Vacationland

I suffered through this hoping it would come together. My main criticism, if I can narrow it to one, is there was no character development. It seemed random in its plot also. I'm sure the writer had somewhat of a story, but he was unable to express it well.

A gay themed drama centered around two high school males who become intimately involved in Maine of all places. Movie starts out bland, gets a little more interesting and then gets darker and weirder. The actors playing the 4 or 5 principal parts appear wholesome enough, yet their dialogue and actions would suggest otherwise. They shoplift, drink excessively, steal an old man's prescription drugs to enhance their alcohol abuse, have sex for money, steal money from the cash register, flunk tests, smoke pot, experiment sexually and throw around the F word with ease. One of these leads is the high school football star and the other is the head cheer leader. Not exactly your typical "elite" high schoolers. But it makes for some amusing situations and funny, unexpected dialogue. These students are clearly on a difficult path that may lead them to disaster, but we end on a happy note with the two gay characters, both of whom are attractive enough without being twinks, gazing into the horizon with hope in their eyes. Decent lead acting. Interesting themes and counter character portrayals. Basically, has everything a teen should NEVER do.

Awful is really all one needs to know. First think of all the things that could be bad about a movie. And then try to make a movie that is bad in all of these ways. You will have made "Vacationland." The state of Maine should feel insulted: it's much too nice a place to serve as the backdrop for such trite, mindless, boring schlock. I'm a romantic, and I always want movies about two people finding each other to succeed, and I tried hard to find the good in this one. It was tough; very tough. I couldn't find a glimmer of emotional connection among any of the characters in this exercise in humdrum dreariness. Except maybe in one or two of the bad guys.

Maine IS a good vacationland; this movie is not.

This film is about a young man's painful journey to discovering his sexuality.

The film is raw and unpretentious. It does not rely on steamy sex scenes to attract the viewers. Though the plot may seem incoherent and disconnected at times, and some events are not properly explained. I can understand it though, because this film is a collection of memories that are highly personal to the director. The subplot of about his sister and mother probably does not need to exist in the film, but I can certainly imagine that these are very important events in his life.

The low budget of the film is clearly discernible. It is a pity that the sound effects are poorly done. The narration and some dialogs (particularly the scene in the classroom with the French teacher) have so much echo, which makes it hard to make out what is said. The ambient noise, notable traffic noise, is also captured throughout the film. When a scene cuts into another, the level of traffic noise changes.

This film is probably not entertaining, but it certainly serves as an insightful diary of a young man's journey to embracing his sexuality.

Director Todd Verow's unexpected turn into sentimental coming-out drama yields a predictable result: Nothing new to see here. Attractive but unconvincing leads - these 20-somethings are supposed to be in high school? - dribbling out banalities about confused, adolescent sexuality doesn't strike me as the best way to explore the promise of Anonymous, which was equally self-involved, but also honest, raw and, by comparison, not all that maudlin. I have no idea what to make of this drab and uninspiring movie other than to hope that Verow finds another career. Sure, it's unpretentious, but so's Mike Huckabee.

No single attribute, however, is as awful as Jim Dwyer's chintzy, electronic score, which grates non-stop, wall-to-wall for the full length of this movie. If I'd seen this, and heard this, in a theatre, I would have walked out. Thankfully, on my laptop, I could scrub and hit mute.