Adding a "gay" and "church" element to a basic cultural clash does not make it a 10/10 movie to me, I need to see and learn something new or the topic executed with brio. This movie has neither grand novelty or impeccable execution.It has its moments though - the portraying of the Mormon church and the intolerant excommunication portion, a very brief scene of an angel waiting at a bus stop smoking is not without humor, the reprogramming part (and yes, it does not work), the 'we do not throw away anything until it is completely dead' in passing statement as the relation between one of the character (Christian) and a patient develops as a background life lesson and in between moments of small emotion as the characters struggle to find a path to meet in the middle ... The movie had the proper elements of cultural clash but the acting was very poor making it a "bore" at times. The character of Aaron (Sandvoss) is believably naive but the other emotions are not convincing to me. Similarly, Christian (Ramsey) is a believable gay party/playboy character but he also hold his dialogs in a way that does not help feeling empathy with what he goes though (reconsidering his life directions for the love of Aaron). I saw comments praising the original music - I found it distracting myself and not enhancing the story much. At the end, I gave an average rating for this movie. All is a question of expectations - if you do not expect the greatest acting or outstandingly novel story, you will find it has its moments, is moving at times and treat a struggle which could have been better acted.

This roller coaster of a movie has you up one minute almost wetting yourself with laughter and then almost blubbering like a schoolgirl into a snotty hanky the next. Put simply it is a modern day gay love story, but it is so much more than that, taking a look at uniting love from different sides of a religious divide as it does. It had mixed reactions from the critics when it was released in 2003/4 and barely broke even on the production costs, yet it garnered many awards from various lesbian and gay film festivals from all over the world.Briefly Latter Days is the love story of Aaron Davis, played by Steve Sandvoss and Christian Markelli acted by Wes Ramsey who come from different sides of the religious tracks, so much so that it might as well be different worlds. It's these seemingly insurmountable differences that provide the bulk of the films content, substance and emotion. Aaron is a young Elder of the Mormon Church Of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, yep a Mormon missionary, he desperately wants to do his family proud and is quite passionate about his religion, he's also passionate about film. He is sent to the big bad city of Los Angeles with three fellow missionaries to preach the word of god, Mormon style. These three men of 'god' move into an apartment next door to Christian and his roommate Julie, who are both waiters with dreams, she's a singer and he's a err party boy! At first glance, Christian seems a rather shallow character who only looks forward to shagging a new guy every night. This shallow and emotional carefree existence is amplified no end when he makes a $50 bet with a work colleague that he will bed one of the three newly arrived missionaries before the end of the month. He works fast and latches on to Aaron, the most inexperienced missionary and makes an assumption he has a closet gay guy. Now there are a few problems from here on for the two heroes of the piece, firstly Christian is falling for Aaron, secondly Aaron thinks Christian is a shallow 'shag anything' sort of guy and thirdly, most importantly the Mormon church doesn't do gay very well. What follows is a tangled tale of battles and woe as first they are discovered in a romantic clinch and their love and sexual identity is forced out in the open. A cavalcade of emotion erupts for the two, as they have to go through the emotional ringer with things like regret, loss; perseverance, forgiveness and courage which all vie for mental head-space. Is it going to be a happy ending, can love conquer such a vast religious divide? I suppose you will just have to watch the film to find out, all I will say is it is a well-crafted picture laying emotion down thick, fast and heavy and really should have got a better reaction that it originally amassed. The story is well written and put together in a completely honest, frank and believable way. There are several issues raised during the course of the movie regarding not just gay, but any relationships where such a religious obstacle and difference is in place. For me, the movie only works because of that, take it away and you are left with little more than candy-floss. It is a passionate little film, with a passionate and powerful story to tell and I am so glad they made it. The Toronto Sun said it was "The most important gay movie of the last few years" whereas the LA Times chimed in with "At once romantic, earthy and socially critical. Latter Days is a dynamic film filled with humour and pathos". I for one cannot argue with those sentiments for as I said before the film is a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Gary Booher of Affirmation – a lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender Mormon organisation praised the films accuracy "It was so realistic that it was scary. I felt exposed as the particulars of my experience and of others I know was brazenly spread across the big screen for all to behold" Those thoughts are echoed the bucket loads of positive comments received from former Mormons, excommunicated from the church because of their sexuality. It really is a powerful and honest emotive film about a subject that is not often covered in gay or even mainstream cinema. Read more and find out where this film made it in the Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time book, search on Amazon for Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time, or visit - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007FU7HPO

