Customer Reviews

Get Your Stuff

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Phil and Eric are a Beverly Hills gay couple who have it all - looks, money, friends, professional success, and a solid relationship. The next step appears to be bringing children into their family, so the couple begins the process of adopting a baby. This process is often a long, drawn out one for prospective parents (especially gay parents), which can lead to frustration. When a child caseworker friend suggests that the men take in a couple of young brothers while waiting for the baby they want, Phil and Eric agree to foster the boys "just for one night." As the promised one-night-stay stretches into two nights, then three, then on and on, the two boys reveal themselves to be streetwise, somewhat homophobic, and more than a little interested in the contents of the liquor cabinet. Further complicating matters, the boys are tracked down by their mother, an alcoholic prostitute who lost custody of them. She initially wants to take the boys away from this "unwholesome" setting, but after witnessing the benefits of their current living situation firsthand, changes her mind and seeks a permanent place in the arrangement. The resulting stress threatens to tear the couple apart, as one partner develops a soft spot for the boys and their mother, while the other just wants them gone.

The film is a solid first effort by writer/director Max Mitchell. He deftly touches upon issues including the importance of compromise and communication in a relationship, how to get through difficult stretches without self-destructing, and what it takes to make a family. As a school psychologist, I have worked with children in the foster system, as well as others in broken and highly dysfunctional homes, and the portrayals of the two boys in this film are spot-on. Their behaviors may seem outrageous and unbelievable, but when you look at the abuse and neglect such children go through all their lives, it's easy to understand that their acting out is their attempt to reject adults before they can be rejected themselves. Why would they want to start caring for and counting on another adult when that adult is just going to walk away and leave them behind soon, the way all the others have? I find "Get Your Stuff" to be an involving, funny, moving study of those who have a lot but are still missing something, and those who have little and just want a chance in life. If you're interested in a gay film that focuses on exploring family values from a new perspective, this is the film for you.

What do you get when you mix a successful gay couple with two foster kids from the streets? Well, you could get Get Your Stuff, a cute film about the good times and bad times that might happen if you mix the two mismatched ingredients above. Farce? No, it never reaches that state, but it is frequently funny.

The story is about Phil (Cameron Watson), a couples counselor and Eric (Anthony Meindl), a lawyer. The two want to adopt a baby (mostly it seems from the prodding of Eric's mom), and are just approved to be foster parents in the meantime. Through some coaxing and borderline blackmailing, they agree to take in T.J. and Brian for one night. That becomes one more night and one more and, well, you get the picture.

The kids are actually decent actors and, at times, out-act the adults. T.J. (Grady Hutt) is the optimistic one and tries to get his brother to straighten up so they can have a home. Brian (Blayn Barbosa), on the other hand, is not as accepting and wants nothing to do with Phil and Eric until their case worker, Gloria, talks them into working the couple to make themselves more appealing.

The film deals with all these problems with a light touch -- never wanting to truly offend anyone. So they are played up for laughs; however, the message still gets through. In fact, it takes its toll on Eric who wanted nothing more than a baby and not an entire family of problems and promptly leaves in the film's worst scene that includes Phil screaming and pulling a gun out on his clients and doing the same to Eric as he drives off.

But that type of scene is, thankfully, not the norm. Most of the picture is feel-good and enjoyable. More so when Kimberly Scott is on the screen. She plays Gloria with sass, determination and heart. The movie is made better by her tough love portrayal -- especially the scenes with the kids. There is one at the beginning of the film where the kids arrive at the house while Phil and Eric are having an anniversary party. Brian goes for the wine and argues that kids in Europe drink it. Gloria responds with, "They can also speak three languages. When you can speak three languages, then we can talk."

Get Your Stuff doesn't set the film world on fire, but it is a fun jaunt. It's something to pass the time in world that touches on reality, but doesn't actually ground itself there.

What a refreshing gay movie about family. Some of these negative reviews posted here may lead you to believe this is the worst movie ever made. This is not a bad movie at all. The quality of the film is not good as most low budget films are not. The movie itself is such a wonderful film that deals with family rather than just sex uped hunks who are in to drugs. Get Your Stuff is a great film.

