O Mau Exemplo de Cameron Post

Cameron is sent to straight camp after being found kissing her girlfriend in a car. I really wanted to like this movie, but as often happens with gay movies the script didn't deliver. Cameron is not going to be broken, the head of the institution clearly has no idea what he's doing, one of the pupils hurts himself... all ideas that should have been developed, but are just delivered flat to the audience. Underwhelming.

I am a 71 year old heterosexual woman and I loved it. It left me with a large lump in my throat so I went home to see what it was about. And big surprise it took me back to my high school years when I felt so frustrated, bored, trapped by the stupidity of what I was spending my days doing. Taking tests on regurgitated information that didn't interest me at all. I just cried the lump out that was a ball of similar feelings to the ones portrayed in the movie. This was outwardly worse and very poignant and it makes me understand why so many kids today are lost and angry. They are right to be angry. Who is caring for who they are- not who everyone wants them to be?

Thanks for your courageous movie. I think almost anyone could get something out of it.

This small film is a triumph of down-to-earth storytelling on the experience of young people going through gay conversion therapy through religious browbeating. It's the story of a teenage girl, Cameron Post, played with visceral substance by Chloe Grace Moretz, who experiences life in exactly this type of setting. Her story begins when she is discovered engaging in sexual intimacy with a female classmate during prom and is sent by her outraged aunt to a ghastly gay conversion camp in a rural area. She soon meets two other teenage members (Sasha Lane and Forrest Goodluck, both excellent) who secretly refuse to embrace the camp's philosophy.

Although this could have been something more dramatic and perhaps could have gone a bit deeper, it's not a misfire by virtue of being slight in its length or in its treatment of the difficult material. It is alternately heartbreaking and outrageous but also at times bemusing as the camp veers between apparent sadism and pitiful ineptitude in trying to pound its young members into submission. Jennifer Ehle is powerful as the camp's leader and psychologist in an icy, Nurse Ratched-like performance who has her brother, a "cured" gay man as the camp's spiritual leader. The film also does not shy away from showing the emotional toll on even the camp's most docile members.

Even though the film's resolution seems too casual and almost too simple, I still found it quite satisfying, together with a roaring soundtrack which toward the end conveys a ray of hope. Recommended for its thoughtful approach and fine performances.

You have to take this film for what it is: a low-key exploration of the experience of teenagers in a fundamentalist Christian gay conversion camp. The biggest mistake a movie like this could make would be to overly vilify everything about the camp and it's staff rather then dealing with them as human beings who are the products of their own misguided religious belief systems. The second biggest mistake a film like this could make would be NOT to address the emotional abuse that such a practice delivers. To this end, the film lets the harm of conversion therapy be self-evident without overtly pointing to it in a reactionary, outraged fashion. This is no easy accomplishment. The film is subtle and features solid acting performances by promising young actors, led by the magnificent Chloe Grace Moretz. They managed to portray the realistic ambivalence experienced by LGBT youth who find themselves in such situations. Although it will win no great swards, will be no blockbuster, and will not become a cult classic, this film definitely belongs on your must-watch list if you care about this issue.

There was no storyline. The main character had nothing to lose. A peripheral character lost a lot, but his character wasn't well developed enough for his loss to warrant anything more than an "Oh gross" and a small amount of pity. Add to this that the ending fell flat and you have a big "meh."