All Over the Guy (2001)

Powerful

best movie i've ever seen.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

While I'm not saying this movie is realistic (I don't think most movies are) I will say I found it emotionally honest. This movie is rare in another sense. It involves people who know how to use wit. Very few movies show people who are consciously funny and even fewer pull it off. ALL OVER THE GUY surprised me. I was expecting a feel-good film with some slapstick, but what I got was a comedy with some thought. It is closer to a feel-good film than high drama, but it's not a lie, which most feel-good films are. The acting would lift any script, but the script is really good anyway. The DVD I saw had a commentary track with the director, the writer/star and the editor and, as with the movie itself, the commentary track gave me a chance to listen to people who know how to make a point.

This film is about the rough and eventful journey of two couples until they find love.One striking thing about this film is the production. The sets, the costumes and the scenes are just like a big budget movie. It is impressive that they got a nice budget for a gay film! Another striking thing is that there are two big mainstream stars in the move: Lisa Kudrow and Christina Ricci. Lisa Kudrow's role is small and dispensible, which is a pity as it is not everyday that a mainstream star agrees to star in a gay film. Christina Ricci's role is more substantial, but still dispensible. I particularly applaud Ricci because it is not the first time she stars in a gay related film that I watched, the other being The Laramie Project.The plot itself is quite complex, with the main story with two small side plots about the two main characters telling their story to other people. A typical romantic comedy has a join-split-join setting, and yet in this film there are more split and joins that I almost lost track.It is a refreshing film, entertaining and fun. However, it is forgettable and does not leave a big impression in viewers' hearts.

Richard Ruccolo is remarkable- hot and engaging and intelligent and brittle attractive and unlikable and totally human and recognizable in this film. And that pretty much describes the film as well. It takes something special to get me to watch any movie more than once. I've watched this one, in parts or in total, a half dozen times. I start because I really like watching Ruccolo and then stay because the supporting cast is as good as you'll find in any major studio "romantic comedy" (including a hoot-out-loud cameo by Lisa Kudrow) and the script is much, much smarter than most. Actually, I'm watching the movie as I write this and I have to stop and pay more attention because it's better than I remembered.

All I want to say about this movie is that thank god a movie with a happy ending. It's refreshing a movie like that, because almost all the gay movies are or stereotyped or tragic.It's a funny comedy about two men quite so different sometimes, but with some nice connection that grows with time - in fact one is the opposite of the other but at the same time not just in this order -really nice actors, nice quotes, fun to watch, to cry. An ordinary story that could be lived by me or you and with not so perfect people, people like us.I hope to see more like this because positive vibrations are never too much.So watch it! and buy it, it deserves to be kept forever.cheers