Testosterone

Lots of things don't make sense in this film, which irritates. But it's so homo-erotic that a lot can be forgiven. Sonia Braga in full dragon mode, and lots of partially- or fully-naked hunks sucking face. Jennifer Coolidge has the funniest lines in the film, and I love her deadpan delivery in this one. It has the makings of a camp classic, but the premise of the film is irretrievably flawed. Given the final resolution, there is no reason any of the characters would have put themselves and each other through all of this. And the final shot (was that meant to be a twist of some kind?) makes absolutely no sense. Most tragically, no one ended up with the adorable bell-hop! I'd have taken him home in a heartbeat! ;-)

Hard to think of any other film where the putative good guy and the bad guy are uniformly repugnant. That the setting is Argentina reminds me of that country's major cultural contribution to the world -- the tango. The dance evolved from a musical entertainment for men only in which the participants combined hard-bitten, menacing moves with unmistakeably erotic passion. The soundtrack of this film, including some modern Astor Piazzolla, reinforces an impression genuinely Argentine.

The problem encountered here is one already noted in several comments, namely, that the story is out of focus. A rather preposterous ending compounds the offense. It's really too bad, because otherwise I found myself drawn to the underlying notion of finding resolution to a dramatic theme by moving the scene to some exotic locale. "Flying Down to Buenos Aires," as it were.

Noir and comedy mix well only in the area of satire. One comes away from viewing this apparent attempt to combine the two not with an appreciation of its cleverness, but with a sour taste in one's mouth. In some sense, I got the feeling neither the creators of the film nor possibly some of the actors were altogether thrilled by the script or the characterizations. That's a kiss of death not unlike one might have witnessed at the conclusion of a tango danced in some nineteenth-century Buenos Aires brothel.

Odd little b-flic. It starts off very bad Laughably bad. Sound, editing, acting, it all fails dramatically. 'So bad it's good'-style, so no complaints there. However, the movie gets better and better with the introductions of new characters. With the exception of Sofia, none of the characters will generate much sympathy from the viewer. But all of them somehow manage to imprint their role with such sardonic egoism, that the ultra thin script is more than forgiven.

So, if you want to indulge yourself in some strangely cool whodunnit story homoerotic style, look no further. Eat your heart out Eric Romer!

A gay graphic novelist from the States is obsessed with finding his hunky Latin lover, who has mysteriously walked out on him; a search for the guy down in Argentina becomes a complex whirlpool of doubt, suspicion, paranoia and murder. David Sutcliffe, a low-keyed actor who resembles a gritty John Stamos, gives a passable performance here, yet it is tough to discern what the filmmakers were aiming for. As a noir, the movie doesn't absorb much interest with its loosely-hinged plot; as a mystery with a gay-hook, the picture is far too timid, teasing its target audience with just a few man-on-man lip locks. The low-budget shows, with the filmmakers failing to utilize the exotic locations to their full advantage...and why have the Latin stud disappear so soon? We hardly get anything useful out of this central relationship before he's gone--or was it to prevent alienating a heterosexual audience who might be sensitive to gay clinches? If straight movies about sexual obsession were this cautious, more viewers would be abandoning Hollywood films for foreign or pornographic pictures. This is an unusual attempt, but it is ultimately unsuccessful. ** from ****

Testosterone started as a gay novel written by a gay author suffering from depression. It's a VERY grim, dark tale of Dean who is deserted by his lover Pablo. But it seems Pablo has left him a gift--an HIV infection. He spends the entire novel driving around Los Angeles meeting various dark, disturbing characters and circumstances to track Pablo down. The ending is very bleak.

This movie took the basic story, threw out the HIV angle completely and has Dean tracking Pablo to Argentina to seek closure!!!! There he encounters various hot men while trying to see Pablo. It ends (almost) the same as the book--but this version seems to be a light-hearted black comedy! I know that sounds strange but the tone kept shifting around. I was never sure how to take this. The script meanders all over the place, moves VERY slowly and (more than once) I wanted to hit Dean and tell him to get over it! As an adaptation of the novel, it's worthless. But on its own it's not that good either.

I'm giving it a 5 because David Sutcliffe was very good (and very hot) as Dean; it was great seeing Sonia Braga again (looking fantastic); it was fun to see Antonio Sabato Jr. out of his clothes--he can't act but has a great body (and has a brief frontal shot!); and has a real HOT Latino guy (Leonardo Brzazicki). Also the frequent shirtless shots of Sutcliffe are nice and there's some real hot man-on-man kissing (Sutcliffe and Sabato are straight but they seem very at ease in the kissing scenes). But the meandering script does everybody in. And Sabato is hardly in it (maybe 10-15 minutes).

I really can't recommend this film. I am wondering what they intended--if they weren't going to be faithful to the novel why bother? As it is this film is bombing. I saw it opening night in Provincetown during Mens Weekend--including me there were THREE people in the audience!