Sexylocher Masterful Movie

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

John Esche Predisposed or not to the basic premise here of love past the high-school hormonal stage and among those who AREN'T in the running for "America's Next Top Model" (being exploited continually by straight film and TV makers - "Ugly Betty" or "Seinfeld" anyone?), the shaky camera, cinema verité style ill serves this under written gay date movie."Regular gay guy" (to quote the DVD box) Josh has a hissey fit when he catches his lover of 10 years receiving oral sex from someone he has... well, we never find out just how much of a low life the lover may or may not be. Like every unrealistic bride in 50's straight movies, Josh declares the marriage over and tries, as an average looking 30-something, to re-enter a dating pool stocked with 20-something eye-candy. Blinded by the partially self created rejection of his mate (the marriage's failure is entirely played out in one 30 second curbside scene and has as little credibility than Josh's subsequent "dates"), Josh meets nothing but sleazoids or those who have not yet "gotten their acts together." After one or two bad nights out - indistinguishable from his later title "dates" - he decides to go really self destructive and move back home to Cleveland (Ohio may not be New York or SanFransisco - and why is Josh suffering in L.A. and not one of THOSE places in the first place!? - but it actually has a very active gay life - not that you would ever know it from this film).Josh's one good friend (it is never explained why THEY aren't potential date material) bets Josh he can set him up with a perfect man in the title ten dates who - also source of the title - turn out to be ten attitudes, not ten dates - and ten that include at least three or four who NO good friend would ever set anyone up with! The potentially GOOD dates we never see through to the end. It's as maddening as HBO's Sex And The City where (with only two or three exceptions) every time one of the girls found a really NICE guy, the viewer knew they were toast so the SERIES could go on.Given the apparent aspirations of the film makers (please festival audiences enough to support eventual DVD sales), it would have been a real surprise if there *hadn't* been a happy ending (or at least a hopeful one), but while writer/director Michael Gallant crafts a nice one, he proves incapable of crafting a believable one. He HAS proved capable of recruiting a solid list of capable actors to represent his 10 attitudes and even a few nice people. Jim J. Bullock and to a lesser extent David Faustino turn in thoroughly professional performances and the actor playing the man a bully from Josh's past grew up to be is actually something of a find in the film's one really charming scene! The adult women are less happy, and being a gay film is no excuse for that. It's hard to tell if Judy Tenuda's "performance" is more the fault of the actress or the script. Whoever plays Josh's mother is just as bad. The woman playing the wife of one of Josh's dates is at least interesting and layered in her obliviousness - almost and effective satire on L.A. working wives, though nothing in the rest of the film shows that kind of subtlety.All too many gay stereotypes fall back on Tennessee Williams: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." Josh never says it - and he almost never gets it - but perhaps his film will. This was one of those films to which anyone who actually buys a ticket or decides to rent will bring every ounce of good will possible. It will need it.

NJMoon There may be worse gay indy films out there...okay, not that many, but one or two...okay, one (but I can't remember the title right now). This poor excuse for a flick is definitely bottom of the barrel movie-making. The leading man is gay combination of Gary Shandling and Christopher Guest but not nearly as appealing or funny as either. Unfortunately, he's also the writer. The videography is awful, poorly lit, with unwatchable camera work from start to finish. My grandparents could do better with their 1982 beta cam. The tone is all over the map; from farcical comedy to syrupy melodramatic romance - with success at neither end of the spectrum (or anywhere in the middle, for that matter). My finger itched for the FF button on my remote from the movie's very first scene. How David Faustino, Judy Tenuta and JM J. Bullock ever agreed to this film is beyond me! The title is totally misleading (why not call it "Ten Dates", which is what it essentially is?) as the only attitude on display will be the viewer's - who will be sporting major 'tude sitting through this dud.

Gonzalo Melendez (gonz30) This gay "romantic tragic-comedy" was not made, I think, to be watched by oneself after renting it from a mainstream video store. As the writer/director in the screening I saw here last week suggested, it is best (and perhaps only) appreciated at a gay film festival watching it with an audience predisposed to its sense of humor and philosophy of life. The video is low grade, the situations are actually a satire of West Hollywood, being so over the top stereotypical of the area and its reputation.Though several very well known actors from "Baywatch" other major Hollywood comedy series, and network soap operas are featured, it is a very low budget production, and it shows. So, for me, living abroad, in a continental-sized country the size of the US, with a similarly monolingual culture, the true test of its success is whether the audiences here "got" the film, and whether it made them laugh or moan in the right places.And the film did that. To a packed house. And Portuguese here is like English elsewhere - it's the only language you'll ever hear even in this, the largest and most cosmopolitan city in Latin America. Many American cultural icons (known "worldwide") like Barbra Streisand, heavily used in the movie in jokes and comments, are unknown here to anyone under 50, and I mean among gays! So, a lot of the humor and understanding of the situations are totally lost to the audience. Yet the "10 attitudes" or Ten Chances for Love (as it is known here) are UNIVERSAL, and the film makes its point very well indeed. Even here and with laughs galore! But again, it is for this specific audience or the gay friendly audience (I think it goes down well with liberal young women). And DEFINITELY do not rent it (didn't even think it would be launched as a DVD) for your Flat Wide Screen High Definition Screen. The quality of the image would be enough to make me turn it off.Yes, we have had Flat Screen, European type (1.85 to 1 aspect ratio) TV with the same advanced audio as anyone in LA or London has for years. And nobody I know here would watch such a film on one of those. This is a definitely something to be seen at a festival screening with the right crowd, and screened there, it is a very enjoyable, funny and insightful personal experience, in addition to the movie viewing. My only negative words would be that it is about 10 minutes too long. Maybe 8 or 9 attitudes would have been enough. Still, if you're in this target audience, you'll like it.

