Review of G.B.F. (2014) by Mary S — 06 Feb 2015

G.B.F. is one of those movies that looks terrible, but then you look at critic reactions and read about it and it looks like it could be interesting despite - or maybe BECAUSE OF - its wacky premise and tone, but then you actually watch it and it turns out to be somewhere between the two.

If nothing else, the movie is interesting because it explores a topic that hasn't been explored much elsewhere in film and television: tokenism. The movie doesn't go as deep as it could, because the messages and subject matter are all wrapped up in a Mean Girls-esque teen comedy. And that's where the movie falters a bit, because it's not nearly as funny as Mean Girls, or as emotionally powerful, and its cast isn't as talented. It's maybe a bad choice for the movie to constantly refer to Lindsay Lohan and her speech at the end of that movie, because it brings attention to all the other similarities.

For example, there's Sophie and Glenn, the former of whom is basically Janis from Mean Girls, but not nearly as funny (mostly because Molly Tarlov isn't anywhere near Lizzy Caplan) and the latter of whom is seriously undeveloped, like most of the other characters. Fawcett is a pale imitation of Regina George, with some shading underneath her stereotypical facade, but barely. Shley, the second mean queen of the school, is entirely a Christian stereotype, and Caprice, the third queen, is hard to understand because she's mostly just there to be a third queen and to serve whatever role she has in the party (orchestrating the main prom, driving Tanner and Brent apart again).

Let me narrate my experience of watching this film for you. The first 20 minutes or so were straight-up awful, and tainted my experience of the rest of the film. I don't know if it's just me, but pretty much every joke of the first act failed to land at all, and the actors looked pretty incapable. The initial premise was pretty unbelievable, and I deeply disliked Brent, barely feeling bad when Tanner outed him to his mom. I barely got to see Tanner, Brent, Glenn, and Sophie interact with each other, and I didn't become invested in their group at all. I never really developed an attachment to Sophie like I did to Janis, and when Tanner drifted from their group, they barely seemed to care at all, so I didn't, either. Maybe it's just that there's an overabundance of characters: the movie probably could've gone deeper and been better if the cast was limited to Tanner, Brent, Fawcett, and McKenzie (Evanna Lynch's super-Christian homophobic girl).

As the movie progressed, the lines got funnier, and I started to buy Tanner and Brent's friendship. That's partly because Brent toned down a little, and he's funnier as a restrained guy, awkward around his mom and bummed out about a lost friend, than as an overly flamboyant guy. The actor's talented, but it's hard to like the character, especially because his characterization remains inconsistent: later in the movie, he launches basically an anti-gay protest just because he's mildly jealous of Tanner's prom date. And this new romantic vibe between the two of them was so new, anyway. It feels like such a stretch.

Luckily, Michael J. Willett is really good as Tanner, and he's the one character I really enjoyed throughout. I bought his friendship with Brent more as the movie went on, but it seemed like the romantic element was added pointlessly, so I was really pleased to see that they actually made a mature choice at the end, deciding to stay best friends forever instead of dating for around a year. It was a little touching, and in the last few scenes, in the joyous prom scenes, I couldn't help but get caught up in the fun again.

And the humor does get better as the movie goes on, too. Megan Mullaly is a treasure in the scene where she watches Brokeback Mountain with her son, and there are a ton of little quips that are clever ("This is an 'A' and 'gay' conversation, so see your next Tuesday out of it," "He obvi died of the hiv," and "Prom is short for promenade, not 'Prom 'n Aids," for a few). It's disappointing that so many of those quips were so bad at the beginning. The rest of the movie had to work hard to win me over, and it did somewhat, but not quite enough for me to say I really liked the movie.

Overall, it was okay. Some interesting ideas and funny lines with a cool central lead character, surrounded by lame underdeveloped supporting characters and a hit-and-miss script.