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At first, "Everyone" seems like a big,
fake, contrived, stupid mess. It centers around
a gay commitment ceremony (more commonly known
as a gay wedding) and this genre has been done
to death in the past few years in independent
gay cinema. This one seemed even more annoying
with two gay male characters who argue constantly
and seemed totally unlikely as well as a plethora
of family, whose storylines are ploddingly exposed
one by one in the film and who were even more
annoying than the gay men.
At first I thought, who cares about these
straight people's stupid problems. If I want
to hear about straight people's problems, I'll
visit my own family. And the problems the characters
in the film have are so contrived they seem
like the are genres within themselves. One couple
is trying unsuccessfully to have a baby and
find the romance slipping from their marriage.
The husband of one couple is a doctor who just
lost a young female patient and is thinking
of quitting his work. Another couple is made
up of two, young egotistical actors who just
find out they are going to have a baby, and,
most unfathomable of all, one is a young couple
who lost a baby three years ago on this very
day that the wedding is supposed to take place.
The reason a gay man would be so unbelievably
insensitive as to schedule his wedding on the
anniversary of the day his young brother and
his wife lost their baby is discussed here but
this seems wholly unrealistic. This bit of screenwriter's
devisal from writer/director/actor Bill Marchant
seems so completely unlikely that it nearly
sinks the movie.
And then the unimaginable happens, one
of the other characters in the film, a hot young
street urchin picked up by on of the gay men's
mother on the way to the wedding, becomes a
pivotal character in the film. The amazing and
profoundly interesting character of Dylan, as
brought forth by the overwhelmingly talented
and charming Brandan Fletcher, saves this movie.
Fletcher doesn't just steal this movie (as his
character is designed to do), he fucking owns
it. Without him, this bit of scriptwriter's
claptrap would sink like a twenty pound sack
of shit in quicksand. But Fletcher is just what
the doctor ordered and the film is putty in
his talented hands. His charm, wit, sexual energy
and pure, raw, unadulterated talent is like
the wind beneath the wings of this monstrosity
of a film.
To be sure, Fletcher is an actor whose
talent has slipped under the radar of Hollywood
in the past but I doubt this will go on much
longer. He has appeared in one of my favorite
indie films, "Rollercoaster"
and one of the more interesting teen horror
flicks of late, "Mojave."
In all, Fletcher has appeared in over 40 films
for theaters and TV since he started his cinematic
career just ten years ago as well as making
almost 20 guest shots on episodic TV. This is
a young actor who is destine for stardom. And
his willingness to appear in a variety of films,
including gay themed movies, make him an actor
that seemingly has no limits.
The rest of the cast of "Everyone" is admirable
but most of them only begin to shine when they
are fortunate enough to share the screen with
Fletcher. Lead actor Matt Fentiman has an amazing
speech as Ryan, one of the gay men in the film
where he discusses his inability to remain monogamous.
"The Republicans are right!" he laments loudly
to hilarious effect in what may very well be
the best scene in the film.
At times, "Everyone" can seem like one
big gay, dysfunctional family circus but by
the time it is over, one cannot help but be
drawn in to most of the characters and have
an affinity for the film. I liked that there
were no other erroneous gay characters in the
film. Sure, it is unlikely that you could have
a gay wedding without drag queens, snotty bitches,
fems and fag- hags in attendance but for once
it was nice to not have to deal with having
them in a gay film. And yes, there are those
who could say that this film has a negative
message about gay marriage (to say more would
give away much of the film), but those people
are missing the point. Then again, so are most
radical gay militants who keep plodding away
trying to fight for gay marriage in America
anyway. The ceremony, the ritual, the event
is just a symbol, and in today's world, it is
a pretty meaningless one. Marriage isn't about
ceremonies or rights or equality, it's about
love. It's about harmony. It's about trust and
forgiveness and acceptance and being partners.
When it comes to this ideal, "Everyone" is a
film that gets it just right.
Notes
The film has been picked up by TLA Releasing.
Filmed in Canada. Fletcher, Fentiman and
Hildreth also appear together in another Canadian
film called "Eighteen" that came out in 2004.
Viewed at Agliff
in October of 2005. The film started and
it was apparent after a few moments that it
was horribly out of sync. The audience got a
big chuckle when a woman was shown on screen
talking yet a man's voice said, "I'm shaving."
The projectionist tried unsuccessfully three
times to get the digital copy of the film to
sync up. Finally a volunteer came in and told
us that someone was going to the office to get
a DVD copy of the film and that they were going
to play shorts until that copy got there.
Of course, no shorts were shown. We sat
in a quiet theater with no visuals but a blank
screen to look at for over 10 minutes. Finally,
the volunteer came back and told us that the
projectionist was still trying to fix the problem
and he was sorry for the delay. Finally at 6:07
(the film was supposed to begin at 5:15) the
film started again and was still a half a second
out of sync. It took one more adjustment to
get it right.
Report Card
Script: B+
Acting: A-
Cinematography\Lighting: C
Special Effects\Make Up: B
Music: D-
Final Grade: B+
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