140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
Important with capital “I” movie feels almost like an after-school special. Not bad for all that, but there is a definite small screen feel.
Spoiler-free Movie Review of Geography Club:
Streamed this on a lark. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but the blurb on Netflix gave no impression that it was a movie about gay teens. I thought I was watching a movie about geeks or being bullied. That it was so narrowly focused on one group of teens needing support didn’t lessen its impact, but it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity to speak in more general terms about high school hell. Still, it was only 83 minutes, so they really couldn’t afford to bite off too much, I suppose.
Once I finally realized what the movie was about, it was a good story. The movie is based off of a novel by the same name, the first in a series of books by Brent Hartinger. Protagonist Russell Middlebrook (Cameron Deane Stewart) is struggling with his sexuality. He’s unsure, but definitely attracted to hunky jock Kevin Land (Justin Deeley), who has no intention of being de-closeted. When they are seen kissing by fellow student Min (Ally Maki), she invites Russell to the after-school Geography Club. In truth, there is no such club, just a small group of gay students meeting for support. While Russell tries to figure out what he wants, he finds himself increasingly pulled in different directions. While he is becoming engaged with this new group of unlikely friends, he has been recruited onto the stereotypically narrow-minded football team, all while being pressured by his best friend into pursuing a physical heterosexual relationship with an inseparable pair of girls.
That’s a lot of relationships for such a short movie, so the filmmakers lean heavily on the stereotypes. Russell’s best friend Gunnar (Andrew Caldwell) is the chubby funny guy that only gets the girl on sufferance. The girl that Gunnar lusts for is the town bicycle, and so is her friend, thus propelling Russell into an instant dilemma. The jocks are exactly as close-minded as they always are in these movies, even if one of them, Kevin, is the love interest for Russell. Kevin could have been the most interesting character in the film, as he has supportive parents and seemingly the most self-confidence, but his complete refusal to rock the boat makes him a one-note character. The bullied teen is the bullied teen, and the gay members of the Geography Club look like they were focus group-picked out of a television crayon box that reads “DIVERSITY”.
I would highly recommend this movie to all teenagers. But it does definitely smack of “message movie”. There’s no two ways about it – this is a movie you show to the class, and it feels like it. I can see that it made the festival rounds, but it screams “made for tv”. Everything’s a little too clean, too polished. It’s only slightly edgier than a Disney Channel movie. Generic clothes & music, deliberately avoiding any type of branding that could drive up the cost. Broadcasts like it was filmed in Canada to look like California, even though it wasn’t. It’s High School Musical – without the music.
I realize this review is coming off as rather negative and I don’t mean to give the movie such a hard time. It was a good movie and if I am dissecting it overmuch it’s simply that it could have been a lot more. This is a very important topic and the filmmakers are to be applauded for making it. It’s definitely worth a watch, but it likely won’t shift any attitudes or change any minds. It’s plays as a sort of an introduction to open-mindedness; “Gay Teen 101”. Like a coat of primer you put down as a base layer to treat the surface audience so that the better quality film will better adhere. Recommended, just not enthusiastically.
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Pass
The Representation Test Score: A (12 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Cameron Deane Stewart Russell, Meaghan Martin Trish, Justin Deeley Kevin, Ana Gasteyer Mrs. Toles |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Release Date | Wed 05 Feb 2014 UTC |
| Director | Gary Entin |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Plot | At Goodkind High School, a group of students of varying sexual orientation form an after-school club as a discreet way to share their feelings and experiences. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 80 |
| Tagline | They formed a club they thought nobody would join… |
| Writers | Edmund Entin (screenplay), Brent Hartinger (novel) |
| Year | 2013 |
