Very disappointing...

The Worst Film Ever

Overrated

A lot of fun.

I'm sure I wouldn't give this movie all them stars if I saw it today. But I know exactly why I did back then.I don't remember what age I was exactly. What I do remember is the loneliness of the closet. I remember changing channel as my older brother went into the living room for a minute. I remember living in shame. I remember quivering as I watched Tobi struggling and finally come out. I think I cried.I'm not sure it was the first gay-themed movie I watched but it definitely wasn't the only one that had this tremendous effect on me ( The two first ones that pop into my head are Brokeback Mountain & Shelter, bot leaving me weeping a while after the end). I could go on with movies that got me feeling so sad yet so full of hope as I was. Or about the ones that I saw or re-watched more recently - as I continue to grow older and more confident with my gayness - that got me thinking and feeling joyful all the while being less normative than a whole of coming-out/coming-of-age gay/bi-themed movies. Oh; that could be a good movie list "Non-normative movies and shows for sad gay kids"! I'll get to it soon.

This review contains spoilers.I watched this film years ago and just a couple days ago. While I agree with much of the glowing reviews (the photography, the natural, generally undramatic realistic interaction between characters, budding romances etc.) there is a mean streak in here, as well as several instances where some are being extremely inconsiderate. I'm not exactly sure how old these people are supposed to be, but they seem like very late high school or early college? Tobi, the rejected Gay lover, just doesn't get it that Achim is straight. Achim talks about girls, about having a problem if a Gay guy liked him, on and on and still almost to the end, Tobi doesn't get it. Meanwhile, Leo likes him, and is very tender with him several times, Tobi injures Leo's arm (unintentionally) still Leo can't participate in the competition, something they presumably train their whole lives for. Tobi doesn't even apologize! Come on! This is the perfect, tender romance of the century movie? What about the part where Tobi tells Sandra to not withhold sex because of her small bosom (something boyfriend Achim told Tobi in confidence) Yes, "kids" and adults are mean, but I'm not the one saying this is such a gentle love story. It is downright harsh in places. To say What he did to Sandra, Tobi is a selfish little twit. (And stupid too, if he thought Achim wouldn't be furious about it or that Achim would stop loving Sandra? Even if Tobi is naive about homosexuality, he must know that male/female is the majority). Oh, and I know that Tobi was fixated on Achim so Leo was probably just a diversion. It is easy to get the impression I hated this movie, I didn't. I just wrote this review as a counterbalance to the excessive number of reviews purporting this movie to be perfect. I'm aware that people can be mean, and there are plenty of immature adults around. But I think for some of the dumb sh*t Tobi pulled, he needed his a** kicked. As a Gay man myself, I can understand how difficult it is to come out but this never is an excuse to be cruel and inconsiderate to others.

There have been many very positive adjectives used to described this film, and truly, I cannot disagree with any of them -- except words like "moving." I never FELT much, except for the feeling that I was sitting in school and being lectured to by a movie rather than a real live instructor. For me it was something of a "docu-drama" that put me in the position of a somewhat detached observer of an academic exercise illustrating -- with little or no excitement, the problems surrounding growing up gay.I watch movies hoping to get emotionally involved in an interesting story. I could not get to that point with this movie.

I started off thinking this was stupid but it turned out to be enjoyable, worthwhile and above all, relevant to any gay person who struggled, which is uh I guess about 99% of us. It had the usual appeals and this and that but regardless of what you think of the outcome it was true to form and a little more optimistic than some similar British movie. I can't say the name but that's OK you probably know what I'm talking about (apologies to Hillary Clinton). No really it was an awesome movie I'm just running on and on because im-db must require a minimum amount of text- duh- and they will freaking kill your account if you deviate- and my gosh, isn't that what this movie is about- deviation??? It's been a year or so since I watched a movie with subtitles. This is one, but it was cool. And the video is great, almost HD. So screw you IMDb I said what I needed to say despite your horney assed requirements (or uh was it because of them??) ;-)