The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green

The movie was never trying to be ground breaking or amazing. its a light hilarious movie with broad generalizations that everyone can identify with. Anyone who gives this movie a low rating was looking for too much. Why cant we make a movie for fun sake? Not every gay movie has to try to better our position in the world. This is a movie that could have come from a group of gay guys sitting around joking and laughing about the day to day grind of our lives. I would recommend it to anyone tired of the epic Greek tragedy of most gay films. For some reason every gay film has to have drug use, Pain and most often the death and or beating of one if not all of the people in it. For once we have a gay movie that takes a lighter view of our FABULOUS way of life.

Heard a lot of negative comments, but the trailer convinced me to at least check it out. I was pleasantly surprised. A nice, cute film with some very nice moments. Well written/acted/directed/produced - the only trouble for me is that the film isn't consistent. Starts out as "regular" comedy with asides, then tries to add grand farce and bouffe elements, and it never really comes together. Plus, if you want to have farcical elements, you need a speed and intensity in cutting that this film doesn't quite get to. And there are a few non sequiturs, which may be because my hearing isn't the best and there are no subtitles. On one hand I liked the playing with the stereotypes (e.g., elevator scene towards the end), yet found slightly irritating the glasses on / glasses off cliché. Loved the treatment of the Hat Sisters. I also like the constant reference(s) to characters who never appear.

On another level, I liked the film because it said something to me on a personal level at this time in my own life ("The Ethan Reflex"). Not that there's a "message", per se, but there happened to be a message for ME in Baxter's "words of wisdom" to Letterle.

A possibly shallow comment from me is that while the actor playing Punch is a wonderful actor and nails the character totally, he doesn't quite physically match my expectation. Sorry, but then, I'm as shallow as they come sometimes.

If you're looking for Letterle nude shots or suggestive shots or looking for soft porn, forget it. (Though there are some underwear shots for the desperate.) But if you're looking for a decent movie that stands on its own, check it out.

We went last night to by far the funniest new film of the year so far, THE MOSTLY UNFABULOUS SOCIAL LIFE OF ETHAN GREEN, an R rated (a few decades ago it would have been considered an X) release drawn rather brilliantly from a not-so-brilliant but long running comic strip in a number of "alternate" publications.

I was never a big fan of the strip which was crudely drawn and heavy handed in conception - or so it seemed in the papers and the several compilation books published - but on screen at New York's Quad Cinema, the characters are almost *perfectly* cast to resemble more attractive versions of the cartoon characters and screen writer David Vernon has been given latitude to smooth out and improve on the hilarious conundrums in Generation-X Ethan's self destructive social life (finding an intriguing blend of lots of sex but all too little satisfaction).

In some ways, this is a gay-male version of SEX AND THE CITY: whenever Ethan finds an almost perfect mate, you KNOW he will somehow screw it up (no pun intended). Right now, it's being marketed to a largely gay audience, but it's so well written and directed (feel-good date movie, "independent" variety), it should cross over to a much wider audience and deserves to do for the actor playing Ethan (Daniel Letterle from CAMP!) what BILLY'S Hollywood SCREEN KISS did for "Will & Grace's" Sean Hayes.

The movie is as episodic as Voltaire's Candide, but just as perceptive, and the very episodic nature gives the entire supporting cast (ranging from Meridith Baxter's all too supportive mother to Joel Brooks & Richard Riehle's "Hat Sisters" to Dean Shelton's oversexed teen entrepreneur, "Punch," to Rebecca Lowman's Ann Coulter look-alike/psychotically depressed real estate agent, "Sunny Deals") equal chances to shine, and shine they do.

The grand farce scene where ALL the romantic threads (including, in addition to the above, an ex-football pro, a landlord ex-lover, a Log Cabin Republican fiancé and Ethan's lesbian roommate) come together in the house where Ethan is trying to carve out a coherent love life tops one great laugh with another as if Feydeau-plotted and will have you howling.

Silly, sunny summer fun, and *highly* recommended to straight and gay alike open minded enough to laugh at a very funny but true look at how the other half (or at least a goodly younger part of 10%) loves. Stick around after the fine double ending for the playing cards from the plot significant "Dream Date" board game scattered through the credit "crawl." Its a device that hasn't been used as well since FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF.

In THE MOSTLY UNFABULOUS SOCIAL LIFE OF ETHAN GREEN, there is one great laugh: As two of the characters argue with each other in a bookstore, all the shelves are packed tight, except the one marked "Lesbian Humor," which only has one volume. Okay, it's not a great laugh, but it is a nice little chuckle. And the viewers should be grateful for that, because otherwise as a romantic comedy ETHAN GREEN is pretty skimpy with both the romance and the comedy.

