Since the early days of cinema, viewers have been taught about the misery of being gay. Loneliness, addiction, obsession, violence, pain, death, you name it.
In more recent years, as our society has advanced, and independent filmmaking has become more prominent, the script has a little more leeway. For instance, in Wrecked, the characters are miserable and doomed, but at least there's no direct indication that this is due to their being gay.
Hooray for progress.
The basic outline of Wrecked is that Ryan's (Theo Montgomery) life is ruined because of damaged druggie Daniel (Benji Crisnis). This is also the basic failure of the film.
Who is Ryan? What is his life? All we know is he wants to be an actor and apparently he's in college, or has friends in college. He's living in a nice, large home, all on his own, so clearly he's not hurting for money. He doesn't even worry about a job, considering his only interest is in a local theater production led by a perv who dresses like Mr. Furley from Three's Company.
Why does Daniel's presence destroy Ryan's life? As far as the movie tells us, Daniel tells some obvious lies that Ryan sees through. Daniel sleeps around, which bothers Ryan, but not enough to kick him out of bed. Daniel gives Ryan some pills, which doesn't seem to have any big effect on Ryan, aside from making him oversleep one day and miss part of one rehearsal. The movie undercuts Ryan at every turn, in terms of viewer sympathy - Ryan knows what Daniel is like. Daniel doesn't really do that much to Ryan. You can't even say that Daniel cost Ryan his dream theater role, because the pigtailed director tells Mr. Furley some time before the firing that she doesn't think Ryan is any good. Generally, Ryan is just kind of a lump on the screen - he sits around whining about his relationship that isn't a relationship, and he looks confused as Daniel initiates sex and pill-popping.
Ryan's downfall is rushed and is clearly designed for some shock value to tag onto the end of the film, for a message. As a result, it's totally unbelievable.
What does work about the film? Well, there's a scene right before Ryan's downward spiral where he is very lonely and seduces his somewhat reluctant friend, Rodney (Womack Daryl). This has an ache and is the most believable moment in the film.
The sex scenes can be an awkward blend of explicit and coy (erections and strokes, but never penetration). But most of them get the message across, with a particularly delirious, glow-in-the-dark erotic encounter between Daniel and rich boy dope-head Taylor (Forth Richards), leading to bath fun and oral gratification.
The best reason to watch Wrecked is Benji Crisnis as Daniel. He is very sexy and charismatic as a man who does not know or does not especially care what impact he has on the people around him, as long as he can get off and get high. When the character goes, the movie goes with him.
The film's message, presumably unintentional, rests with Daniel over Ryan - the strong survive.
