Sideline Secrets

This film is about a young man coming out to his family and girlfriend. In an unexpected plot twist, he finds himself and his new gay friends in grave danger.

The plot thrilling and captivating! I was very engaged to the characters, especially Devon and Jenna. When they were investigating the irregularities in the office, I was so worried about them being found out that I shouted out! It's a pity that people judge films by its budget or acting. It's true that the most of the acting is wooden in this film, but don't forget these actors "talents" are not in acting. "Sideline Secrets" is a lot better made, entertaining and exciting than many gay films. I think "Sideline Secrets" deserve a much higher rating.

Hi, Everyone,

It was worth the wait. The Producer, Director and actors in this gay guy movie had many obstacles to overcome as they brought this project to the DVD market. Many of James Townsend's fans have followed step by step on the internet as this project was cast, filmed, recast and refilmed. When it was finally ready for mass production, a loss of hard drive information took the Editors and Director and Producer back to the raw stock to reassemble the movie.

Even though this movie was filmed on weekends and on oddball schedules to accommodate the actor's free time and the availability of locations, it still looks better than most of Hollywood's DVD offerings. The camera work and story line are excellent throughout.

This is a movie for gay guys more than anyone else. It is adult in nature. There is even frontal nudity. If any of that bothers you, you will not like this. Stay away.

If, like myself, you enjoy a steamy scene with a couple of guys having a rendezvous in bed or in a shower or in a dream, you will not be disappointed. This is not hard core, squirting, sticky type action. This is soft core with visible excitement and simulated activity.

The actors who are supposed to be young and gay, do indeed appear to be young and gay. If not, the acting is great and the scenes work to keep us wondering what will eventually happen.

In a gay or straight person's life, there are gay and straight friends and gay and straight baddies. That is the case with this movie. Not all gays are nice, not all straights are bad. It is just like in the real world possible for a gay guy to find his best friend is a straight woman. The characters were most likely composites of real people somewhere in the writer's life.

This movie is definitely not a high budget threat to King Kong at the box office. It is a nice DVD well worth the price that a dozen or more people put a lot of sweat into. If you enjoy the theme, you will have no difficulty watching it at least once a year.

The mom character is good with a part that builds to a surprise. Dan Swett is a believable bad guy. Brandon Alexander eats up the scenery in his or her role. Ryan Bauer has the face I am going to ask my plastic surgeon to design for me. Jourdain Dion is another good bad guy. He makes a convincing cop we don't want to meet up with. David Wright is much like Sal Mineo in Rebel Without a Cause. He does a lot with a small part. Sarah Kelly should be very proud of her work here. It is difficult to be the other girl between two boys. She makes us fall in love with her. Alex Wilson is on target all the way in his role which requires him to be sexy and vulnerable and secretive.

Then there is James Townsend. He is the lead, the Writer and the Producer. His acting is not over the top and it should not be for this project. He is ready for whatever Hollywood has waiting. I get the hint in several scenes here that James is ready to do a comedy. James Townsend let all his fans watch on his Yahoo Group as he put this movie together. He and everyone who worked on this are to be given an A in not only doing a good movie, but not letting the bumps along the way bring this project to a screeching halt.

I watched a rough cut. When I see the final version I will come back and make any edits needed. The sound and several scenes were not complete on the version I saw. I still liked it a lot.

UPDATE-December 17, 2005...

I was fortunate enough to see the Hollywood premier of Sideline Secrets last night, Dec. 16. It was shown on a big screen in a small Hollywood playhouse that probably has been host to many entertainment career beginnings. Outings in Hollywood might be common and this film was definitely about coming out.

The finished product is superb. There has been added music, mayhem, mirth and mystery that was not in the rough cut. A good laugh for all was provided in a scene that shows a bus passing from right to left with a very appropriate billboard on the side. Watch closely.

Great camera work and editing throughout. Much applause for Steven Vasquez. If he does nothing more, he has proved himself to be a top notch Hollywood cinematographer. The sound is much better than the rough cut. The sound is still less than perfect, but it works better for me than most of Hollywood's newer releases. The music was not annoying to my 67 year old ears.

The acting is not Oscar worthy yet, but no actor here has to worry about his/her future. All performances were well above what the budget might have expected. It was obvious some scenes were rushed and the actors were not allowed 20 takes to get comfortable with a moment.

The sex action was better than any big budget "love" stories and more believable than most male porn.

This is more than a story about a gay guy coming out. That has been done in a usually boring fashion in other movies. This is a story about a reaction to a gay guy coming out and sometimes being forced to come out by authority figures who have their own juices flowing. It is a look at straight people, good and bad as much as a look at the wild side or should I say "sideline" secrets? END OF UPDATE

Tom Willett

Until now, the worst movie I had ever seen was Ben & Arthur. You really should check the reviews for that movie instead of this one. The review statistics for this movie have been skewed positive through a relentless and unscrupulous push by some of the people involved in making it, evidence for which is fairly easy to uncover online. At least the people who made Ben & Arthur were honorable enough to let it stand on its own shaky legs, instead of unscrupulously promoting it so suckers like me would buy it.

Everything about this movie is terrible, the script, the story, the casting, the acting, the direction, the photography, the editing, the music... what else goes into a movie? Whatever it is, here it's as bad as it gets. If it weren't so unpleasant it would be ridiculous. I kept watching it thinking it must get better, because I hadn't yet discovered that none of the positive reviews for it are reliable.

It does not take a lot of money to make a great movie, nor does a low budget mean a movie has to be bad. My favorite example of a shoestring-budget masterpiece is Gus Van Sant's amazing Mala Noche, but there are many others. Sideline Secrets—Director's Cut or original—is bad not because the people who made it had no money, but because they had gigantic egos and no talent for anything at all except self-promotion.

With so many gay-movies being complete crap, sitting through another low-budget one wasn't exactly something I would take part in for fun. However, a friend invited me to the screening of the newest entry into gay-film the other night-- "Sideline Secrets", in Hollywood, CA. The film is very low budget. You will find the cast and crew listed several times throughout the credits, as they have all taken on the various tasks of bringing the film to completion. In recognition of such, the film itself is a very tight-knit piece of work. I was very impressed with it.

The movie has the basic "coming out" story intact. But, it ties it together with a very original mystery story as well. It almost feels like two different movies vying for your attention until they perfectly mesh together in a sometimes chaotic, fast paced film.

All in all, very well done.

The casting, overall is good. Watch closely and you will catch some fairly well known adult-entertainment models/actors in the film. Ahem *the Fisher Twins* to name just two! James is good. Alex is good. They work great together, I must agree with prior posts. The girl who plays Amy easily steals every scene she is in. She does serve as the comic relief and comes across totally natural in every scene. Simply put, she is very funny and doesn't even try to be. She had the whole theater laughing at her one-liners every scene.

The nudity is very tasteful. Will definitely be good for business in gaining the attention of a lot of people. This is one of the better, perhaps best, "erotic" films that I have seen in the genre.

"Sideline Secrets" is very well done. I'd be interested in seeing what the team at hand could do if they had a big budget. I think we would definitely be in for a treat if that were the case!

Overall Grade: B

The only redeeming quality of this film is the actual storyline...Otherwise, this movie was terrible. The acting was ridiculously bad, and the set design was cheesy and very tacky. The story was decent, but it was very hard to watch due to all the horrid acting. I wouldn't recommend watching this one...The only redeeming quality of this film was that the actors were somewhat attractive...Especially Ryan Bauer, the man who plays the soap opera star. Some of the editing was well done, but there are continuity errors all over the place...I'm just starting to get sick and tired of watching gay movies that are bad...Can we get a good one soon?