Brokeback What?

Rating: 4/10 (6 March 2006)

The hype was incredible for this film, so immensely so that I immediately shied away from it as if it were leperous. Everyone I talked to about told me it was a must see, because "You're gay, it's such a beautiful love story Joe! You'll love it." This made me avoid the film altogether. There is nothing worse in the world! Being TOLD that you'll love something before you even see it, because it strikes some cord of similarity for your straight friends some way for them to experience what it's like to go through the torment of being gay. This story was supposedly a "one of a kind!" I found it anything but. There seems to be a more common thread or cord in the films being produced about gay men. There are no happy endings, only stories of betrayal, distrust, disgust, addiction or better yet of Disease. I for one am frankly tired of it. I want a happy ending something to empower me not to enrage me. A film that will say with equal presence of mind the difficulties of being gay combined with the awesome power of the individual to overcome these obstacles. I don't need to be wiped with the past views of homosexuality. I know them already. I'm not going to turn to my boyfriend and declare "Wow what a great film it was gay!".
Instead I'm going to analyze the hell out this film for it's content and the content was depressingly weak. The story was as thin and poorly thought out as the current administration in D.C. is. Hollow, tailored to make Straight Americans look at the homosexuals of this country with pity and empathy. I don't want EMPATHY or PITY. I don't think a lot gay men do, but then again I'm not a typical "gay man", not a "fairy or fem or drag queen". I'm a guy who is fairly intellectual and well informed and this movie was a shocking blow to everything I think of in regards to the progress that the homosexual community has made over the past 20 years in this country. I do not want the straight community to use this movie as a dividing line, I do not want to be type-cast into the role that Hollywood seems so eager to hand down to me.
Thanks Hollywood, but no thanks. Some hairy balls dangling and a few naked shots and some very aggressive kissing scenes do not describe passion for me. I enjoy acting and film and it was beautifully filmed, but the script is weak the characters are even weaker. Gladly the movie did not win the Best Picture Award, it would have been clichÃ©d and a "Hand-Me" award. Well at least it made it to the mainstream and for that I hope the straight community enjoys it, but realize that there are many many more movies of this caliber already in existence.