G.B.F.

G.B.F. is a great comedy, a tender best-friends love story and a wild and wacky take on high school popularity, peer pressure and what it takes to "find yourself" in today's media saturated world for teenage gay boys and their female friends. Did I mention its also hilarious? Because it is. Seasoned director Darren Stein (Jawbreaker) enthusiastically serves up candy colored images, laugh a minute chatter and a whole lot of heart with this dizzying satire of three-dimensional high school characters who are so hyper-aware of the cultural stereotypes they embody, that they turn your expectations continually on their ear. The top flight cast includes Natatsha Lyonne, Megan Mullahy, Xosha Roquemore, Jonathan Silverman, Rebecca Gayheart and Michael J. Willett as Tanner, a newly out of the closet gay guy who "Doesn't act like the gays on Bravo," according to the school's three most popular girls, who quickly give him a stylish queer makeover to make Tanner their idea of a proper new "Gay Best Friend." All this leads up to the prom in the classic teen comedy tradition, and its all silly and fun, but the heart and soul of B.B.F belongs to Paul Iacono, who plays Tanner's flamboyant best friend Brent who happens to be gay and more "femme." Iacono's crack comic timing still allows for emotional depth of his character's soul to come forward. In a delightful movie full of cake and ice cream, Iacono's serves you the deep main dish. Don't miss this one.

G.B.F. (2013) was directed by Darren Stein. The basic idea of the plot is clever. Three extremely popular high school girls realize that in order to be at the top of their game they need a G.B.F.--a Gay Best Friend.

That concept could have led to a strong, funny film. Unfortunately, this isn't that film. The plot moves forward in a chaotic, almost haphazard way. The acting is weak, and stereotypes abound.

I sat there waiting for the film to fulfill its potential, but that never happened. Great concept, bad movie.

We saw this film at the Dryden Theatre as part of Image Out--the Rochester LGBT Film Festival. It won't get any worse on the small screen. Unfortunately, it won't get any better.

A new film for the generation of Mean Girl lovers, Darren Stein's G.B.F. is a hilarious and down right touching motion picture. Starring Michael J. Willet as Tanner, a high school student who's recently outed to his school. When the three main clicks in the school try to use Tanner as an accessory as the "Gay Best Friend" to be crowned Prom Queen, things get very interesting. Because of the unique nature of the film, I had to give it a unique review to go with it.

Things I'm Obsessed With:

Xosha Roquemore: the beautiful and memorable actress that was a breath of fresh air during the powerful film Precious by Lee Daniels, is given a role to stretch her legs. I hope this film mainstreams her into more challenging and accessible roles in the future à la Taraji P. Henson. "Mean Girls – The Musical": The film from moment one will have you thinking of the Tina Fey scribed film from 2004 that made Lindsay Lohan a bonafide star. The film doesn't shy from that at all. Writer George Northy embraces the high school dilemma and fuses it with a touch of drama that gives the film massive heart. He even creates a school production of Mean Girls – The Musical. How can you not love that?

Paul Iacono: Much like our Lacey Chabert character, the talented actor plays the flamboyant and hilarious Brent Van Camp in the same manner of brilliance that Sean Hayes portrayed his role of "Jack" on NBC's hit- show "Will & Grace." Taking the opportunities to engage his character with his impressive zeal and candor, Iacono shows promise to lend himself to more dynamic roles if he chooses. Speaking of "Will & Grace," Megan Mullaly is terrific as Ms. Van Camp, a brief but tender-hearted performance.

Gay Mormons and Presumed Homosexuality: Director Darren Stein and George Northy ride the line of stereotypes and presumed character behavior but there's respect and a sense of urgency to entertain the audience and create an experience that still feels unique. They take jabs and poke fun at religion, high school stereotypes, and overindulged parenting but it works. Sasha Pieterse is a second away from becoming the biggest thing that Hollywood has to offer. She's the standout on ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars" and as the bitchy yet lovable Fawcett, she stands out once again. Our lead Michael J. Willet carries the film quite well but the viewer gets the most connections to what is happening around him rather than with him. No fault of his own, just a simple case of, everyone around me is awesome.

The film does lose steam in the middle but still holds its own quite well. It's a must-see for all movie lovers.

This film is about a gay guy who got outed in high school. He instantly becomes the most sought after guy by the hottest girls in school.

The script of "G.B.F" is great! The story is hilarious right from the start, with the hottest girls wanting to have a gay best friend for various reasons. Tanner enjoys the new found attention, and he instantly becomes the coolest guy in high school. Watching the girls battle it out for the gay best friend title is so funny, the battle is so full on, with loads of attitude. The characters are all very developed and differentiated. I really like the fact that even the supporting characters are memorable, like the Asian guy and the Mormon guy. It's such a drama filled fun film, I really enjoyed watching it.

Summary: G.B.F. is highly entertaining, original and likable; even though it doesn't succeed when it tries to be a deeper film. 67/100 (B-)

In G.B.F., social warfare erupts when three high school clique queens battle for supremacy: drama diva Caprice, Mormon princess 'Shley and blonde fashionista Fawcett. When unassuming Tanner is outted, he finds himself cast as the hottest new teen-girl accessory: The Gay Best Friend. The clique queens immediately pounce and makeover Tanner into their ideal arm candy, forcing him to choose between popularity and the true friends - including his own B.F.F. Brent - that he's leaving behind. G.B.F. has an interesting and original premise. I enjoyed it, it was very funny and doesn't deserve an R rating at all. This movie was hilarious and what I really liked about it was the amazing supporting cast, Taylor Frey as "Topher" had the best scenes in the movie, he was great.

G.B.F. has a mostly unknown cast, but there were some famous young actresses such as: Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars), Molly Tarlov (Awkward) and the actress/singer Joanna "JoJo" Levesque (RV, Aquamarine). They were quite likable, and I'll be honest, I saw this film mainly because I am a huge fan of Joanna's work, and she was good in this movie. G.B.F. is everything but predictable. I liked its execution, the first 15 minutes were laugh-out-loud and straight to the point. The whole first act was kinda of sad, and deep sometimes. The rest of the movie is more about the prom and some funny stuff. The film at the third act tries to go deep again, but it feels forced and ineffective. Some sexual scenes in the film were very awkward to watch, so if you are not familiar with this stuff, just don't see it.

G.B.F. has its funny parts, some of them were very funny. I enjoyed it so much and I was entertained. The movie leverages its uncommon premise and you care for the main character, he's shy and likable. G.B.F. is like a very good T.V. film. You will laugh a lot and is enjoyable. It's just a small, remarkable, indie film, hard to forget. I know that this is a very low-budget film, so don't expect many locations. I recommend it if you like teen comedies. The drama and the deep stuff doesn't work, but the comedy was quite well done. The script is sometimes laughable, but it works, it was amusing and mostly effective. Sometimes in the second act the direction was messy and the relation between the characters was confusing. But overall, I still recommend it. (B-)