Dating Amber

In a semi-autobiographical film set in 1995 Ireland, 2 high school seniors date each other (and exhibit public displays of affection) to ward off suspicions of being gay. Amber is confident, and plans to use her entrepreneurial savings to go to London and join the punk scene. Eddie is resisting identifying as gay, and has internalized his army-commander father's desire for him to follow his footsteps. While only pretending, the two actually develop a form of affection for each other. However, trips to nearby Dublin, where they find a gay scene and Amber a girlfriend, cause trouble for the duo.

Beyond the action at school, there are the dynamics of both families. By seeing this film at a digital film festival, I was able to re-watch parts to figure out certain scenes, or catch scenes that went over my head on the 1st viewing. But there are inconsistencies of note: Even if Eddie can do only one pull-up, he rides his bike everywhere, so he can't be as unfit as he is made out to be. While Amber tells Eddie of his gay mannerisms, he is nowhere near obvious in doing so. Meanwhile, at different times, Amber is either straight-curious or dick-averse. Offsetting this are other touching snippets, and amusing revelations at the family dinner table by Eddie's younger brother, about Eddie's rumored sexual activities from school gossip.

There are echoes of other teen movies, like Risky Business, Moonlight, and American Graffiti. This is a reasonable combination story of both coming out and coming of age.

I did enjoy this movie for the most part but some things in it just didn't sit with me for some reason.

The script was a bit here there and everywhere. Some characters were just caricature mainly the students in the school but I'm not entirely sure if that was the fault of the acting or the script or both.

Before I talk about the male lead I do want to say he really impressed me because I thought he was really lifeless at time but then I realised it was a choice because in one scene where the characters relaxes and feels safe he really comes alive and it's a really nuanced choice and found it great.

The life of the male lead is very very unclear, I found the dynamics of the people he interacts with very peculiar. He has conversations with people like he is their friend but then they relentlessly bully him and I don't even think it's like "haha lads being lads joking" straight macho banter, it is bullying. Then he will once again be talking to them like they are best friend. I think this is really strange and bugged me throughout the whole film.

The female lead is wrote so much better and her wants and traits are much clearer. I think this hinders the male lead once again because it makes him tiresome compared to the female lead.

Some scenes are really impactful and done really great. You can almost feel what the characters are feeling and I think that is so good, however some of theses sense get muddy with strange choice and behaviour from characters. It takes you back a bit. I think this issue is this movie likes to make sure you understand everything.

So the lead males room is decorated with overtly masculine men in army uniforms because he wants to join the army. I thought that was great set dressing and kinda funny like yeah he might like to have things like that on his wall. But then the movie has to point it out like "HAHA isn't that funny that he is gay and has these posters on his wall audience". I wish it would let people come to it on their own. This isn't the only instance it happens in different scene too in different ways.

The characters are also kinda selfish too which makes it hard to connect with them and I totally get it, with some things in their situation they need to be selfish to protect them selfs but then some actions I am left wondering why they would do that.

The ending was nice and kinda sweet and I want to really like this movie. It seemed really cute and I guess I did like it I just had some issue. It is totally watchable so give it a watch.

Those who think this movie is bad, must have some hateful feelings in their bones, because it shows really well how gay people had to live back in the 90's. Not 10 out of 10, because the end may have been a bit better, but the movie itself shoes the struggle of being gay in the 90's and inn a country like Ireland very well. Please make more movies like this.

It is about high school kids dealing with the difficulties of growing up, particularly sexuality and including being bullied at school. The novelty of this story is that a lesbian girl and a reluctant gay boy decide to hush their heckler friends by starting a relationship. They visit each others families, they show PDA at school, but deep down have an agreement that it is just for show and after graduation each will go their own way.

The story is for the most part handled very well. As has become the custom for scripts with high school characters there is a bit over-emphasis on sex and sex-related discussions. I doubt this is representative of the average Irish high school. Still much of it is done to inject humor into a story which otherwise has very serious implications.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library, we were entertained. The Irish humor is quite different from American humor.

If you are as tired as I am of depressing LGBT movies, where every time all you can see is eternal suffering, that's the movie you should definitely watch! I loved the plot, I loved the actors, I loved everything. It's not cheep, the picture is beautifully made, it's light and full of hope. A bit thank you to the authors, I've got enough on my plate in real life, so it's nice to distract myself with a movie like that.