clive-13 This was a great film. So many gay films today focus on teenage youth coming out, or 20 something pretty boys and their gorgeous boy friends, or, much too common, have an AIDS theme or sub theme. Even then most films of the last 15 years, the period of time I call the age of "Gay Cinema", focus on REALLY YOUNG GUYS. Don't get me wrong. Beautiful men with pecs and six- packs are lovely eye candy. What I like about this film is it dares to look at men who are past 30! As a man looking back at 6 decades of life, with about 5 decades ofpersonal gay identity behind me, this film speaks to my own personal experiences. Yes, it's hard to date when you reach 39, or 45, or 60. Damn hard. Yet my life did not hits it's prime until I turned 40! That said, it's nice to see on film a portrayal of what all the twinks, muscle queens, and in the case of this film, all the "Every Man" types will have to go through as they pass the big three 0.SPOILERS AHEADJosh, a 30 something year old caterer living in West Hollywood, catches his long time partner of 10 years in a flagrant act with a 19 year old twink. He throws a fit (who wouldn't), stomps his feet, cries a little and goes to a bar where his friend Chris, an aspiring MBA graduate, proposes that he, Chris, set up Josh with 10 guys in 10 dates to find "Mr Right". Now Josh is the every man of the gay world. He is an average guy. Not pretty. Not a muscle boy. A nice looking man, but he would stand out as "over the hill" in many circles of gay society today. Josh reluctantly goes along with the silly plan but insists that if no perfect love shows up that he, Josh, will go back to Cleveland where he grew up and start his life over. OK...... what ensues is a very funny set of scenes with 10 guys from HELL who either are "gay for pay", hustlers, stoned out losers, are hiding lovers on the side, have anger management issues, are bi-sexual and have a girlfriend on the side or just plain loony tune! What makes this film so real and really very romantic and sweet is that Josh is really an old fashioned guy. Or as Josh puts it to one of the 10 dates, "I'm just a regular gay guy". He says this to a cute 20 something year old guy who has a girlfriend, but explains "though not gay myself, my girlfriend want to watch me get it on with another guy"! Josh responds with the line "that's just not gonna happen". Josh wants a commitment. He wants a guy who loves him, who has a job and a car and even someone who will tear open "three equals" for their ice tea or coffee That's the sugar substitute. This seemingly meaningless line plays an enormous part in the last scene of the film. Now this film was made with very little money and sometimes that is really noticeable. Lots of hand held cameras and naturally lit bar and restaurant scenes. Sometimes the sound is not too clear. What is clear to me is that unlike many recent popular gay films like "Latter Days" or "Edens Curve" the men in this film are really gay. Probably not all of them, but certainly the leads and many characters.This gave the film a reality that is unmistakable. When your going for an attempt to show how hard it is for a gay guy of a certain age to find a certain someone that will share your life and love, it great to have real GAY men providing the acting. The acting is what makes this film. I have known all these people at some time or another in my own life. They are real and the pain, happiness, confusion and redemption they express in their search for love is real. Now I know what some will say.....The cast are playing characters that are all stereotypes! Sometimes, sometimes. Josh, however is absolutely "DEAD-ON". I have been Josh. My friends have been Josh. All the pretty boys in this film will reach a time when they are all becoming Josh. Is that a stereotype? Maybe, but its also real life. Finally, anyone reviewing this film must speak to the great Judy Tunuta. She is just perfect as the goofy psychologist overseeing the group therapy sessions that Chris attends. Judy is always so funny. You just can't take your eyes off her. It's also so funny that her name is Glenda in this film. The therapy group calls her the "good witch of the west". Oh, remember those packets of sweetener? The 3 Equal packets? They provide the unspoken, yet brilliantly encapsulated little "cheat" which brings a happy ending to this film. The look in Josh's eyes when he watches the guy in front of him tear open those 3 packets for his coffee in the train station restaurant is so romantic. It brought goosepimples up on my arms to understand what Josh was thinking and feeling. Who was this guy? That is for you to find out when you see the film. This is a wonderful, funny, compassionate movie with a real heart. Its a keeper.