Sell By

I had low hopes going into this movie but it kept my interest, which is why I rated it above average. The stereotypical artsy dysfunctional gay couple with a bad therapist can be found all over LA, Chicago, and NYC. Don't get me wrong, they were a like-able couple, for the most part. I'm just glad the writer didn't make one of them battle a meth or a sex addiction. That would've completed the stereotype.

Furthermore, we have the stereotype of the overweight female friend/hag who is desperate enough to date a homeless guy. We have the stereotypical interracial couple featured in every LGBT movie over the past decade. These characters added some flavor to the gay couple's storyline but largely just there for the sake of diversity. The gay couple redeemed themselves at the end with some proper communication between adults. I'm still not sure why Karl was such a secret. Adam fell in love with Marklin's nurturing personality. Despite the plot holes and stereotypes, it was worth my time. You won't get much better out of typical gay cinema.

I guess in order to get a decent rating for a movie involving gay men it has to include half naked chiselled bodies accompanied by that one homophobe character who comes along to shake things up. Haven't we evolved into wanting more for our gay characters and wanting to actually see and relate to a long term relationship between two men. This movie has its faults but deserves more credit than what it seems to be getting. It's nice to see two men in a long term relationship trying to navigate the ups and downs of what they want their future to look like together.

Almost Love starts with a few people/couples with relationship problems. An hour and half of a whole lot of filler latter and they come to the obvious answer that everyone knew at the beginning or the film or just go with the "I'm not going to let it bother me" philosophy. There is no real drama or tension which means no real character development/growth in the movie which makes it feel kind of pointless. I've seen episodes of television shows that accomplish more with less than a half hour of actual story telling than this movie did in over an hour and a half of story telling.

This movie is a delightful comic soaper. My only problem is the plot comes across as choppy and not enough info on the secondary characters. (Think Carl) Plus the house in the woods - how did that figure into the story?

The recurring appearance of the ice-cream truck was brilliant!

I truly enjoyed Sell By. I found it insightful and thought provoking, yet still laugh out loud funny at moments. This film is well worth your time to watch, and may even cause you to think about relationships, gay and heterosexual, in ways you have not before!