From my favorite movies..

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

This film broke my heart! Although I don't like the fact that David tried to break up the relationship of his best friend and his girlfriend, the ending was still devastating because after confessing his love for Theo, he didn't get the response he had hoped for. Theo reunited with his girlfriend, beat up David and left him alone. They probably won't keep in contact anymore. What a way to lose someone you've loved for 14 years. But then again, I guess if Theo reacted that way he didn't deserve David's friendship anyway. No one should have to go through so much suffering for coming out for who they really are and admitting whom they really love! As always, John Simm was brilliant as Theo and somehow managed to make me love him even more and then love to hate him in the end for treating his friend that way. Stay awesome, John! Steve John Shepherd was amazing as David and really touched my heart with his performance. I could feel his pain by looking at his eyes.Perhaps not a first-class film, production-wise, but emotional and touching, with a great set of cast!

Wow. Previous reviews almost dissuaded me from doing it, but I am very, very glad I watched this movie. (What I am about to write may contain >>SPOILERS<<, but I am simply responding to what other reviewers have already written.)My reaction to this movie is almost exactly the opposite of most other reviewers. I think it got much BETTER at the end, not worse; I think Steve John Shepherd is the weakest actor in the cast, not the best (although it is an extraordinary cast, so he is still very good); I think the responses of his parents (who do NOT brutally reject him (his father SAYS they still love him), they only insist that he leave them alone for a while to deal with the shock) and Theo (David started the violence, not Theo; and David is much bigger and stronger, so using a weapon makes sense) are entirely credible and honest under the circumstances, not at all monstrous or inappropriate; and Hannah had seen the TV show, so her appearance at the end is not at all out of the blue.The end is strong and very, very positive: David knows himself better than we do, so when he says it is the best day of his life, I believe him. This is a brilliant movie.(By the way, I am delightedly and militantly gay, and I abhor gay bashing, but there was NONE of it in this movie! As I said, David hit Theo first, Theo hit him back twice with the pipe - and NEVER in the head, so he was not trying to kill him - and what Theo said to David at the end he said because he was deeply hurt and terrified, not because he hates gays.(Theo is a sweet, sensitive, weak and wimpy guy who had loved and depended on David since they were children, and his world had just been blown to bits on national TV. Give him a break! David is stronger than he is, in every way. It is GOOD, not bad, to see a movie with a strong gay lead! That he can get beat up, alienate his family and only friend, and still say it is the best day of his life is great! This guy is a hero, not a victim.)

My first feeling was that I had already seen this kind of stuff too many times already and much better (even in TV). Although the cast was good (most of them deserve better), characters were so unconvincing and the dialog so cheesy that it was impossible to feel any sympathy for them. It is the typical script written with old recipes in the hands of an inept, extremely heavy handed director. Every scene was irritably predictable, except when towards the ending, the film goes overboard, with a total misfired "tour de force." I am sure that this flick will be very successful among family values audiences and the final bloody and extremely severe beating that the gay character gets from his 'straight' friend would be a real treat for hate and neo-Nazis audiences.I am not giving a 1/10 rating out of respect for the actors (the only reason that I saw this TV produce until the end): I feel sorry for some of them.

This 2000 made for TV film is a sham for gay people. It promotes gay bashing, degrades coming out and gives homosexuals a dated persecuted life style. I could have sworn when I saw this trite work, it must have been done in 1960. For certainly gay issues deserve better than this dribble. The fault lies in the writing and directing. Mark Burt writes a trivial and lack-less script with absolutely no compassion for any of the major characters. Aisling Walsh, a woman, directs with no understanding of how to bring any hope to her leading players. She certainly has no understanding of gay life. If she herself is gay, than shame on her. If not, she needs to go to a gay bar or march in a gay pride day parade and surround herself with today's gay people.The actors do what they can to give believability to this nonsense. Steve John Shepherd plays the young man tortured over his homosexuality. Afraid to come out to his best friend and to his parents. Why he chooses to do so in such a public way, beats me. But he does. I'll say no more as to the outcome and let you see for yourself. Believe me, you won't be surprised. John Simm, hardly, in my eyes, worth all the suffering, is the attraction to Shepherd as his best friend. Simm has his own demons to deal with. And again, you really don't care. He earns his oats. As the unsympathetic and sometimes just down right annoying girl-friend to Simm, Laura Fraser is a real possessive bitch (can I say that word?) A control freak, she deserves losing any guy who would put up with her antics and games. I was hoping she'd lose the guy in the end. Again, see what happens yourself. Again, no surprise.Then there are the parents that contradict themselves all over the place. An overbearing dad, played by Maurice Roeves, knows nothing but anger and screams through most of the film. What's with this guy? Sometimes overacting, he suddenly has all this tear jerking at the end? And you don't believe it anyway. "Let him go", says he. I would have been gone from this dad a long time ago. And the mother, played by Ger Ryan, sits and bakes pies. Probes her son most of the time to see what's wrong and when she discovers the truth, over public TV, completely disowns him. She begs him to be honest and then slaps him in the face. Give me a break.I liked Shepherd's work in this and wish he could have had a decent venue to work with. For he gave the most convincing performance. Simm was one level, Fraser was just awful as were the parents.I give this dated movie a 2 star for Shepherd's performance attempt.