Based on a cult gay comic strip of the same name, ETHAN GREEN seems to be trying to say something socially relevant about contemporary gay relationships. And while the film isn't wanting in imagination or even inspiration, it regrettably reflects its comic strip source by being strangely flat and two dimensional. The jokes are there, but like Eric Orner's artwork in the original comics, they are drawn with little style or depth or skill.

Ethan is an unlucky-in-love, self-proclaimed "serial monogamist." At 26, an age when most men -- whether gay or straight -- are searching for anything other than a lifetime romantic/sexual commitment, Ethan is going through a mid-life crisis worrying about his biological clock and a fear of dying an old maid. Despite his almost desperate desire to find his soulmate, the has an equally desperate need to find something wrong with every potential Mr. Right. Both things seem to preoccupy his every waking thought, but then again, Ethan doesn't seem to have anything else going on his life, such as a job. And even his strangely anonymous suburban home is devoid of evidence of his existence, without so much as a MOULIN ROUGE! movie poster or a Streisand album in sight to indicate a gay man is on the premises.

As played by Daniel Letterle with an almost-campy almost-swishiness, Ethan is clearly a gay stereotype, yet he remains curiously devoid of a personality. Surrounded by non-stereotypical characters, who nonetheless have obvious personality quirks that define them, Ethan is arguably the least interesting character in the story. His lovers, past and present, include a hot Latino boytoy (to whom Ethan's mother plays fag hag); a nerdy bookstore owner; a fresh-out-of-the-closet professional jock; and a 19-year-old sexually adventurous twink, all of whom are hung up on Ethan to some degree -- though God knows why. There is also a gay Republican, which the story treats as a perpetual joke, (and the less said about The Hat Sisters, a pair of burly aging transvestites, the better). We are supposed to wonder which of these guys Ethan will ultimately pick, though we also might rightly wonder which one will ultimately get stuck with Ethan. Ethan's focus seems to be on avoiding the wrong choice and not making the right one, a subtle, but telling difference.

The strangest thing about the film is that Ethan is this unfunny dead weight at the center of everything. Virtually everybody else is almost joyously upbeat; like Meredith Baxter as Ethan's mom, whose acceptance of her son's homosexuality has inspired her to be a wedding planner for civil unions. Even Rebecca Lowman as Sunny Deal, a chronically depressed lesbian real estate agent, manages to make her character's suicidal depression amusing. And an especially bright light in the film is Dean Shelton as Punch Epstein, the twink who is still high on being out and sees gay sex as a game with few rules and endless possibilities. If someone in the film has to be deemed "fabulous," Shelton's performance earns him the right. (It's just a pity the film isn't THE MOSTLY FABULOUS SEXUAL LIFE OF PUNCH EPSTEIN.)

It is not just that Ethan is such a sadsack -- the whole point being that his pessimism is an island in a sea of optimism. But Letterle, who made such a winning impression in CAMP, brings no charisma to Ethan and thus, no focus. And I don't think it is entirely Letterle's fault, since he seems to be playing the part as written. For instance, when Ethan decides at the last minute to break up a wedding, he stops midpoint to browse a catalogue and place a phone order. Funny? Yeah, sorta. But at what cost to the story? Despite a few discreetly suggestive sex scenes, there is no passion, let alone urgency, to the story or between any of the characters. For a movie filmed in less than two weeks, ETHAN GREEN is surprisingly well made technically, but first-time director George Bamber can't conjure up any eagerness to please. Likewise, in the end Ethan doesn't seem to find Mr. Right so much as Mr. Alright. If neither Ethan nor the film are fabulous, it is because neither have made the effort.

If you're looking for a slight cross between "The Broken Hearts Club" and "The Breakfast Club", it's right here. Not one of the best movies I've seen but if you liked Daniel Letterle in "Camp!" then here's your chance to see him get even more gay! He's still starting out as an actor so a role like this was a bit of a gamble. There's some minor things that I think could've been improved upon but all in all, I didn't feel like I wasted my time after watching it.

If there's a message to be derived from the movie, it's probably "Gay people have problems, too!" Incidentaly, that would've also served as a better title for the film as well!

Daniel did seem a bit ill at ease during some of the more "gayer" scenes. But then again, who wouldn't with an entire film crew (and possibly his girlfriend) on the set watching your every move. Give the guy a break. Of course, Daniel wasn't the only one in the film. The other actors I felt played their parts to a tee!

PS Daniel Letterle... do some more musicals!! ;)