there are still many gay films out there that have that hokey "afterschool special" feel to them but this movie is in a league all it's own. What freshman gay guy who's just coming out would then try and get into a stifling environment like a fraternity anyway? typically one would come out *after* pledging. Plus, fratguys don't talk to each other about they're innermost feelings (some of the scenes even had me wincing going: "No way dude, that would *never* happen!")...and pledges aren't treated the same as brothers until after their pledged.

Talk about miscasting, Dude! I agree with previous reviewers' opinions that the main actor was way too old to play a freshman frat pledge. I guess that's why he's not even on the cover. In fact, most of the actors seemed to have trouble fitting into their "ambiguous" and/or "straight" roles. It's like none of the actors ever had any recollection of what being confused, repressed, or closeted is like. I kept forgetting who was suppposed to be straight and who was supposed to be gay. The acting, coupled with the video medium, and hazing scenes also had me wondering if this was initially intended to be soft porn.

To conclude, I would not recommend this film to anyone. The plot, the casting, and the screenwriting were complete misses. The editing was probably the only good feature of the film.

The concept is good but it stops there. The script is somewhat amateur, the casting is unrealistic in age/maturity perspective and most of all the acting would fail most high school drama classes.

Issues 101 is a movie that tries earnestly to explore gay themes, but I think anyone considering purchasing this DVD should be aware that it's a video so there really aren't any "film" production values. It concerns the character of Joe -- a college freshman, but I think maybe he's a graduate school candidate. He's recently out, and befriends a frat guy who somehow convinces him to pledge a "fraternity." The frat letters are "sigma upsilon kappa" -- suk--get it?? This is one twisted house. Joe spends the majority of the movie convincing his "big brother" in the frat house that they should have sex regularly. This "straight" big brother seems more than happy to comply--this is the "issue" the movie is exploring. It was shot in video, and between the weak story, mediocre acting, and porn-quality music, it feels like you're watching a soft porn film. If you're expecting a high-quality film exploring deeper relationship issues, understand this isn't the movie you expect. And the American Idol Kelly Clarkson appearance? She's on screen for about 10 seconds in a scary scene where a frat boy picks her up with a "Hey, wanna go to the back room?" Not one of her better career moves.

<<SOME SPOILERS>> I had no idea this movie would be as big a mess as it was. The minute I turned it on, I was ready to turn it off. But, I gave it a chance and I am glad that I did. The movie was actually quite entertaining, it didnt fully grab my attention until Joe made the mistake of thinking the frat guy was gay. That scene when they were drinking beer at the house and he was like "what makes you think Im gay..." LMAO, I was hooked from then on. Look this movie is probably as low budget as it gets, and considering that fact, I gave it 5stars because it could have been a whole lot worse. It was a good story, kind of like a soap opera. The guy that likes to have sex with others guys has a girlfriend, but his younger brother is gay. So the younger brother hooks up with the guy the older brother was banging and then the older brother gets jealousy and wants his gay-bang buddy back. The guys are pretty cute too, so that has to count for something. I dont know who cast the actor that played Joe -he was good and all, but he looked kind of old to be going off to college for the first time. I was like damn, is going to be student or professor. I think what I liked most about this movie is what was going on between the lines. Hello, Christian likes having sex with men. He is not into the girlfriend, so why are we walking away smiling at the end of the movie? I think we are going to need a sequal. I get it, the title is "Issues101" and Christian has Issues -I would say that is a bit over simplifying but ok its not my movie.

All in all, I liked this movie very much. It was fun, it was sexy, it was entertaining and regardless of the bad acting, bad dialogue and bad music, it was a good storyline. So I will play Devil's Advocate and give it five stars.