Too often in gay cinema, Films loose their way in two ways. Plots and characters get lost in a desperate and schlocky attempt to prove just how gay a film can be. A serious attempt at film making is often lost in a need to be gay and throws in unnecessary and explicit love scenes and nudity for no other reason than to remind the viewer that the characters are indeed homosexual. The other way (the worse of the two in my opinion) is that there seems to be this rule that many film makers have that you can not make a serious film about gay men without one of them dying of AIDS. I applaud Poster Boy for not falling into either of these traps. The lead male characters are unquestionably homosexual without being explicit yet without losing their sexuality and none of the gay men die of aids nor are they HIV positive. There is a character who is HIV positive whom we are told dies of AIDS but it is not pivotal to the plot and it is a straight woman. The film does not belittle the disease but it is not the agenda of the film. This film is about the relationship between a father and son and the worlds they live in. It is tightly directed with good character development on both sides. The acting is very good especially by Michael Lerner in a very different role for him. Karen Allen is always a joy to watch. The main characters are played by relatively unknowns which I think works well for the characters. Well done by all involved

I loved it! I appreciated the tapestry that led to the subtle and uplifting conclusion, probably because it seemed to resemble clarity. I felt no sense of "preaching", indeed it was the brevity of expressed points of view that lent it the sense of reality that one lives with every day. The portrayal of the characters on both sides of the issues were presented with a sensitivity that did not detract from the accuracy of their impact on the protagonist, the Poster Boy. Examples of extreme Right-Wing politicians and religious leaders who have parented gay and lesbian children are too numerous to include here, but one wonders about the true price of the horrendously internalized closet these personalities seem to be lost in. I would recommend it to any with an interest in such issues.

Movies that are more about the inner lives, emotions and growth of the characters than they are about the situations depicted frequently have a hard time with critics and audiences. So it seems to be with this film, which is deeper than most of the reviewers seem able to see.The one facet of this production that most reviewers complain about is the writing. Well, I'm here to say that the writing is intelligent and subtle and just this side of brilliant. The people in Poster Boy aren't the one-dimensional, good or bad, smart or silly, honest or conniving characters they might have been. They're multifaceted, exposed in greater detail as the film goes on, and they all take emotional journeys, becoming larger and different, if still humanly flawed, from who they were at the start. Even the politician/father is more complex than we think at first; although perhaps predictably, because of the career he's chosen, he moves the least of the major characters. Henry Kray is embittered by the politicization of his life, yet we see him beginning to hope against his experience that the feelings Anthony shows him might possibly be real. Anthony, for his part, is in it at first for the political effect he can create by outing Henry, but he begins to see there's more to Henry than just the politician's son, and that the cause he was using Henry for is more complicated than he thought. The politician's wife shakes off her complacent acceptance of her role as scenic sidekick to the Senator. Izzie opens up more than she thought possible at first==Parker's knock at the gym door at the end, and Izzie's opening that door is the closest the movie comes to a conventional romance, but is just as much a metaphor for moving on after finally accepting what she's lost.Some people have expressed surprise or disappointment that Henry and Anthony didn't end up together; but this isn't primarily a romance. It's a story of realistic, imperfect people who touch each other's lives and take what they've experienced into their futures.This is one of the most intelligent movies of its kind this writer has ever seen, and sadly underestimated by most of its audience. 9 out of 10.

The overall theme of this film provides a passably good take on the Republican party's dislike of things gay and the damaging effects such causes and thinking can have on someone's emerging life and persona. Well, I should point out here that the preceding statement has "let a cat out of the bag" about this movie---despite DVD cover notes indicating people falling for one another, this is in no way a romantic movie. Sorry, no falling involved.A newer, younger actor, Matt Newton (playing Henry Kray, a US Senator's damaged gay son), acts the socks off an 8 or 9 years more experienced Jack Noseworthy----who truth be told isn't given much to work with in the way of a script (a most inactive activist). Example: During Senator Kray's campus speech, when Henry unleashes the big G-Incendiary in the form of a K-Bomb, Noseworthy, as Anthony, just stands there open-mouthed (only figuratively, most certainly not literally). It's a mouth position that Noseworthy could have put to much better use in the more sexually oriented scenes of this movie---but didn't (and Noseworthy does have wonderfully sexy lips).Speaking just a bit more on the topic of osculation, the best kiss in entire movie is one Noseworthy's character gives his fag-hag (which doesn't provide much enjoyment for gay movie-goers). And more specifically on the guy-to-guy bussing in this film, one is tempted to comment: how about opening your mouths some time........yer not kissing your grandmothers, for Pete's sake; ya probably won't give each other a disease.And let me again highlight a specific acting performance in this film: If a possibly gay actor (Noseworthy) is gonna take on a gay role, you'd think he, of all of them, could do it realistically and give us gay sex scenes that actually come across as sex scenes (hey, Jack, take a tip from young newbie, Daniel Letterle, as **Ethan Green, will ya.....he doesn't stint at kissing and making out). You know, I'm beginning to think we get more realistic gay sex when straight men play the roles.Some disjointed here + there thoughts:Oh, if you're looking for even a little sex, you'll find more on the hetero-side than the homo-side.What kind of scene shooting finds us guys laying around naked in the afterglow of sex......while actually in our boxer shorts. Yikes! Such a scene reminded me of the all too frequent hetero love scenes we see on prime-time TV, complete with the requisite undergarments and wraparound sheets.Something really enjoyed--the further opening up and growth in Newton's acting skills. With a little directorial help, he could maybe play a truly believable gay character in some future project.What sort of writer/director thinking is it that gives us lead character, Anthony, who chases his romantic(?) interest throughout the movie til he catches him........then sez: "Well, see ya." And what's with the fast-cut, extreme close-ups "over-liberally" sprinkled throughout this film.......this director must really like to highlight pores + blackheads.---------------------------------------------The End---------------------------------PS--So......have you by now found out whether what they say about sex & politics is true? No?!?!---well, then, just ask Mark Foley.**"The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green"