Product Details

• Actors: Tanner Cohen, Wendy Robie, Judy McLane, Nathaniel David Becker, Zelda Willaims
• Directors: Tom Gustafson
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: WOLFE VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: June 9, 2009
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001O0Z82U
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,055 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Were the World Mine (Standard Cover)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In Were the World Mine, the lovelorn lunacy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream spreads through an all-boys school and the town beyond when the gay boy playing Puck discovers a love potion just like that of the play. Timothy (Tanner Cohen) resists being cast as the fairy, but the mystical drama teacher Ms. Tebbit (Wendy Robie, Twin Peaks) persists because of his lovely singing voice. The words of Shakespeare seize upon Timothy’s mind and lead him to create a love potion--which he uses to capture the heart of the school’s star rugby player, but also to make everyone see the world through his eyes. Soon the rugby coach is pursuing the school principal, the principal’s wife swoons for Timothy’s mother, and the school jocks are prancing around like ballerinas. Were the World Mine is punctuated here and there with techno ballads and languorous, glittery fantasies, but it’s not exactly a musical--the songs are only vaguely woven into the story, and just when the action should accelerate everything turns a bit ponderous. Nonetheless there’s a great deal of charm (and half-dressed young men) to be found in Were the World Mine. The contrast between the kitchen-sink realism of Timothy’s real life and his LaChapelle-esque daydreams gives the movie an engaging dynamic. The cast is attractive and likable, particularly Zelda Williams as a bohemian friend of Timothy’s and Judy McLane as his mother. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

Armed with a magical love potion and empowered by dazzling musical fantasies, struggling teen Timothy (dreamy Tanner Cohen, As the World Turns) turns his narrow-minded town gay and captures Jonathon (buff Nathaniel David Becker), the rugby jock of his dreams.

Also starring Wendy Robie (Twin Peaks), Broadway star Judy McLane (Mamma Mia), Zelda Willaims (House of D and daughter of Robin Williams), and Jill Larson (Opal on All My Children), Were the World Mine uses vibrant imagery, a first-rate cast, and innovative music to push modern gay cinema and musical film beyond expectation.

Director/writer/producer Tom Gustafson brings us his feature directorial debut in Were The World Mine. This critically acclaimed, multi-award winning film about the truth of love was inspired by his award-winning musical short Fairies, which has screened in over 75 International film festivals.

" It made my heart soar." - indieWIRE

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An inspired romp!, December 20, 2008

By 

Lankyguy (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Were the World Mine (Standard Cover) (DVD)

The premise of Were the World Mine is romantic comedy trope: character A yearns for the love and affection of unattainable character B, then though a series of hi-jinks, true love wins in the end. That is about where the comparison ends as everything else is turned on its ear in Tom Gustafson's big screen adaptation of his own short film Fairies.

The film's tagline, `If you could make someone love you, would you?' Is honestly, unexpectedly answered, "Yeah. Obviously."

The first twist to the romantic comedy trope is that the lead couple is two young men. In the film our put-upon hero Timothy (Tanner Cohen), is cast as Puck in his senior production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. During rehearsal, he happens on the recipe to recreate the flower, here called a pansy in a nice play on words, which Puck uses on Shakespeare's lovers. Timothy/Puck uses the pansy first on his unrequited crush Jonathon (Nathaniel David Becker), then on his classmates, and then the town, allowing everyone to see the world through his eyes. By the end of the film, as in Shakespeare's play, all is peace.

Of course, Timothy is hardly the usual trodden-down gay lead. This is not some Cinderella story with the homely, or even 'Hollywood Ugly' lead forlornly in love with someone quite beyond him; Timothy is a pretty boy himself. The object of his affection, Jonathon is not the typical, unattainable ideal man either. We are shown in subtle ways that he is just as interested in Timothy, as Timothy is in him. Oh, were things only a bit different, eh? Enter the pansy.

This is not an adaptation of Midsummer Night's Dream, but it does have plot points tacked on from that play. Helen Fielding did the same thing tacking on Jane Austen's plot from Pride and Prejudice to the novel Bridget Jones's Diary. Timothy at various points may is Puck, Oberon, Bottom and Helena. Perhaps that is the perfect descriptive combination for a young gay man, part fairy, imp, fool, and unrequited lover.

The musical fantasy sequences are not really fantasy, they are a part of the plot; magic spells that movie the story along.

The music and lyrics are inspired. Shakespeare interpolated and set to music, may hardly be revolutionary, but it is still quite fun and infectious. I find myself listening to the soundtrack repeatedly. Tanner Cohen is wonderful and has a slight sibilant 'S' that is quite endearing.

