Capital Games (2013)

Excellent but underrated film

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Lists are easy: Terrible movie Abysmal acting Lousy plot development Abysmal acting Occasionally there's a good gay themed movie but sifting through the crap to get there is painful. This movie is evidence that star ratings mean nothing. Officer Steve is adorable & probably the only person in the cast that can almost act. In search of a good independent gay themed movie? Well, this ain't it.

Even the doubtful acting of, I think all, of the actors, it is not survivable to look at the out of blue editing cuts, horrible music and trashy image compositions that probably belongs to 90s soap operas from south America (and I am probably being too harsh to that genre).

Capital Games is about Steve, an ex-cop turned ad agency salesman whose life and career gets upended when Brit/Aussie/foreign dude Mark is hired by the firm. At first, Steve fears losing his precious job and the account he'd been working on for years. But a work retreat changes things for both men. Also, Mark is engaged to a butterface woman and a hot gay male lawyer, who also happens to know Steve's ex-girlfriend. Mark believes he has to go along with the wedding despite having feelings for Steve and fearing he'll lose everything (dude, you do realize being gay in the 2010s is no big deal especially in Cali, right?) So Steve goes from hating Mark to a secret rendezvous with Mark to stalking him and this loop go on and on and on. Also, we get a brief explanation on why he became an ex-cop (something about daddy pointing a gun at him because ex-girlfriend was black). I don't know anything about this G.A. Hauser guy whose name is all over the credits, but this movie felt like a gay The Room. The acting is bad, the filming is wobbly, the dialog is corny, and wayyy too many aerial shots of the city, deserts, and beaches. This is suppose to be a movie, not a travelogue. On the plus side, the guys go shirtless a lot. If you're looking for a cheesy bad film, go for it. If not, look elsewhere.

I looked forward to this movie based on the reviews I saw on IMDb. The first one was the only one I should have heeded. The rest sounded like they were written by friends of the company.The acting was dreadful. Eric, his sister, and Mark's fiancée were blatantly overacting. Moreover, I saw no chemistry between the leads. I believed Mark's ambivalence and the anxiety over his predicament, but even he was hard to take. I don't know if the problem can be traced to the director or the actors. It could have been a real interesting portrait of straight men falling for each other - instead it was a bust.