LouHomey
From my favorite movies..
Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Ivy
I was desperately looking for a movie to rent one day. Somehow I stumbled across Dorian Blues. On the cover, it said it would be a favorite of the Napoleon Dynamite crowd. That made me think that the movie was going to be a little ridiculous. To my surprise it was a very good movie. I liked it so much that I had to watch it over and over again. I thought it was a very, very funny movie. All my friends loved it. Even the guys loved it. That is definitely saying a lot! Michael McMillian was the perfect choice for that part. Steve Fletcher was great as the father. His character was so mean that it was hilarious. I would recommend that all comedy fans watch this movie at least once. Hopefully you'll love it too.
philip-ct
I saw this film in South Africa, where it was appallingly marketed and I probably wouldn't have seen it had I not seen IMDb write-up.This is a low budget film, with some unknown actors, but is nonetheless funny, warm, realistic (in places)and pertinent. The story is simple: Dorian is gay. How do he and his family cope with this? There are some hilarious moments: Leslie Elliard (who plays Dorian's therapist) is good.The film focuses on the family dynamics. Lea Coco (the straight brother, Nicky) and Michael McMillian (the gay brother, Dorian) generate such an easy brotherly chemistry- the film's strength lies in its depiction of this dyad, in particular.As the father(for whom Dorian has ambivalent feelings) Charles Fletcher is good, portraying an older generation with values and ideas that dare never be questioned. The film looks at Dorian's relationships within his family (a mother, played well by Mo Qigley)... but strings are too neatly tied up at the end; the fault is in the script, not the acting.A warm, sensitive film that deserves a wide(r) viewing. Kudos all!
NJMoon
I'm a big fan of the 'coming out / coming of age genre' but DORIAN BLUES left me without a clue as to what all the raves were about. The film's first half hour is marked by clever dialogue, realistic performances and a light comic touch that is fun without being frivolous. But as the film wears on, the script becomes more and more episodic, without satisfactory resolution to any of the episodes. A kooky high school boyfriend story looks like fun, but goes nowhere fast and is dropped. A therapy session storyline (complete with montage) is dumped in favor of a religious cure. This too, is conveniently dispensed with. Some of the film's second half is less than pleasant (an S&M trick, another failed boyfriend) and it is Dorian's inability to resolve his sexual identity issues and the screenwriter's inability to follow through on a satisfying plot that eventually get tiresome. The film also drags things out over too much time. A tighter timeline might have helped keep Dorian and his blues on track.
arizona-philm-phan
A number of good things (one not so) have been said by 11 commenters preceding me, particularly about acting levels and the "realness' achieved in picturing a gay teen's environment at the beginning of the 1990's. I can't disagree with those points in the least, but do feel the need to express the following less than positive observations.No notable bettering in this film of 1998's very well done "Edge of Seventeen." One would think, seven or so years after that earlier production, the bar would have crept higher.While "Dorian Blues" does have lots of what I'll call 'cutesy' (the lead, himself, being particularly so), elsewhere there's definitely an 'OVERmuch' amount (film's first half) of:--A Dad who could be best described as A 'Mean Ole' one & A Mom who could essentially be labeled as 'Mummified' (Mom only comes into her own at film's end........as does Dad, for that matter / LOL).--A L'il Brother who enjoys the position of the 'Better-than' son (even if he is presented as generally supportive of Dorian and possibly his best ally).Sadly, what there's an 'UNDERmuch' amount of is time spent on Dorian's New York City escapades (and I don't mean those with visiting brother-from-home.........well, this movie is supposed to be gay, for Pete's sake).At bout's end, "Edge of Seventeen" remains the winner.PS: Not much 7-years-progress evident to us in the on-screen romance department either: one very timid kiss. (Oh, I see, you don't look for 'that kind' of scene in any romance film, gay or straight. Interesting.)****
