Endless stream of gay cowboy-related drivel

Rating: 1/10 (29 June 2006)

At the outset I will confess that I was somewhat apprehensive about watching a film described as an 'astonishing tale of gay cowboy love'. However, having read almost invariably rave reviews about it and, after much persuasion from my girlfriend, I capitulated and gave it a chance. Unfortunately, the experience vindicated my initial apprehension. This film was truly dreadful.
Brief plot: Two cowboys go up a mountain to look after sheep. One stormy night, they bugger each other in a tent. This type of behaviour continues until it is time to come down from the mountain. After this they go their separate ways, both getting married and having children. They then start meeting every so often for elicit romps on the mountain, telling their unfortunate wives that they are going on "fishing trips".
This is the sum total of the film. The film goes on for hours and hours and consists of endless boring dialogue interspersed with some man dancing. I was tempted to hit the stop button to bring an end to the mind-numbing boredom about ten minutes into the film but resisted the urges, clinging on to the desperate hope that something might actually happen - it doesn't.
The point of the film seems to be this: Even manly cowboy types can be gay. Wow! what a revelation. I had always assumed that the vast majority of cowboys were gay anyway. The point is cunningly proved by the juxtapostion of scenes where the protagonists do manly things like fighting, drinking beer and... er... bare back riding with scenes where they kiss and romp. Sometimes, they even combine the two by wrestling (apparently manly of you're American')and being over-affectionate at the same time. Genius! This film left me feeling truly empty. I wasn't shocked or offended by the daring portrayal of the 'taboo' subject matter. I was just bored to tears. The only characters who I felt any sympathy for were the wives who had to put up with their husbands' homosexual philandering.
It would be nice if people would stop lying and pretending that they liked this film for fear of being branded a homophobe and just admitted that it was utter mindless twaddle. It might persuade producers and directors to stop insulting our intelligence with this kind of rubbish and force them to think about story lines and plots. Films aren't there to make points; they're there to entertain. If they make an interesting point as a side effect, then fine. This film didn;t make any point that wasn't utterly trite. You cannot make a bad film good just by making the characters gay! PS. I put that this contains a spoiler to avoid being blacklisted but there really is nothing to spoil