Customer Reviews

Poster Boy

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

 

 

This is on of the darkest gay-themed films released in America I have seen. Most reviews have not been favorable, so I'll do my best to tell you what I liked, and what I didn't like. This is not a bad film, a 1 or 2 star rating seems quite unfair, but reviews are subjective. It doesn't hold a candle to other gay films I have enjoyed, but the subject is very different.

Why I Gave It 4 Stars: It was a solid 3, leaning towards 4 in the beginning, and towards the end, so I compromised. A solid B- film you might say.

The Story: It centers around Henry (played by Matt Newton). Henry is the son of a ultra conservative Senator from the south. Think of "The Birdcage", minus anything to laugh at. Henry is also gay. The film, told in "flashback style" as Henry tells his story to a reporter unfolds over the course of 6 months. Basically, Henry comes out, and family chaos follows. But not for long, as we're almost to the end of the film.

What I Liked: Personally, I liked the edge. This was almost more of a docu-drama, albeit a ficticious one, which could easily be based on truth. The actors were good to very good, the overall production was good as well.

What I Did Not Like: I was nearly half-way through the film, starting to get concerned where it was going, before all the character/story sub-plots were connected. The second half of the movie was strongest.

The Rest of the Characters: Besides our lead, Henry, we also focus on his stereo-typical bigot Republican Father/Senator, and his "senator's wife" Mother. And to the mix, a straight girl Izzi, and her gay male friend Anthony, whose relationship was unusual at best. Anthony and Henry meet under some unusual circumstances at a college party.

The Ending: I never give away specifics, but let's just say it's not a "Brady Bunch" wrap-up. If the ending was all tidied up for viewers, I would have knocked this down to a 3. Everything about the film was somewhat gritty, dark, "off". It's not the type of film that usually comes out of the USA. We usually have to watch films like this with sub-titles, so kudos to Here! films and those involved for producing the film.

Final Thoughts: This is not a laugh-out-loud sex romp. No, not at all. It's a good story trying to make a point about politics, sexuality and family values. It does all of those well.

Unrelated Chatter: Jack Noseworthy, the actor who played Anthony also starred in "The Brady Bunch Movie" and in his early years, "Cats" in the theater. Matt Newton (Henry) has appeared on the "Gilmore Girls" and "Judging Amy".

Given my long time interest in politics, I was anticipating the release of this movie and the pre-publicity hype it had been given. For some reason, I was expecting this movie to be more of a comedy. I think the script would have been more effective and gotten its point across better if it had been. Actually, I don't think I cracked one smile throughout this movie. This flick is only a few steps above the tragedy called "Ben & Arthur." It was about as enjoyable quail hunting with Dick Cheney. (heheh)

The overall production quality is below average. The interior set scenes are cheap and sparse. The movie doesn't flow smoothly. Many times the script and scenes moved at a disjointed pace. The sound quality is poor and uneven. At one moment I'm straining to hear the dialogue then all of a sudden, the background music jumps 100 decibels. I didn't feel connected to or had any empathy to any of the characters. Karen Allen's portrayal as the senator's wife was lauded in some reviews. I found her character- as everyone else's in the film- to be hoo hum, not complex or multi-dimensional, and disappointing. The ending of the film seemed abrupt and very unsatisifying. Spend your time researching your candidates, issues, and propositions in your upcoming election instead of watching this movie. It will be a more constructive choice of your time.

The closeted college student son (Matt Newton) of a conservative Southern senator is being forced into being the "Poster Boy" (2004) to attract young voters for his dad's re-election. After he meets a hot, older gay activist (Jack Noseworthy), the son begins to reconsider remaining closeted on campus and to his family, without even knowing that his dad's campaign has been specifically targeted by the activist group.

Sounds like a simple, solid plot, and it could have been a great film. Unfortunately, the first-time director has to work with a boring cliche and platitude laden script by an inexperienced writing team, as all this unfolds in meandering flashbacks building up to the date that the student is supposed to introduce his dad at a college political rally (and even that doesn't make sense, since a rabidly conservative senator would not likely find many supporters on a university campus!) It's a shame, because the actors (including veteran character actor Michael Lerner as the senator) deserved better, and so do the viewers. 3 stars out of five.

This movie certainly holds your interest, and certainly forces you to concentrate, since the scenes and movements are spliced and patched together, presumably for effect, but can be confusing.

It's a story about family, and the lengths one might go to cover up, or continue to deny, one's own sexuality, for fear of rejection or anger from, in this case, one's father. In this case, the father is a despicable character, and I can't imagine particularly feeling beholden to him or worrying a lot about his feelings.

Unfortunately all the characters are fairly one-dimensional, and we don't really get the chance to care about them. There is a significant side story about a friend of the lead character, and I wondered what was going to happen. (Were they attracted to each other, or what?) Nothing happens. It should have been edited out.

