Wild At Heart
The movie “Weekend” is getting some good reviews on the gay/lesbian movie curcuit but I must admit I never really got drawn into this British film starring Tom Cullen (as Russell) and Chris New (as Glen). Russell has spent the day hanging with his straight friends and decides to stop by a gay bar on his way home where he meets Glen. They hang out and go back to Russell’s place for what should be a one night stand. However, something clicks between them and they end up spending the whole weekend together.
The rest of the movie revolves around them hanging out at bars and at home, having sex, drinking and plain old getting to know one each other. While I wasn’t enthralled, I think because the two characters seemed to bleed together for me being so similar physically, I have to admit there is some nice dialogue as the two actors do a good job portraying a 72 hour cycle of truly getting to know each other. That alone should appeal to movie goers who enjoy gay cinema or were curious enough to see “Brokeback Mountain” though the sex scenes may be off putting for some even if they are not overly explicit.
The movie ends with one character relocating to the US the upcoming Monday which leaves us wondering if this was just a passionate rememberable weekend or if the characters will make the effort to get together at a later time.
Overall, the movie does have some hard to understand dialogue with the think British accents but is basically faithful to the characters in what will be a love it or hate it movie. I land somewhere in the middle and while I cannot overly recommend this movie, there are certain segments of the public that will enjoy this movie which does a good job avoiding some of the more overt and annoying gay stereotypes. The movie starts Friday, October 14 at the Main Art Theatre.
My grade is a C