boyfriends

Boyfriends
$29.95
BOYSFRIENDS is just this side of being a British rip-off of the American film LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! Really. It's just "deja vu all over again" and the viewer is struck by many remarkable similarities between these two gay friendship/relationship-themed movies.

Further, BOYFRIENDS was made with considerably less attention paid to production values - particularly the sound recording of the dialogue.

Some reviewers here imply that this movie should be given a "pass" because it's an independent film, a labor of love done by producers and actors who "meant well." In the early 1980s when we were just beginning to see more than one gay film issued per year, I might have agreed. But that was then. After all, PARTING GLANCES was an independent "labor of love" that meant well and it holds up even now as a 5 star film by almost anyone's reckoning. Therefore I don't think the descriptive term "indie" can or should be used as an excuse for a product that falls very far short of the "independent" mark set by PARTING GLANCES over 20 years ago.

In some sense, the best thing about this film was "I Wish I Knew the Name of the Boy of My Dreams," a jazzy Dinah Washington song used to great effect in the musical soundtrack.

Skip this movie. Buy instead the Dinah Washington "Greatest Hits" cd and DVDs of PARTING GLANCES and LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION!

Anatomy of a Boyfriend
$8.99
Dominique Baylor, a high school senior and an aspiring doctor, has never had a boyfriend. She attends a small private school in Florida, so even the prospects are low. Her best friend, Amy, attends a huge public high school. One day, both friends attend the school's annual Seniors vs. Faculty football game. At the game, Dominique meets a cute boy, while she is "sprawled facedown." Through Amy, Dom learns that the boy is Wesley, a cute track star. She then e-mails him, and they immediately have a connection. Before long, Dom experiences many firsts. However, with college decisions, Dom and Wes realize they are headed for two completely different paths. Will their relationship survive?

The Anatomy of a Boyfriend takes mature readers on the journey of Dominique's first love. Dominique's authentic voice was easy to relate to. She sounded like somebody I would like to be friends with. Her voice also made the novel a quick read. I finished this book within two days. Mature readers will also appreciate how Snadowsky incorporates sex into the novel, without idealizing it. Parts of the novel made me never want to do certain things. :-P I also think Snadowsky realistically describes a long distance relationship after high school.

I did not have any major complaints with Anatomy of a Boyfriend, but a few things could have been better. I wish Dominique had more of a basis for falling head-over-heels for Wes. Part of me thinks Snadowsky intentionally wrote the novel so Dom lacked a logical reason, but I'm not really sure. I mean so many girls' first loves are douches (from my observations at least). The lack of a basis hurt the resolution. Instead of the resolution seeming like the natural flow of things, it made Wes seem like a complete douche, when he was only partially a douche.

Overall, Anatomy of a Boyfriend is an accurate potrayal of first love that older teens will enjoy.

Boyfriend #2 (Explicit)
$0.99

The Boyfriend Game
$8.99
I just finished the last page and one word comes to mind: "Aww."

Trisha, a freshman, loved playing soccer and couldn't figure out why her friends didn't love it as much as she did and were acting weird around the boys. So when the chance for Trisha to move up to varsity, she decided practicing took priority than hanging out with her friends after school. While practicing, she meets a varsity soccer player, Graham, a sophomore. He offered to help her to practice and Trisha was finally happy that someone understood her passion for sports. After a while, Trisha started to have feelings for him. But how could she tell Graham that she likes him when she knows that would scare him away?

This is a quick and sweet read. I read it in about 2 hours. Stephie Davis did a great job on showing the conflicts of first love. Does he like me? Do I like him? I can't tell him that I do, so how can I be near him without showing my feelings? And there was just enough drama between the friends in the middle that made it interesting without making it into a soap opera. Trisha is definitely my kind of person, so I was really sympathetic to her plight. The ending was wrapped nicely and cute without making it overly mushy. Considering the size and length of the book, I think $9 is a bit much. I would wait to buy it used. Other than that, this is charming story and I liked this enough to keep it.