And Then Came Summer

Not much to add to much of what other reviewers have said, although I was more forgiving than some. Dialog is stilted and acting mediocre and uneven. But I'm a sucker for a coming of age gay story lines.

Jeff London wrote, directed, and produced this little Indie film, and had he assumed only one of the duties, the result would probably have been a much better movie. The running time is 115 minutes and could have easily been edited down to about 85 minutes by excluding the corniest 'homey scenes' with Aunt Lillian sharing pie recipes and girl talk that add nothing to the plot and only tire the viewer.

David (Jesse Petrick) and his little brother Ricky (Anthony J. Domingues) have traveled with their divorced father Brian (Jeff Davis) from their big city home to Brian's beach hometown to visit Aunt Lillian (Phyllis Rodenberger) for the summer. As this seemingly happy family (though broken by divorce) settles in, and Brian reunites with his old buddy Tommy (Jeremy Douglas) who has taken in his younger brother Seth (Mathieu Smith) as a favor to his family, the reason for the change of home will be revealed later. As Brian and Tommy re-bond, both having losses in their lives since their boyhood, David and Seth get to know each other and gradually discover an attraction that goes beyond friendship. After a tender and quiet kiss at night on the beach, they acknowledge their attraction, only to be betrayed by the threat young Ricky poses as he declares he will inform David's father of his brother's perversion! The boys confront their feelings with the David's father and Seth's brother and find acceptance and unconditional love from families mature enough to accept them. Seth reveals his several month's history of 'rehabilitation clinic for gays' experience which led to his moving in with his brother Tommy and the bigotry and tragedy of that event solidly bonds all of the families during the summer referenced in the title.

Much has been said about the amateur acting in this film, but for this viewer the acting on the part of the four main characters is not at all weak: the direction is flaccid and begs for focus and tightening of scenes that would have made the edited down version of this film a very moving story. An additional annoyance is the insipid music score (piano only) that breaks into 'Simple Gifts' at the most inappropriate time. But the message of acceptance of gay boys coming out is handled well and has enough original thought and subtlety to merit watching. Grady Harp

I can't decide what the worst (best?) part of this movie was. The music? The single camera shots? The dialog? Oh my god...It's like a train wreck that goes on for 80 minutes.

And why don't the dads get it on? What kind of straight guys sit around drinking white wine listening to Chopin? What!?!?

Even Lifetime wouldn't take this movie. 10 line minimum? OK, how about this: -This movie is horrible. -And not in a good way. -I'm not sure I can make it to the end

It's almost like one of those movies that's in french but they just dubbed over it in English.

I have to feel a bit of sadness for the producers, cast and crew of 10% Productions "And Then Came Summer." I mean, their hearts were all in the right place... they wanted to make a nice, light, coming-of-age story about two boys who, very naturally, fall in love. The idea is sweet, and the intentions are good. The outcome, however, is a vastly different matter. Unfortunately, "And Then Came Summer" falls into just about every trap that face amateur filmmakers face. The script is an unsubstantial mess, with no build, no interesting dialogue and non-existant character development. The acting is really poor all the way around - either totally wooden or completely overdone, often times both in the same scene. The camerawork is attrocious; certain scenes were filmed so ineptly that it literally made the film difficult to watch. The inclusion of Anthony J. Domingues as the younger brother is perhaps the worst casting mistake in the history of Hollywood... this kid looks not a the thing like his father and older brother (was he adopted or something? If so, the script never gets around to mentioning it.) And, most of all, the film's treatment of women is borderline offensive... the caring aunt is a pie-baking marm so sweet that I almost lapsed into diabetic shock, and the brief appearance by the gossipy neighbor is so dense it's nearly laughable. It used to be enough to simply make a "gay movie." But (thankfully) there are more and more films in the gay genre being made. This ups the ante, and slapping together a film like "And Then Came Summer" just doesn't cut it anymore. Budget be damned, a film needs to be ABOUT something. It needs to still be well-acted and directed professionally. And it needs to draw in the audience with a script and characters that are pertinent and revelatory. This films tries, but, sadly, achieves none of these benchmarks. It's too bad... I really wanted to like this film!

This film could quite possibly be one of the worst, written and acted gay feature film in recent memory. The number of Great gay features that do not receive video Distribution in North America (Mala Noche anyone??) Make the release of this appalling feature an even more bitter pill to swallow.