Review of Were the World Mine (2008) by Eyal D — 02 Dec 2008

The rugby team in WERE THE WORLD MINE gets shaken and stirred when Timothy, their anxious gay classmate begins spraying pansy potion in their eyes and, after a good scrub, they re-awaken only to fall in love, or is it in lust, with one another. This is HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL for the gay set. But in this homosexual utopian fantasy the magic spell gets out of control and soon enough the entire townâ??s in sensational heat, men, women and children, looking not too different from the zombies whoâ??ve walked aimlessly in those LIVING DEAD films, except that the small town denizens are all somewhat more attractive giving the googly eyes.

As imagined by director Tom Gustafson, this idealism can only exist as a temporary fix because in only ninety minutes, the filmâ??s entire length, a few modern love songs will be sung, the boys will take off their shirts in unison and dance, theyâ??ll also kiss and make out all while the unaffected townspeople will demand a resolution, which they will most certainly get.

The fantastical glimpse of what were to happen would the gay Timothy, likeably played by Tanner Cohen, find the attention he seeks from school jock Jonathan, a super sexy Nathaniel David Becker, is filled with romantic notions that keep imaginatively disrupting a glum reality. But nothingâ??s too serious in WERE THE WORLD MINE. When drama teacher Mrs. Tebbit, a good witch-like Wendy Robie, casts Timothy as Puck in a schoolâ??s all male production of A MIDSUMMERâ??S NIGHT DREAM we know that we are in for a treat and that very shortly Timothy/Puck will get his boy.

Watching WERE THE WORLD MINE, especially its few well crafted musical numbers, allows for a glimpse into todayâ??s gay cinema sensibilities and offers the audience a giddy taste of all kinds of sugary goodies and treats that we too know, all too well, will only last us as long as the magic potion, or more precisely the film, ends. Now, thatâ??s ninety minutes of pure, out of control romance.