The New Twenty

Seven years after graduation, five buddies from college - four men and a woman, all living in New York City - face the grim prospect of turning thirty. Andrew (Ryan Locke) is an investment banker who's just gotten engaged to his long time girlfriend, Julie (Nicole Bilderback), who works for a rival firm (he's Morgan, she's Merrill); Felix (Thomas Sadoski) is a drug addict who's struggling to hide his condition from his friends as well as maintain a relationship with a fellow user; Ben (Colin Fickes) is an unattractive, overweight gay man who can't get anyone to go out with him; and Tony (Andrew Wei Lin) is an attractive, fit gay man who falls for a college professor with HIV. All five have reached that critical point where's it's time to start taking stock of their lives - to find out where they are and, more importantly, where they're headed.

"The New Twenty" is the debut feature for writer/director Chris Mason Johnson and, while the hand of the novice is evident in certain aspects of the movie, Johnson also reveals some real potential as a filmmaker. The relationships among the various characters are, for the most part, unusual and interesting, regardless of whether they are personal or business-related in nature. The storytelling can be a bit choppy at times and the acting occasionally uneven, but there are enough moments of genuine insight and emotional force to make the movie worth checking out. The fact that it feels more like a still-rough-around-the-edges first draft than a fully polished and completed work in its own right is actually what gives the movie its greatest authenticity and appeal.

I think the problem here is more along the lines of why would you care? As a group of friends head towards their thirtieth birthdays, each has their moment in the sun in this dreary and plodding drama that contrives to make sure that each have their trials and tribulations. There's the gay "Tony" (Andrew Wei Lin) who is dating an undetectable HIV+ lecturer whilst sharing an apartment with his best pal and cocaine addict "Felix" (Thomas Sadoski) who is best pals with "Julie" (Nicole Bilderback) who is about to marry "Andrew" (Ryan Locke) who meets "Robert" (Bill Sage) in the same sauna where "Tony" met "Louie" (Terry Serpico). "Robert" just happens to be a venture capitalist who offers to set him up in business and that gives "Andrew" a chance to employ "Tony" and maybe his other friend "Ben" (Colin Fickes) who cruises Grindr trying to pretend he is a little fitter than he actually is. Now the scene is set, we follow their interconnected shenanigans as one betrays another, or falls in love, or out of love, or... but who cares? The acting isn't terrible, but the characters - excepts perhaps "Tony" are shallow, selfish and undercooked and the portmanteau nature of the story telling just leaves us observing a series of interwoven vignettes that just didn't engage. There is a great deal of dialogue and not much else as the thing plods it's way through ninety minutes before leaving us little the wiser as to why Chris Mason Johnson ever thought this was ever a solid idea for a film in the first place. To it's credit, it doesn't make any big deals about race or sexuality as it meanders along and that normalcy gives it a bit of credibility, but with that goes just too much that is overly contrived.

There is more to this movie than meets the eye. If you're looking for groundbreaking originality or easy comedy, you'll be disappointed. But for an entertaining 90 minutes, this is just fine.

The cinematography is careful and precise. The sex scenes, which one comment decries as gratuitous, are anything but - every gesture contributes to the development of the characters.

Yes, some of the main characters are not exactly lovable human beings. But the movie makes an honest effort at showing their interactions in an honest light, without being sensationalistic (at least not for early 21st century urban standards). And there are many very amusing moments.