Partner(s)

Because I consider myself a harsh critic, I was really surprised by how much I liked this film. I thought it was just a very well told and well acted story. A good adult comedy about people working at a law firm is difficult to pull off, but this movie does it. I really like Julie Bowen and I'm surprised she played 'the bitch' role so well. Only because I find her to be very likable. The guy that played her assistant was really funny also. Jay Harrington was very good. I never saw him in anything before. I think he's a good comedic lead. Not too 'over the top.' It was refreshing. As I'm thinking back about the movie now, I'm smiling. That's how I know I liked it. It was just a good, smart, and funny film.

I originally tuned in to watch this film purely to see Brooke Langton (Lucy in the film) but was actually pretty entertained by the film. Jay Harrington did a great job and Julie Bowen played a great bitch. Ian Michael Black also did a great job as Jay Harrington's "gay partner."

The story was fairly predictable, but there were a couple of little twists that made it amusing. The acting was easy going and not over the top.

Of course, the star of the film, in my opinion, was Brooke Langton. She is, by far, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I wish she was in more films.

I can sum this movie up using 20 words or less. Way too predictable of a story line with potential to be funny but instead falls flat on its face. See, 19 words, however, I didn't completely pan this flick with just one star but instead decided to bump it up to two stars due to the fact that Julie Bowen is smoking hot and provided just enough eye candy to keep me from ripping the DVD right out from the machine and blowing it up with an M80. My advice, take the $4.00 rental fee you would have paid to see this movie and just send it right to me as an advance thank you for saving you the time and frustration of having to sit through this train wreck, or you may want to send me the $50.00 replacement fee you would have been charged from taking out your twelve gage to use this piece of garbage as skeet shooting practice.

I really enjoyed this film, which surprised me, because I expected a predictable "straight guy tries to be gay" plot. The actors are inventive and quick, which helps with a somewhat trifling plot. It's pretty clear where things are going, but you don't really feel taken for a ride, which is rare in this type of film. It's a surprisingly well-acted and quick-moving story that avoided obvious twists and complications--until the last ten minutes, that is, when it quickly falls apart and feels fake. For some bizarre reason the obvious resolutions don't take place, and instead you get a forced and awkward wrap-up. It's a shame to see a decent film ruined like this. It almost seems like someone "up there" ordered a change in the script to make the film bland and boring at the very end. Too bad. It was off to a good start and middle.

'Partner(s)' turns out to be a far better little film than expected. Not that there is anything original about this oft told variation of posing to be something you're not in order to take advantage of career development only to have that posing backfire. But Dave Diamond's script and direction and the presence of an attractive, bubbly and capable cast make this little piece of fluff float.

Tables are turned in a competitive law firm where an important case is to be assigned, a case involving sex discrimination over a gay employee. Dave (Jay Harrington) and Katherine (Julie Bowen), lovers in the past, vie for the assignment that will most assuredly result in being granted full partner ship in the firm. The company involved happens to include a cute young lass Lucy (Brooke Langton) who lives in the same apartment with Dave (Dave happens to room with a gay guy Christopher - Michael Ian Black - but Dave is straight). Lucy eyes Dave but mistakenly thinks Dave is gay, a fact that she feels will help her father's company in the lawsuit if they are represented by a gay lawyer (politics, you know...). Dave goes along with the charade, tells his company he is gay, wins the assignment leaving Katherine jealous, knowing that Dave is NOT gay. The remainder of the story revolves around the cat and mouse game between Dave and Katherine and Dave and Lucy's mutual attraction that interferes with his job. There are many funny side characters who constantly comment on what the gay mind is like. But the story ends well, with the film being a vaguely funny if very superficial view of what being gay is all about.

Not a great film but certainly an entertaining one. Sort of an extended au courant soap opera, it works fairly well on the big screen, largely due to the sustained light touch with which it is delivered. Grady Harp, December 05