And then there is this huge culmination of anticipation as you expect something really radical and huge to occur. The event is fairly modest, actually, and I wondered whether this was really the huge disaster that it is built up to be. (I thought it was actually a good thing, but six months later the son is still sad and suffering because of it?)

I also grew weary of the characters negativity, self-pity, and basically wretched view of themselves and the world. Perhaps if they all weren't focusing on the worst of themselves and their families/friends, then maybe they'd have time to shed the "victim" hat and try to make their world a little better. It was as if the film-maker intentionally set out to make a negative movie that goes basically nowhere.

It is a bold attempt and has some great moments and decent acting. It's editing and scene-shifting and, turns out, sorta weak story line and unnecessarily negative screen play make this piece much less than it should have been. Three stars for a movie worth seeing and a bold attempt.

"Poster Boy" had potential and squandered it almost as soon as it begun. This is not to say that this is a "terrible" movie because it is good. It isn't excellent or amazing either...
The acting in it is fairly decent, if not a little over the top. The leads manage to keep their characters centered but it is the supporting characters that chip away at the foundation. Karen Allen, for one was off to me. Her southern accent seemed forced and in some of the situations she was faced with, she didn't seem to be all there. That isn't to say she lacked presence... she had plenty of that whith her smoldering gaze alone, it just seems as if the character was poorly developed.
The plot is a little hard to follow and certain back stories were only there for who knows what reason. The best friend with HIV only seemed there to be overly protective and although HIV was a semi-point in the twisted senator's campaign, she had little to do with the flow of the story. The senators son was great, and in my opinion the only good guy in the film. He lives in the shadow of his fathers conservative politics but eventually steps out of that shadow and becomes his own man. The scenes between him and his father are not friendly ones but they aren't as tense as the filmakers wanted them to be either. The most enjoyment from this film comes from the "wrap-around" interview that connects everything else. In it, labels are brought up. A solid message... unfortunatley weighed down by a so-so movie.

This is a nicely done story that could easily be about major U.S. politicians of today. While most of the acting is monolithic, Matt Newton presents a gut-wrenching emotional scene that "made" the film for me, while Karen Allen supports the entire film with a character having many facets and plenty of depth. Michael Lerner's character is easily hated, and rightly so, for a stunning portrayal of a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do, belligerent, self-absorbed politician.

POSTER BOY is a film with a lot of potential: the story premise is solid (though a bit tired), the cast of both young and experienced actors is quite fine, and there are some worthwhile statements about our political system, about tolerance and acceptance and family, and about being true to yourself. Despite all of these aspects that should have made a fine little film the whole thing bogs down with some of the worst editing and camera work on record. That, and the writers' (Lecia Rosenthal and Ryan Shiraki) need to place platitudes into normal conversation is most distracting. Zak Tucker as director just didn't seem to have control of this piece.

The story itself is rather simple. Through the gimmick of a confession to a reporter we meet handsome young Henry Kray (the talented Matt Newton), gay since early teens but electing to keep his private life a secret, who is the son of Senator Jack Kray (Michael Lerner) and his lovely but docile wife Eunice (the fine Karen Allen). It seems that six months prior to the time we are invited into the conversation Henry met Anthony (hunky Jack Noseworthy) whose roommate is HIV positive Izzie (Valerie Geffner). Henry and Anthony have a one-night stand the day before Jack Kray is to give a speech for re-election at Henry's college. The Senator accidentally hits Izzie with his car and Eunice insists Izzie stay with them in their suite where the two women bond. Meanwhile Henry's night with Anthony makes him late for the speech, but a talk to Henry from Jack before the speech telling him what to say (Jack is the best father, loves family values, etc) sticks in Henry's throat and soon after he obeys his father's wishes for the speech introduction, Henry turns to his table partner Anthony and the two kiss openly as the Senator is addressing the crowd - all caught by the media of course.

How this moment of honesty alters the lives of everyone around is the crux of the ending. Not a bad tale, but the camera work is so patchy and disconcertingly disconnected that it defies the viewer to keep the storyline straight. But if the viewer can keep up visually, the performances by the cast are well worth attention. There is some very fine talent on the screen of this B movie! Grady Harp, November 06

If I had read some of the reviews here before I purchased this film, I may not have bought it. But I did read them before I got around to watching it, and was curious to see if it would turn out to be the mess that many say it is.

I am happy to report that it is not quite THAT bad - I certainly don't agree with the reviewer who suggested that it's as putrid a production as Ben and Arthur, which still gets my vote as the worst gay film ever made. Poster Boy never sinks anywhere near the level of amateurish acting, terrible direction or painfully low budget achieved by that piece of rubbish; then again, few films ever do.

I do agree that Poster Boy is just a little too dark for its own good, and surprisingly unentertaining. As a gay person concerned with the oppression and power wielded by the political right, of course I applaud much of its message. But I'm not sure that presenting a cartoon-character of a US Senator, or awkwardly executed "artsy" gimmicks, is the most effective way to deliver the core message that this film was trying for. I didn't believe much of the plot for a second, and when I did, it was attached to too many attempts to be avant garde, forgetting its own purpose in the process.

