I just saw this on Netflix, so I don't have the benefit of watching the DVD 'Extras' other reviewers mention as almost making the rental worthwhile. But, and I guess this qualifies as a spoiler alert, the ONLY reason I would recommend sitting through the piece of crap is to see Kelly Clarkson (yes, THE Kelly Clarkson) have a painful acting experience cameo at a fraternity party. Makes her performance in 'From Justin to Kelly' look Academy Award worthy. Oh, and why is a 35 year old man trying to be an 18 year old college freshman pledging a fraternity anyway? Pitiful, just pitiful. And since I'm new to doing an IMDb 'review', I didn't realize its supposed to be a minimum of 10 lines of text, so I wrote this last line just to squeak by that rule. The movie doesn't deserve 10 lines.

I've seen very good, even excellent, low budget gay themed films which despite low ratings from some IMDb.com users, nonetheless show talent and imagination and ingenuity by the cast and filmmakers. Issues 101 is however the work of a writer-director (John Lincoln III) whose supreme lack of talent is at the level of the infamous Ed Wood. There is not a moment of credibility in this mess of a movie. Michaael Rozman, the above the title lead, is 10 years too old for the part and does not for a moment convince the viewer that he is gay. On the other hand, Dennis W. Rittenhouse Jr., has not a moment of believability as a straight man, even one who is "straight with issues." That anyone other than a hopelessly smitten girlfriend would doubt for a minute that he's as gay as a goose is beyond belief. Bad casting from the get-go. There's also an excruciatingly bad "performance" by Gary Castro Churchwell as the fraternity president. Faring much better are Jeremy Smith and Trevor Murphy, who are charming and believable in their supporting roles. But a couple of supporting performances do not a good film make. (Oh, Kelly Clarkson does make a cameo appearance in the film--for a full 11 seconds!) Another IMDb.com user has commented on the incredible scene in which fraternity brother Todd invites total stranger Joe to his house for beers and is then shocked when Joe assumes he's gay. (Who wouldn't?) But this is nothing compared to the scene in which the viewer learns that in this fraternity, pledges are forced to perform oral sex on eager fraternity brothers while in the same room another pledge is paddled bare bottomed. A gay porn fantasy, absolutely, but I didn't buy it for a moment, and from that point on, nothing was believable, if it had been slightly so before then.There is some full frontal nudity by Naked Boys Singing original cast member Michael Haboush (certainly hired just because he was willing to show his goodies) though Rittenhouse, while cute enough to do gay porn, keeps his hand over said goodies and is otherwise shot from the back. Jeff Sublett, as Rittenhouse's gay younger brother, is also a cutie, but exposes less.I can't say I hated watching this movie. I might watch it again just to marvel at it's horribleness (and to check out a few of the cuties again).I don't regret buying it for the above reasons, but those who have better things to do with their money would be better off renting, or skipping this untalented writer/director's first, and hopefully last, film.(I truly doubt that the 10 star reviews posted here were written by anyone other than someone connected with this film.)

The comments I have seen are shockingly childish and makes it obvious that you people do not see very many independent films at all! You want to see a bad film, watch Leather Jacket Love Story or Visions of Sugar Plums, or worst yet, The Forrest Song. Issues 101 is a great title, a great idea, and though it would have been great had there been a budget, it was great entertainment. I liked the original props and costumes, as well as the story. It was different in a great way. It is difficult to make a film, I just wonder how many films the previous writers have made? So the producers and actors and crew who worked on Issues 101, good luck, I know you all will make another film, and congratulations on being entered in so many film festivals (I don't know exactly how many there are, but saw that there were many on the poster).

Unfortunately, this film should be mandatory viewing for film makers, so that they can see what mistakes NOT to make in their films. Issues 101 has real problems. As a romantic drama it's a failure. Seeing this film only a few hours after watching Andy Warhol's Trash led me to question why Trash is so riveting (albeit in a sick car-crash sort of way) while Issues 101 required real force of will to watch to the bitter end. Neither film has well scripted dialogue and yet they couldn't be more different in their audience impact. One is fascinating to watch and one is painful to watch. Somehow in Trash we see beyond the flaws and imperfections and see that there is truth (in this case what it must have really been like to be in a dead end relationship with a junkie in late 60's NYC) In Issues 101, we see no such truth. The reality of the digital video contrasts wildly with the inane dialogue (lacking in both sense and substance). The result is an insipid film lacking in truth, excitement or interest. The flaws were so off-putting as to keep yanking the viewer back to the `real world' and not allowing for the willing suspension of disbelief that works for most films. The REAL problem for me with Issues 101 is that it gives me a terrible case of the `might-have-beens.' For the most part the actors were pleasing to the eye and the ideas presented in the story could have been told so much better. On the surface, a story about a fraternity pledge that somehow gets through a chink in his frat brother's straight façade, the frat brother setting the pledge up with his younger fraternal gay brother to take some of the pressure off, and the jealousy that ensues are all great plot elements. However in this film almost none of it works. The sex with the supposedly straight brother goes way too far without an adequate `gosh was I drunk set-up'. The whirlwind speed with which the pledge and the younger brother get seriously involved happens way too quickly. And finally the pledge causing all these issues is neither handsome enough nor charming enough to make us believe that either brother would be interested in him.To make matters worse there were scenes that were totally unmotivated and others that were totally unnecessary. I understand that this film ran out of money near the end and so much was lost in the director's vision but overall what was left is nearly unwatchable and actually painful to sit through.