I stumbled upon this film just a couple of days ago and it's stayed with me ever since. I've already watched it twice.One thing I like VERY much about "Latter Days" is that it has a happy ending. So many gay-themed films, even when revolving around romance, end in death or disillusionment. It's refreshing to witness a portrayal of a gay couple who, despite a great deal of conflict and major obstacles, find true love and a future together. It DOES happen in real life and, to that end, the film is as "realistic" as any tragedy.Many of the actors deserve mention: Wes Ramsey as Christian, the gay party boy, is excellent. Jacqueline Bissett, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mary Kay Place and Erik Palladino bring something special to their smaller roles. But it is Steve Sandvoss who knocks it out of the park as Elder Aaron Davis, the sweet, shy Mormon missionary who comes to terms with his homosexuality amid the confines of the LDS beliefs.The film is clichéd, no question, but no more so than many romantic movies. If your taste veers toward complete realism, this isn't the film for you. "Latter Days" is basically a drama, but it does contain its share of comedic moments. I myself am not, nor ever have been, a member of the Mormon church, but I have spent a good deal of time around it and have had a number of LDS friends. While I have a certain amount of genuine respect for the church, I would be lying if I said that the portrayals of the Mormon missionaries and families in this film do not ring true.There are a few unbelievable moments, to be sure. As an example, when Christian confronts Elder Ryder about Aaron's whereabouts, Ryder gives in and tells Christian about Aaron's five-hour layover in Salt Lake City. In reality, no missionary with such a lack of sympathy toward "fags" would suddenly soften enough to give out this information."Latter Days" may not be one of the great films of all time, but it brings to light the complex problems that can exist between organized religion, families and homosexuality, with pathos and sensitivity, along with a tug at the heartstrings. For that, it is more than commendable.

Gay romances are rare. Fortunately, that is changing, but slowly. Good gay romances are even rarer; MAKING LOVE (1982) was a good gay romance, but a certain blandness in the script made it fall short of greatness.Great gay romances are virtually impossible to find; Hollywood, even in this day and age, is not shelling out the big bucks for love stories between members of the same sex. So it has been left to the independents to tell the stories of our lives, and LATTER DAYS is a triumphant example of making great art on a shoestring budget.Filmed in just 24 days on a budget of about $850,000.00, LATTER DAYS does not even qualify as a "small" picture in Hollywood parlance, with the average movie budget in Hollywood in the tens of millions. But what they produced with that relatively small amount of money is a gem of a romance in which the lovers just happen to be two men.It must be conceded that there are quite a few clichés floating around here. The story of opposites attracting is as old as time, and the two leads couldn't be more opposite. Christian Markelli (Wes Ramsey) is your basic West Hollywood party boy, who divides his time between working as a waiter at an upscale restaurant called Lila's (a radiant Jacqueline Bisset) and in his free time, getting laid as often as he can, and by as many men. He isn't stupid enough to be unsafe, but he is most definitely a player when we first see him.Enter Elder Aaron Davis of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Steve Sandvoss), and three other young men, doing their required two years of "mission," which consists mostly of knocking on doors and getting rebuffed not just daily, but several times a day. The four move into an apartment in Christian's building and go about their business. Christian takes note of the new arrivals, and something about Aaron makes his gaydar ping.In a typical player move, Christian maneuvers his roommate, an aspiring musician named Julie Taylor (Rebekah Jordan), as well as the rest of the wait staff at Lila's, into a fifty-dollar bet that he can get Aaron Davis into bed within a week.Meanwhile, the young Mormons are not having much fun. They knock on one door and are horrified to find themselves confronted with a gay couple. And in a charming side scene, Aaron stops to comfort Lila, who he sees weeping at a grave in the cemetery.It is a lonely life, and perhaps that makes Aaron susceptible, so when Christian puts the moves on him, he hesitates, but his loneliness has made him vulnerable, so it does not take much effort for Christian to get close to him.Then the unthinkable happens. Alone in the Mormons' apartment, Christian and Aaron kiss, and are discovered by the rest of the mission team. Aaron is immediately sent home "in shame." Christian, who has come to realize that he has fallen in love with Aaron, follows him as far as the airport in Salt Lake City, which gets shut down due to a snowstorm, and the two young men give in to the inevitable and spend the night in a hotel.Aaron's treatment at the hands of his family and his church once he gets home is not pretty. At one point, he says desperately to his angry mother (Mary Kay Place, great as usual), "What if it's not something I did; what if it's who I am?" Her response is a hard slap across the face; she then informs Aaron about the fifty-dollar bet.I won't go any further. Suffice it to say that the two young men change each other in more ways than anyone could expect, and in the end, love does win out. (In this kind of movie it almost has to.) There is also a scathing indictment in here of the LDS Church, in which writer/director C Jay Cox was raised. He knows the milieu, and he pulls no punches.All in all a remarkable achievement for a low-budget independent film; the cast is splendid, the script is wonderful not in spite of, but BECAUSE of all the love-story clichés, and Cox's direction is sure-footed.And if you don't shed tears when you watch this one, check your pulse.