Tom Gustafson is definitely a director and writer to watch, he spins a fun, engaging yarn with genuine moments of poignancy. Some of the imagery in the film is iconic and arresting. It is hardy without flaws, but the the music and the performances buoy you along over those flaws. Cohen and Becker are especially good. I would not change a frame.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth Seeing and Listening to, December 27, 2008

By 

Christina J. Harner "Christy" (Louisville, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Were the World Mine (Standard Cover) (DVD)

As a straight, married 25 year old female, I suppose this is not the typical movie for me. I stumbled upon the music on Napster and, as an author of fantasy books, was intrigued by the cover (a boy wearing an unusual fairy costume). After listening to the soundtrack, I fell in love with it completely. The music is absolutely fantastic, Tanner Cohen's voice is a dream to listen to, and each song plays an important role in the overall movie. I even sing the songs to my 3 year old daughter (who loves the song "were the world mine", minus the "bad word" at the beginning, lol). Because it left the theater in my area the day I found out about the movie so I missed it, I actually drove all the way to New York City from Kentucky just to see this movie with a friend. It was well worth the drive. Even though it's a very simple premise, each moment is fitting and enjoyable. The only two negatives to me were that the tagline "If you could make someone love you, would you?" seemed like a "duh, no!" to me (because then it's not REAL love), but to Timothy it was a yes. I disagreed with that and did not truly enjoy the romance between the two boys until it proved real later on. The other disappointment was by my friend, who at the last scene freaked out on me whispering "You mean, Timothy doesn't sing again????" We just wanted to hear his voice more, he's so amazing!

I am definitely going to buy the DVD (despite the raised eyebrows I will most certainly get from people here!) because the movie was clean, fun, happy and very sweet. I'm sad it left the NY theater, because I might have taken the 13 hour trek again just to see it!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Were the World Mine: A Review., February 16, 2009

By 

Dexter Manning - See all my reviews

This review is from: Were the World Mine (Standard Cover) (DVD)

The new film "Were the World Mine" can be categorized a number of different ways. Arthouse movie. Buddy picture. Fantasy. Feel-good picture. Gay flick. High school drama. Morality tale. Musical. Romantic comedy. Satire. Screwball comedy. Teen flick. Theatrical play. But, ultimately, it transcends easy categorization and is best enjoyed on its own terms with an open mind toward the unexpected.

It takes as its inspiration William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," but it also is highly influenced by growing up gay in small-town America. Our embattled protagonist, high-school student Timothy (Tanner Cohen, playing this eager teenaged soul with remarkable sincerity) is constantly ridiculed, rejected by his classmates, criticized by his mother, and leads an isolated existence merely because he's different from everyone else.

He tries out for version of the Bard's play that his school is planning to stage and is cast in the role of Puck. It's an all-boy cast -- the way it would have been done in the time of Shakespeare, as the curiously open-minded theater teacher, Ms. Tebbit (Wendy Robie) points out. But that bears little improvement in Timothy's status as the school outcast. He is left to daydream comically but sadly about what it could be like to be loved, and by whom. And he's left with his comically insatiable crush on the school jock, Jonathon (Nathaniel David Becker).

In the course of preparing for his role, our perpetually love-forsaken hero reads in the play about a strange potion that cajoles people to fall into the most swooning love imaginable. Timothy thinks: How wonderful it could be if I had such a potion, such a magic scent, to make anyone I desire fall in love with me. So, with an innocent deviousness, he follows the recipe so well detailed in the play and, voila, concocts a potion, which he discreetly keeps in a little, old-fashioned perfume bottle that he carries around wherever he goes, its spray tip topped by a flower with lavender petals.

As a test, Timothy first sprays one of his friends who is visiting him in his bedroom, though share an interest in the other. The test passes, to Timothy's dismay; the friend becomes helplessly infatuated with Timothy and, throughout most of the film, he can't help but touch him. Timothy manages to escape his newfound admirer and, in the midst of the rehearsal sprays the object of his affection, Jonathon, instantly making him see Timothy in a whole new, irresistable light. And it doesn't stop there, a spray-happy Timothy eventually turns much of the town not just gay-friendly but just gay, including Coach Driskill (Christian Stolte), the biggest homophobe in the school. His mother's snobbish friend, who routinely snubbed gays, suddenly is overcome with an urgent need to have his mother in bed. His friend prefers Timothy's company over his own girlfriend's. The coach keeps trying to serenade the confounded (and married) school principal. What has happened to people? Confusion begins. Jealousy develops. Love reigns. Especially gay love.

And, it's an exquisite kind of love, as the fantasy expands from a simple lavender liquid in a bottle to take over the entire filmscape with colorful, glittery costumes and sets, like a genie being let out of a bottle to fulfill a much-longed-for wish. The fantasy sequences, like a super-sweet sugar, gradually dissolve the boundaries that limit them to the movie's occasional, and rather catchy musical numbers (the soundtrack is by Jessica Fogle) and become more continually present. The visuals (shot by Kira Kelly with Cory James Krueckeberg's production design) are a sight to behold: quite theatrical, lavish and a bit gaudy, reminiscent of the French photographers Pierre et Gilles, and used to wonderful effect here (especially for a film with such a limited budget).

The actors may appear a little too old to be playing teenagers, but their childlike exuberance and general goofiness help make up for that in this decidedly unusual and uninhibited movie directed by Tom Gustafson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Krueckeberg.

But, what's really wonderful about this film is that it addresses a real issue with which millions of kids suffer in and out of school: the loneliness of not fitting in with anyone and the longing and trauma that go with it. And it has tremendous fun doing so, addressing the issue in a simple, off-kilter, little story, but not taking itself too seriously. Delightful.