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)

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.

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.

"The Love Patient"

Wonderful

Amos Lassen

I just read two of the scathing reviews posted here about this film and I am convinced that the reviewers and I did not see the same film. If we did, they obviously were not watching.

I can't think of too many films that I love from the moment I begin watching but I must say that Michael Simon's "The Love Patient" had me from the moment it began. Everything about it is very professional and the actors are beautiful to look at. Romantic comedy can be a very tricky genre since the film industry has been so filled with them. Finding something new cannot be too easy and balancing romance with comedy can be somewhat hard to do. Michael Simon does it and does it with style. How often does one watch a film with a smile on his face all the way through? I was very lucky that no one dropped in because I grinned all the way through the film.

The story is simple. Paul (Benjamin Lutz) is an advertising executive who lost his boyfriend, Brad (John Werskey who is very easy on the eyes) when he dumped him and Paul has never gotten over this. Brad moved on and is dating Ted (Jackson Palmer) and he understands that what was is over. Paul, on the other hand, cannot get over the loss of Brad and it is even more difficult in that they work at the same place. Paul comes up with a scheme to get Brad back– he stages his own cancer diagnosis and he thinks that Brad will come back to him out of sympathy. But then Paul's whole mispoocha (family—mother, father and sister) move into his house so they will be there to nurse him through his chemo treatments. Stephanie, Paul's very rich sister, suspects something is not kosher and the fun begins. The scene with the family eating dinner on a Friday evening won me over totally. Mother Esther lights the Sabbath candles and Paul says, "Enough with the Judaism". I laughed uncontrollably but there is something very serious here– how we turn to religion when we need something… like a cure for cancer.

I love, love, love this movie and the mixture of grief (from cancer), love, laughs and fun is absolutely wonderful. The characters are outrageous but believable. The acting is fine with just the right amount of kitsch; the cinematography is beautiful and Simon's direction is excellent. The film premieres at Philadelphia's QFest this summer so if you are around, make sure you see it or you will have to wait for a DVD release and as far as I know there is no information on that. Werskey and Lutz are also in another film on the festival circuit this summer, "Bite Marks" which I also recently reviewed. The two films are totally different in every aspect and we are very lucky when we get a GOOD gay romantic comedy as they are few and far between. So I ask myself, what happens when you put good looking men together with a literate plot, excellent direction and fine acting? You get a hit and that is exactly what "The Love Patient" is.

I just find it strange that the other reviewers chose to nitpick rather than sit back and enjoy the film. I find it sad when people take out their frustrations by panning something that others like. I see no point to it and it is just not fair.

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.