I saw this movie as a benefit for our local gay/lesbian film festival a year or two ago, and loved it, so I'm happy it's finally available on DVD.
The story deals with a gay couple who want a child, and are conned by a social worker into becoming foster parents to two "at-risk" boys, one of whom turns out to be homophobic. Things get complicated when the boys' real mother (a substance-abuser) decides she wants to come back into the picture.
All things considered, this was a fairly-compelling, often humorous "feel-good" piece of gay cinema, achieved with a cast of mostly unknowns. I think this would be a good addition to anyone's collection.

GET YOUR STUFF is one of the better gay movies out there. Phil and Eric are a very attractive gay couple who live in Beverly Hills. They seem to have it all: the looks, the bodies, great jobs, the material things, but they have been longing for something far more meaningful... a baby. They have been waiting to adopt a baby but end up with two foster kids (TJ a 12 year old alcoholic and his younger brother Brian) who have both had a horrible childhood. The couple's social worker keeps telling them they will get their baby, and blackmails them into taking the boys for one night, which turns into many nights, and soon many weeks. Just when things start to get better the childrens mother comes back in to the picture. Phil (who is a family therapist) does everthing he can to keep the kids and yet keep their mother in their life, but while he is busy trying to unite a family his own relationship is falling apart when Eric feels he just can't take being put second any longer. Will Phil be able to save his own relationship and keep the family together? I will not give away the ending, but I will say this is a wonderful gay movie that deals with issues very rarely seen in gay films. Even though the quality of the movie is low budget and these actors are not veteran actors as some reviews have pointed out, the cast did a great job and this is truly a great film that you can watch over and over. I highly encourage anyone who appreciates movies that inspire, make you laugh, make you cry, but most of all that entertain you to check out this great movie called GET YOUR STUFF!

Get Your Stuff is one of those films with a nice (read "cute") premise that very nearly sinks itself.

At the beginning I was cringing at almost everything: the casting, the performances, the script, the ham-fisted story-telling; dismayed by all the gay cliches these (supposedly) gay film-makers were using. And no character -- child or adult -- was going to be allowed to react realistically to anything! I was very close to shutting it off.

But by the time it ended I'd altered my opinion somewhat.

The one important thing this film finally did was to defy my bleak expectations and allow the two main characters to start behaving a bit more honestly. Phil holds to his guns and allows the intruding little family to impinge further and further even though his own family (Eric) is threatening to leave. And when Eric does leave, Phil STILL won't capitulate because he really believes that he can salvage the lives of the two kids and their mother. Then when Phil begs Eric to come back ... wonder of wonders for a gay film ... Eric says no! He sticks to his guns too. I was breathing a sigh of relief.

Those little bits of honest behavior saved this for me, but they might not be enough for you. I've seen better and I've seen a lot worse.

This movie touched me deeply. The themes of abandonment, codependence, and social (in)appropriateness of alternative relationships and families are universal even though some of the main characters are homosexual. While this movie is quite funny, it doesn't pull many punches on serious issues. Some characters may at first appear broadly drawn and stereotypical but the clichés melt away to reveal true to life characters, not polite, safe BS.

Not everything is for everyone, but if you can deal with the serious as well as the funny, then I recommend it whole-heartedly.

i have seen this movie about 30 times. i watch it almost every day. there is not much of a movie here so i can't explain it. the acting is only average to my way of thinking. it just seems to have an honesty that is very refreshing. the two young boys in this movie seem to be the best actors of the bunch. i cn recommend this movie, not because its so wonderful but because its fun.

This is an easy to watch movie meant to be a treat. One thing that was kind of hurting my ears is excessive profanity. But aside from that, the movie is a nice flick about gay couple trying to adopt, and getting their hands full with two awesome boys. Nice movie, if you are open minded and like all kinds of fun.

After reading some of the bad reviews about this movie I was afraid to see this, but I took a gamble and rented it anyway out of curiousity and the 2 hot guys on the cover lol and I have to admit Get Your Stuff is a good movie. Such a refreshing film about gay guys and family. Man are those 2 foster kids a hand full.