John Apple Jack

Heart. That's all there is. Heart.

This "movie" was tough. On the surface, it's not that good. It's too convoluted, underwritten, not that funny and while it has the right goals, it misses its mark. And yet...it's very, very hard not to give it the absolute benefit of all the doubts.

Each and EVERY cast member had the aforementioned HEART. Everyone gave their 110% and I couldn't help but truly admire that. They all tried, they all believed and end of the day, they made the movie they wanted to make. This has to be a very low budget it with a crew trying to make a genuine movie. You just have to give it to them. They succeeded. Even when the script really didn't.

Obnoxious, rich-family Johnny has it all, thanks to his wealthy family dynasty of restaurants. He surely takes advantage of all his family bestowed him until he asks for it all to be taken away. Soon he learns, life has to be earned, not given and his long-time friend who has a life-long crush on him might teach him a thing or two about true love.

Seriously, the script is awful. The dialogue was meh and the direction was film-schoolish. The movie is truly saved by the cast that really set out to make a light-hearted rom-com about two lost-souls who were truly meant for each other despite the obstacles they put in front of each other. And this only succeeded because of the actors.

Admittedly, I did laugh at times and I did absolutely tear up in the last act, despite it not really proving to be what it should've ended up being in more experienced hands. So, bravo. They did their job and I absolutely praise this cast and crew for really giving it their all.

For film students and for those yearning to make a break into cinema, this is a good watch. I love to see this many passionate actors really, really trying. It's inspiring.

***

Final Thoughts: Okay, okay...I'm a sucker for cute Asian actors and that's one of the reasons I selected this movie to see from Prime. And yes, he's (Kent S. Leung) is absolutely breathtaking. He was also a good actor - for what he was provided here. Glad to see his career flourished and he's still continuously acting since this movie to this day.

I'm going to be completely honest... I'm a black man and I thank GOD there weren't any black men in this movie (at least the first 30 mins I could stomach). The stereotypes, fetishization, and racism towards the Asians was ridiculous! Like my face was seriously frowned up and I cringed so much from the acting! Nothing made sense and there was no plot! No point and no purpose. Like... Everyone else summed it up so I'm not going to spend time on this. If I can give lower than a 0 on this I would. Like they would have to owe me in order to watch this garbage dump of a movie. Smh... Just have someone run over your foot with a car. It'll be way better than sitting through this mess.

What do you get when you mix horrible acting, bad editing, even worse writing and a wafer thin premise with minstrel-show style racist caricatures? The answer is something along the lines of "a horrible travesty of an abomination which should be avoided at all costs. Seriously; stare into the sun for 4 hours and clean your ears out with a power-drill before you are ever forced to sit through this insanely distasteful tribute to bad cinema. There is absolutely no reason anyone should or would want to watch this.

(I'm going to say this review contains mild Spoilers but little not already mentioned or strongly alluded to in the opening description)This movie had such potential but ultimately made little sense. Even the brief description is wrong. John (the playboy) was JACK's boyhood crush not vice versa. The characters were wildly inconsistent at times, at least in part, to be humorous. But mostly it is just annoying and didn't make sense. For example, the father fires John from the family company, cuts him out of everything completely and but by movie's end all is well. They never showed how this transition came about. It was never explained why Jack had a crush on John for TWENTY years. Or whether he had any boyfriends in the meantime or why he would wait so long. Why did John fall madly in love with Jack after almost ignoring him 20 years? No answers in this film. Most unfortunate - why did they cast the gorgeous hunk "Paul" only to give him such a small part? Would have loved to see him in a Speedo swimsuit.

I hardly ever write reviews on movies but this takes the cake. It's hard to come across very good gay independent movies in general. I couldn't take my eyes off this train wreck of a movie. Between the acting and horrible dialogue, I found myself talking aloud at the atrocity. Who comes up with this crap!?