The Love Patient

The unanimous reaction after most of us walked out after the screening of the film was 'It was so bad'. A few of us looked at each other and remarked how could this film have been in the top 10 favorites of the festival committee but then hey everyone has their own choices. But it seemed like most of us belonged to the category where they questioned this American indie comedy. The story of a self centered executive who will go to any lengths to win his ex-back just did not go well with me and quite a few others.

Paul, an ad-executive now realizes after almost a year of breakup that he might have lost something very good with his ex Brad. Since Paul is a self centered man who just thins about himself, and is not used to losing, he wants to win his man back. Brad on the other hand is now dating another colleague Alex who is bisexual. Paul comes up with a plan with his doctor friend Burt. Burt needs a lot of money to save his clinic which Paul offers to give him if Burt plays along with the act that Paul has cancer. This could bring Brad back to him. Initially reluctant, Burt agrees and this is when the mess begins. Because of the news, Paul's family of parents and sister move in with him to take care of him. It also brings Brad back to him. Brad starts working with Paul at home on the project and slowly they start remembering old days. It seems things are falling back in place. Meanwhile Paul's sister seduces Alex following which Brad and Alex break up. But when he finds out the truth about Paul's fake cancer from his sister who was always suspicious, he is deeply hurt but as expected everything ultimately falls in place after some drama.

This movie could never make up mind whether they wanted to be a simple comedy, over the top comedy, a lil bit serious or just plain simple annoying. Paul's character was supposed to be annoying which I guess he did well but Brad seemed as if he just came out of a sugar jar. So sweet always and with pretty much similar expressions on his face throughout. And don't even ask about the woman who played Paul's mother. She was sooooo over the top that it was annoying. The film took a long time to build up the whole story of fake cancer and then just suddenly out of the blue, the beans are spilled (as if the director just ran out of steam and wants to finish the film). But that does not actually happen. As sudden as Paul's secret is found, in the next 5 minutes we also see how Paul realizes his mistake and finally over a period of time wins back Brad by right means. The end seemed so rushed. The screenplay was not evenly divided throughout the film. And to top all this, there wasn't enough eye- candy too.

This movie joins the rank of really bad indie gay cinema that US produces. Please, lets learn from some of our best foreign gay films. (2/10)

I loved the film. It's like a mainstream romantic-comedy except the leads happen to be two HOT (masculine) gay dudes who have a cool ying and yang thing going on. Paul is an ad exec, just a tad out of control, lives life within spitting distance of the edge, he has a Jim Carrey vibe about him. His sexy-fine boyfriend Brad is more calm and collected, I couldn't help but notice how much he looks like a young Richard Gere (circa: An Officer and a Gentleman). Paul's foolish ways catch up with him and the couple splits, but Paul doesn't sweat it much until Brad starts dating (another fine corn-fed specimen of man) former Bowflex model Ted. Ted's not the sharpest tool in the shed but he's really sweet and super funny. Paul, afraid that he might lose Brad for good, resorts to desperate measures and fakes having cancer. Be prepared to laugh. Hard. Also, there's an awesome bollywood-esque scene to look out for. This is definitely one of the best gay films I've seen in this genre in a long time. Hurry up and make another please.

This movie had been recommended by friends for me to watch and so I rented it from Amazon.com.

I found it to be a funny, entertaining, and fast moving story filled with good looking actors who know their craft. Everyone played their parts to near perfection. I loved the two main characters who were lovers, broke up and one comes up with a crazy plan to get his X, the hot looking Brad, back.

While an eyebrow may rise once in a while, it is pure joy to behold. It is a good deal better than many indie produced gay movies that I've seen in the past. I urge you to view the movie and make up your own mind instead of buying the bile that has been puked forward by some on this review page.

I don't know what the problem is with some of the other reviewers, but based on their comments that they saw it at QFest, I'm guessing something along the lines of "jealousy" would be appropriate.

I was privileged to screen this movie while it was making the festival circuit. As with all festival movies, I watched it with no expectations - I go in expecting nothing, watching them with an open mind to see what I see.

What I found in The Love Patient was a movie that was clearly filmed with a low budget, but a great deal of heart and considerable considerable effort on the part of the cast and crew.

Was this a Hollywood blockbuster? No, of course not. Was it a multi-camera, special effects extravaganza, nope. Was it a well acted, well written and well directed movie that gets its point across - absolutely.

I have been an aficionado of independent gay movies. I frequently scour the Netflix movie list for anything even remotely gay, so I can screen them and check them out. In that pursuit I have seen some horribly awful movies in the written by/directed by/starring category. This movie is not one of them.

Was this movie Latter Days, 24 Days of Christmas or other such gems? No, it wasn't. Was it an enjoyable, humorous romp of the typical romcom variety? Yes it was.

What is honestly reminded me of was an episode of Three's Company or I Love Lucy. Character gets a crazy idea to win back the love of his life. Whacky plan is implemented. Craziness ensues, including crazier family, misunderstandings and miscommunication, brushes with illegality, moral ambiguities, then ultimately the right decision is made.

Adding to the whole package is an extremely attractive cast led by Benjamin Lutz, John Wersky, Jackson Palmer and the lovely Madison Gray.

As mentioned earlier, obviously budgets were limited so clearly sets were improvised and re-used. The careful viewer can see that the same sets where re-used for different scenes - but who cares? The "moral" of the story comes across easily, and the acting is - IMHO - superb. It's clear that well made movies do NOT take multi-million dollar budgets.

My hat goes off to write/director Michael Simon. He clearly had a vision for this movie, he gave his heart and soul to it and he made it happen. It is a whacky romantic comedy that may not be for everyone, but despite some of the (clearly disgruntled) reviews on IMDb this is a good movie that deserves to be seen. Judge this movie on its merits, not on other peoples' biased reviews (who probably are deeply involved in competing movies from the festival circuit).

Watch the movie, enjoy it, and make your own decision from there. I'll bet you will enjoy it and have fun.

The subject matter is a poor choice for this film. Based on the synopsis I'm not sure why I bought it to be honest. It was probably because of the hot guys on the front cover, which I will admit were very hot, but it's such an obvious story and in bad taste. I've seen made for tv Christmas films with more thought and interest to the storyline.

John Werskey is probably the saving grace as far as acting goes, because the others were all far too over the top and farcical. Imagine Rupaul's drag race contestants playing it straight with hyperactive mothers and sisters. No real depth to anyone except John's character, who despite being the love interest, had very little screen time. It needed at least another twenty minutes to develop the characters and the severity of the situation properly. It could have been handled in a serious way and shown how wrong the idea is and what you would get if you really tried a stunt like this, but they made too much of a joke of it all and the hippy scene is ridiculous.

My rating is generous, because Mr Werskey has a peach of a bottom that I would love to get my teeth in to.