29th and Gay

James Vásquez wrote and stars in what seems to be an autobiographical musing on the life of a plain, conflicted, wannabe actor who is trying to cope with his unsuccessful social life as he approaches his 29th birthday. Presented as a movie within a movie, Vásquez speaks as James Sanchez directly to the audience, sharing his background, his parents (Annie Hinton and James Synjyn) who progress from shock at his outing to overindulgent to the point of intrusion, and his best friends - the wacky Roxy (Nicole Marcks) and circuit guy Brandon (David McBean). The general idea is how to make the almost closeted James into a happily paired man and how his friends and family go about making his happen is written with a lot of snappy dialogue and with the introduction of some really fine character actors - Kali Rocha as an hilarious HIV Nurse and Mike Doyle as the super hunk coffee house waiter who is to become James' payoff! Directed by Carrie Preston the film moves along with a fast clip despite the elected technique of 'instant replay' used to define James' illusions from his reality. The production values of this low budget film are modest to say the least, but the premise of showing the life of a gay man who is not on the top of his life is worth watching. And there are some very good performances by newcomers who seem to have a future. Grady Harp

i know James Vasquez through his partner mark. when he told me they had a movie about to come out i had to see it . i went to a special viewing in San Diego where it was filmed, i must say it is wonderful. it shows the struggles of a gay man and the joy of realization about yourself. but i won't say anymore then that or i will give it away anyway it is a must see for anyone. and to james and mark i hope that you go far with your movie career. there are some really cute bar scenes in the movie that where filmed at a local san diego bar named kickers it is truly the friendliest bar in town and if you are ever there say hi to mark. he is a lil shy about the movie lol.

This is another of a new genre of "self indulgent" gay films where the writer or director also casts himself as the lead actor. He's usually not very attractive, but hey, he's in every frame of the movie, trying to be endearing instead. He's definitely clever, in a Woody Allen kind of way, but ultimately gets so annoying as the film drags on and on, you want to punch his face. One peculiarity of this genre is that the looser hero invariably gets the young dream hunk in the end, without even trying. In this film, it's a gorgeous coffee shop waiter. Through most of the film our looser just pines for him but can't summon up the guts to speak. In the end, this hunk seems to just fall in love with our blabbering looser. Why? Because it so happens that he wrote the script!

I could understand it if this film had been made in 1975, or 1985, or even 1995. To think someone would actually make this in 2005 is not to be believed.

It is the story of a 29-year-old gay unemployed actor looking for love and meaning in his life. James, the actor character, can only be described as a shlub so lacking in any positive attributes that we not only have no empathy for him, we start to wish he would just shut the F up.

This movie consists primary of James whining about his life. Whining and whining and whining. He has a fag hag who's nearly as shrill as he is, and the cause she's involved in was so poorly described as to be unintelligible to me. His best friend is the stereotype of a stereotype. There is nothing in the relationship between the best friends that reveals any reason for them liking each other.

The dialog is meant to be witty, clearly, but nothing struck me even remotely funny, or even original for that matter.

I can usually find something to admire in a gay-themed movie. But I can't think of a single thing I liked about this movie. It has absolutely NO redeeming qualities.

Unless you are a gay filmmaker who needs to see what NOT to do, 29th and Gay is a complete and utter waste of time.

This "no-budget" film was a labor of love, clearly, but the warmth and sense of humor of the writer/star James and his friend and director Carrie Preston shine through in every single moment of this adorable film. I saw it at the NC Gay and Lesbian Film Festival...it is showing at BAM Rose Cinemas this weekend and has been accepted at the Seattle Film Fest. It is worth a peek and then definitely worth distribution.

The film is chaste enough for straight audiences but has enough gay cheek and some right-on bar scenes that will appeal to the G&L crowd. James is so sweet and funny you'll wish you knew him, and his friends are Will and Grace with an edge. The local San Diego scene is shot with love and the special effects are pretty impressive considering that, we were told at the NC festival, the money for the project came out of the stars' pockets.