Friday, 12 July 2013

Bad Boy Street needs to lighten up

This is not a good film. It could have been. Despite the plot being fairly predictable, and the characters and their relationships being rather cliched, there were enough moments that could have added up to a good film, if only ... 
Personally, I am no stranger to being the older guy "rescuing" the younger guy from the excesses of a Big Night Out. I can vaguely remember a few of my own BNOs. But once we know who the younger guy in this film is, we can only sympathise with his plight and understand why he would turn to alcohol and need rescuing. Being far from his natural habitat permitted him to live as he most wants to live. In gay Paree, no less.

A relationship with a fit older guy who didn't have much going for him. Except that they did have this top-bottom thing sorted. Did I mention cliche? He was humourless, resigned to a dull existence professionally and socially. A 40 something single gay Parisian who can't even cook! Quel fromage! He has two computers on his desk at work yet can't read text messages on his phone. Mon dieu!

It could have been snappy, funny, gently ironic, prankish, surprising, impudent, audacious. A little bit of "bad boy" wouldn't have gone astray. It was ponderous affair. The film, that is. 

Clearly a low budget film. Nice enough story and acting commensurate with the script. Already in the opening minutes the need for better editing was clear. How many minutes of a film do you want to see the leading man and his best friend - she can cook - ambling home from the cinema?
The whole project could been saved by a snappy script.

On the other hand, I Quit is 20 mins of relatively snappy. 

By the way, there is a Rue de Mauvais Garcons in gay Paris, which must have a history of bad boys. Not only the mind boggles.

At the time of writing, you can see even less about Bad Boy Street on Rotten Tomatoes.



No comments:

Post a Comment

If you've got something to say ...