I find it fascinating. Reading the media reports, they are blaming the fact that the film was marketed to straight people? After seeing the trailer with lines like straight people had a good run, I have to wonder how any straight person would find this even slightly appealing? Gay people want equal rights, with marriage protections, they don't want to be thought of as other. Yet this film's trailer celebrates a man in his forties pining for the hot jock, doing drugs, going to dance clubs normally populated by older teens and young men in their twenties, being friends with couples in open relationships, and denigrating straight people who don't approve. It's allegedly a comedy but is actually a sad commentary on the gay scene and won't do anything to promote acceptance.
Even more frustrating, people on the left have been blasting this movie for casting a rich white male in the lead. The lesson they take from this movie's failure is that we need gay films that cater to an even smaller minority? Most gay audiences do live in big cities and as even this movie states, are relatively successful compared to their straight counterparts. So that can't be the reason this movie is failing among all audiences.
A film which attempts to make a political message is simply not going to succeed when people are already hyper critical of politics in their movies. Other countries have shown that you can make interesting gay films that don't rely on heavy handed political messaging in order to tell interesting stories.
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melissah1982 (883)
2 years ago
Agree. I saw this trailer 12 times because I had obsessively watched Elvis all summer. There was a part of me that thought I might see it; it looked cute enough. But that 'remember straight people' line was just cringe to me. Imagine someone on the opposite side saying that. Anyway, I just spend a LOT of money in the theaters between Elvis, Maverick and Thor. Those are the movies I spend my money on in the theater. Not something that probably should go direct to Netflix. And now people are going to save their money for the next big tent films like Black Atom and Black Panther. I had paid no attention to the politics behind this film; I just wasn't interested. MAYBE if the film had been released during Valentines day? or near Thanksgiving/holiday season? But coming out of the Summer blockbusters and before the holiday, this movie wasn't making any money. This really had nothing to do with homo phobia. It was just bad timing, the type of movie it was, and who it was made for.
And now that this guy has pretty much villainized me for not seeing it; I will NEVER see it. Even if I thought I'd like it.
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OnanTheBarbarian (11956)
a year ago
It's allegedly a comedy but is actually a sad commentary on the gay scene and won't do anything to promote acceptance.
Why should it promote anything? If it's a comedy based on reality then it does its job. Straight people want it sugarcoated? Why? What's funny about that?
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