Review of Latter Days (2004) by Elephant S — 06 Mar 2005

[b]Latter Days (Cox, 2004): B+.

[/b]Gay movies about coming out, in general, blow - like Kevin Federline through his weekly allowance. It's in the vein of photograph-my-feet melodrama. That the director's last name is Cox, however, promised something better - and that I know one of the main characters in it is just the bunny-shaped marzipan on the icing on the cake. [b]Latter Days[/b] is kinda hokey, with its clash of Mormonism (why are they being so demonized of late?) and West Hollywood gay, but its heart is earnest. I'd be lying if I said the sweet chemistry of the leads didn't make me get a little misty, in an aw-shucks sort of way.

[b]Napoleon Dynamite (Hess, 2004): C.

[/b]What a sucky movie. I think I mentioned this in a conversation with Arrenbas: while the conceit of NP is promising, the execution is flabby like a MickeyD's flapjack. Oh, oh, here's another: the execution is flaccid like Kevin Federline at his arouse-iest. Aw, Kevin. You are such a tool.

The trouble is the stagnant tone throughout the movie, where the complete oblivion of the lead characters make no sense throughout the "progression" of the movie. Staying true to oneself is fine, so long as that idea of self is clear and relatable in some way to the audience; sadly, Napoleon and company were Pintos of characters. I'm gonna go vacation now in the log cabin I built with the wooden acting from the flick.