Customer Reviews

No Ordinary Love

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

 

 

Actually, the many loves, and types of love, contained in this little film are quite 'ordinary' and happen every day. They just don't usually make it to the big, or little, screen. We have a guy who owns a house. He can't come out because his mother fantasizes that he will get married one day. He rents rooms to a female in a rock band (with whom he, and just about everyone else, has an affair; a dead guy; a narcissistic (and justifiably so) actor who likes it both ways; a cute little Asian boy; and an over-weight bank teller. The movie must be viewed as a self-contained soap opera, considering the myriad twists of plot and sub-plot, which involves the usual betrayal, bank robbery, adultery, and murder. The nicest facet of the story is the developing romance between Vince (the Asian boy) and his 'straight' hispanic neighbor, Ramon -- who is also the son of an abusive father (upon whom his mother is cheating with Andy, the narcissistic actor!). The only two who have any integrity in the film are Ramon and Vince, and they are amply rewarded at the end. Probably only deserves three stars, but the people are cute enough to bump it up to four. And it's just nice to see a film where there is a natural variety of sexual preference. It's not SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, but it is fun.

For an independent, "omnisexual" picture, No Ordinary Love has a lot of really cool features on the DVD. Everyone I know really likes the Vince and Ramon story, and the DVD makers took that subplot right out of the movie and made it a stand-alone featurette! You can also jump directly to each of the hot love scenes between the beautiful young actors. The DVD version of the movie, an entertaining, Almodovar-esque comedic melodrama, also has an informative and funny commentary track. The music is great, especially the bathtub scene with "Tempted". The young actors may not have acted much before, but they have so much screen charisma, I didn't mind their inexperience. I wish there were more movies like this one.

I really loved Nicholas Roeg's film THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH starring Daviod Bowie because you had to watch it several times to "get it". It's the same deal with NO ORDINARY LOVE. Yeah, there are a lot of subplots, but that makes it all the more interesting to watch the 2nd, 3rd and 4th time around. And the unique thing about this very sexy soap is: you can watch it once normally, and then again with Spanish subtitles (practice your Spanish!) and again with French subtitles (ditto French), and then again with a very interesting commentary by the filmmakers. Then you can isolate all kinds of wonderful moments from the film with the many menus. Somebody put a lot of thought into this DVD --much more than other gay titles I've seen on DVD. It sure won't be something you watch once and then put on the shelf to collect dust.

I may be a minority of one, but the surprising plot twists and the zany characters make this a very funny murder mystery. $90,000 missing from a bank, a cuckolded husband with a gun, a bank teller with a house-cleaning obsession, a gay student in lust with his straight neighbor, a $20,000 ring (who pushed its owner down the stairs?) all go together to make this one of the brightest and wittiest movies I've seen.

This movie is definitely crazy, but it is also quite funny. Watching this story is like going on some kind of wild ride-like a roller coaster-the plot takes off and never looks back as it goes forward through all of its crazy twists and turns. The relationship between Vince and Ramon is definitely the most compelling story of all the many subplots, and it is nice to have their story all by itself in the special features section.

Most of the characters are really funny: especially the very fat guy-who causes a lot of problems for Kevin-who owns the house that the fat guy is renting a room in. Another character is Wendy, who is pregnant by her bisexual boyfriend-Tom-who marries Tom's male lover-Kevin. Wendy and Kevin do this because she does not want to be a single mother and Kevin's mother is putting pressure on him to get married and have children, which he obviously is not all that keen on doing given the fact that he is gay. (Does anyone want to guess as to how this marriage does?) The last main character is Andy who is a bisexual stripper-or something like that. Kevin, Vince, Wendy, Andy, and the Fat Guy all live together in Kevin's house. Kevin has to have all these roommates so that he can pay the mortgage on the house his mom helped him buy.

If you can't tell by now, this is a pretty complicated movie with many subplots, but it is very funny and I enjoyed watching it. Vince is by far the best character in this movie because he is the only one with any real depth--although with so many characters and subplots it is hard to give much depth to any one character.

This film is amazing! It's full of technical flaws, especially poor editing, that disclose inexperience on the part of its makers. But surprise after surprise, it all comes together beautifully on an entertainment and emotional level.
Most of the actors are very good, but for me it was Ramon and Vince that I enjoyed most. These two are really hot, both in looks, but more important, as actors. The dream sequence and the awakening to reality by Vince is probably the most moving part of the film, wonderfully expressed by the actors and director. Also, whoever wrote the script has a real feel for human emotions.A wonderful find for me. Forget the technical and plot craziness and see it!

The poeple in the movie - sorry, can't really call them actors - are cute. And the love story between Ramon and Vince is ok (Ramon is ok, to be honest). But apart from that this movie has no saving grace. A bad script... is served by nightmare directing and editing. As for the music, well er... makes you think that the acting wasn't so bad after all... music is worse.

It's not easy to find movies with bisexual main characters. "The Talented Mr. Ripley" comes to mind. And so does "No Ordinary Love". I saw it first in Mexico on Pay TV under the title "Deseos Ocultos" (Hidden Desires). What I like most about this movie is the fluid way characters go from liking a member of one sex to liking a member of the other. It is a very realistic portrayal, I think, of a large segment of the population. I also like the fact that the cast is ethnically mixed (White, Asian, Latin, Black). The filmmaker was trying to show diversity in both race and sexual preference, and I think this adds a lot to the movie's appeal. Well, not everyone is blond and blue-eyed, you know? Also, I really identified with Vince wanting to try out several personalities and "looks" before settling upon his "true" self.

"No Ordinary Love" is a delightful experience.It toys with our imaginations and fantasies as the story progresses almost willing it to a conclusion but often just put in for subtle teases..Its funny in parts and perhaps a bit unbelievable in others.The cast is eclectic with the main characters very cute.Overall not a bad watch and you find yourself staying to the end to make sure their is a happy ending...A good movie for the DVD collection.One to enjoy over and over with friends...

This was intertaining and kept me buzzing to follow all the interacting threads of the story line. This is about a group of VERY disfunctional individuals in their own lives, brought together as roommates in a house owned my one of them. Living together adds more disfunction to the story. Then, they throw in another disfunctional guy who pushes the whole house over the edge of reality. Such weirdness as bank robbers, leather chick gets pregnant by a dead guy, marries a gay guy, rooms with a murderer, while a coming out asian queen boy falls for a latino straight thug kid who decides to swing to the other side. Lots of elements to follow and deal with.

Think this movie is best rented and then decide if you need to add it to the collection.