Review of Call Me by Your Name (2017) by Bradley P — 12 Jan 2018

As a gay producer/director who specializes in gay genre movies, I was eager to see "Call Me By Your Name". The positive buzz about it further fueled my anticipation. To be perfectly honest, I probably would have paid for a ticket just to see handsome newcomer Timothee Chalamet (Elio) in the role of a sexually adventurous young man, nearly naked in several scenes. After seeing the movie, that allure turns out to be just about the only redeeming feature in an otherwise hollow and artificial waste of time.

"Call Me By Your Name" suffers from numerous fatal flaws: The main characters lack any believable "chemistry". Armie Hammer (Oliver) is a horrible actor with as much sex appeal as a cardboard cutout. There is absolutely no effort to explain the attraction Elio has for aloof Oliver and visa versa - it seems to come from nowhere and for no reason. There are hints that each of the two main characters has depth and talent - intellectual Oliver and musical prodigy Elio - but those scenes seem out of place and contrived with no payoff in the plot. The weird request from which the movie gets it's title is spoken in a scene, but there is no explanation for it. It comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. I haven't read the book, but the screenplay lacks any kind of conflict, which makes it BORING.

The highlights are the beautiful Italian locations and Timothee Chalamet. I wouldn't bother to see it for any other reason.