Particularly problematic is the character of Jack Cray. I had trouble accepting that anyone so thoroughly unlikable could sustain a career as a US Senator, especially while abusing everyone around him, including his family, his staff and his supporters. And the reporter to whom young Henry is relating his story came off as a highly implausible character, in a film that was loaded with too many implausible characters and situations. I will say that the acting was much better than I was lead to expect by some of the other reviews, especially in light of the material.

One of this film's biggest problems is that it tries too hard to be "cutting edge", with quirky camera movements and a script that is far too reaching for the talents of those involved. The sub-plots were particularly annoying, and after a while I gave up trying to keep track of who was who, and why they were behaving the way they were. Certain aspects of the story made no sense at all, or seemed to be inserted solely to make a point that was either irrelevant or uninteresting. They would have been better off if they'd stuck to a simple cautionary tale on the evils of hypocrisy, as practiced by the far right. But the producers and director tried to achieve much more than they actually delivered, and, in the end, it was evident that everyone connected with this film was in way over their heads, which only compounded the ruin of a film that was seriously flawed to begin with. Nevertheless, I did like the movie's basic message; I only wish its creators had been a little more focused and a lot less pompous.

I've never been a fan of Karen Allen, but she is the sole bright spot of this film. In fact, she is sublime. The acting is first-rate throughout, no real problems there, but the charactes are two-dimensional (except Allen is giving added dimension to hers - in fact, worthy of an Academy Award) and even cliche. Publicly in the closet young gay man seeks to have his relationships (non-clinging variety) while dealing within the family structure demanded of a celebrity flag-waving, banner-toting super-conservative father (naturally, the boy wouldn't have a socially liberal senator for a father; goes without saying). Too bad the senator didn't go out hunting with friends - ha ha. But unfortunately for the boy, he is outed at the same instant he is intent on outing himself, publicly, by a man he has come to know biblically and then sought to forget by abandoning that morning. Spurned older man (not exactly good-looking, more odd-looking, OUT actor Noseworthy) seeks vengeance in the best way he knows how - considering he is also a political activist for gay rights. How's that for a coincidence? Unfortunately much screentime is devoted to a tiresome character, a youngish woman who'd contracted AIDS from her boyfriend, and her adenoidal judgments and complaints get on one's nerves. She does, however, ironically have some nice moments with Karen Allen's wife-of-the-senator character, in yet another series of wild coincidences to bring all the characters together in one room at one time. The movie is long and dull and predictable, however the finale is rather nice, making one wonder why the ending was so nicely done while the majority of the film was paint-by-the-numbers.

I recently bought this DVD with some apprehension, because I had heard varying opinions on it. The verdict: Good story & acting, but flawed. The film has the hand-held camera feel of a Steven Bochco T.V. series, which, depending on your preference, either brings realism or detracts from the dramatic scenes. Actually, this film felt like more of a "dramedy" than a drama---humor kept creeping in to certain scenes. I empathized with Matt Newton's character of Henry Kray, a closeted son of a high-profile senator. He conveyed the agony that his character felt, being constantly controlled (or abused) by his father and frustrated by having to hold others back at arm's length & cloaking himself in anonymity, particularly Jack Noseworthy's character of Anthony, a liberal activist whose personal involvement with Henry becomes far more complicated than he would've ever imagined. Karen Allen injects the same appealing feistiness into her wife-of-a-senator role just as she had done as Harrison Ford's leading lady years ago in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Michael Lerner makes his character a man you'd love to hate, someone who expects all--his family & entourage--to jump whenever he snaps his fingers, to dance to his tune. His portrayal is both a blessing and a curse--I felt he was TOO easy to despise. Yet, I'm sure there are real political figures who get "lost in the game"; they lose sight of who, and what, is more important in their lives. In politics, image & morality are everything, and as this story demonstrates, the "game" can have brutal consequences. The Skip character--who comes to retrieve the wayward son--is a spineless character, a hypocrite, a brown-noser. Just when you think he has befriended Henry, he turns on him near the end, siding with the father on how "disgusting" Henry's lifestyle is, although he accompanied Henry to a gay bar earlier on!
However, that coming-out kiss that Henry & Anthony share before a stunned press conference--and senator Jack Kray--made me want to cheer. Jack Kray DESERVED to have his family walk out on him; in a way, this is the film's weak point, as it becomes too obvious that the story is coming to this conclusion. Some plot points are too methodical; I could see them coming a mile away, and this is the movie's main flaw.
This movie has a strong theme reflecting on our current headlines: the closeted children of political figures, or even the outing of those officials themselves. If you can forgive its slight budget and obvious plot twists, "Poster Boy" can be a powerful drama.