The Young, the Gay and the Restless (2006)

Murder deception blackmail and illicit affairs Oh My! Hold on to your seat these are just a few of the sinfully guilty pleasures in this comedic romp spoofing daytime soaps!Who is trying their utmost to knock off the deliciously campy Victoria Gaylord queen bee of an eclectic and eccentric clan who live their daily lives heavily drenched in gluttony excess comedic flair? Fasten your seat belts; it's much more than just "one bumpy night" with this hilarious cast of characters who are always wildly over the top!System Requirements:Runtime: 76 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 631008062792 Manufacturer No: CQC627 Product Description

Spoof? How stupid can it get?

Well, there are things that are so bad, they aren't even funny anymore. Satire is a very demnding genre and should only be tackled by very good directors with a great cast. This just doesn't cut it. December 6, 2007

love it or leave it

This is neither the best movie nor the worst, but middle-ground. I think it attempts to be more than it is, which is mildly eye-popping. if you're the type to actually WATCH soap operas and get a kick out of the spoofing of them, you'd be better off with SOAP (the wonderful sally field movie). If you're into gay films, well there's really not much of that here. sure you have one hubby lamenting the constant provocations of his brother-in-law, but that is only talked about, and you get very little of it on-screen (unfortunately). the majority of the film is the over-the-top imitation bette midler performance offered by the grande dame (really a guy in drag) and her insane hubby. But the acting is all over the place, as sometimes the actors are playing it straight while delivering rotten dialogue (the actress playing cynthia is wonderful) and other times (the actors playing the hubby and the brother nicholas) the acting - and dialogue - are deliberately bad to showcase how bad soaps are in general. I really think the actors here could be good actors, but the thing is, like a lot of soap actors hired for their hunk appeal, they're not meant to be good. But there are some bad casting choices here, mainly the houseboy, who seems to be a twink in search of a - what? I couldn't see the appeal, frankly, and found tiresome all the scenes which were about him or featured him. In fact, it seemed his scenes were all some different - purposeless - movie. One additional bit of carping, that I found distracting, is why are all the men wearing lip gloss? I wanted to take a tissue and wipe all the faces. So if you're looking for a gay film, you're actually better off looking elsewhere. Or just rent this one, for an experiment. this is definitely a love it or leave it film. January 12, 2007

Parody and what it is not

Joe Castro wrote and directed THE YOUNG, THE GAY AND THE RESTLESS with an obvious attempt to make us giggle at just how preposterous the daytime TV soaps are. In many ways he manages to show us that madness: quick scenes between characters that flash on and off the screen in seconds with only a few lines delivered to make room for the next split second vignette suggestive of commercial breaks; actors that are attractive despite being unable to demonstrate even the basics of the art of acting; situations so over the top that they require one-ups-manship in the next moment to keep the plot from sinking into the absurd.

The plot is simple: a dying unpopular mother Victoria Gaylord (Ms. Elliott is the actor's moniker) is wealthy, married to a lecherous Francis Gaylord (Joe Haggerty), and has a wild group of children of questionable heritage - Cynthia (Holly Karrol Clark) and her narcissistic husband Phillip (Caleb Campbell), Nicholas (Justin Marchert) who has his gay eye on Phillip, Josh (Jeremy Dubois) etc. all of whom have an eye on Victoria's fortune. The Gaylord house is filled with party fixings and among the decorations are the topless butler and his entourage of would be assignations - Damien Christopher, Michael Oliviera, Dennis Richardson, and Kerry Liu. The 'good doctor' Dr Bender (Buck Davis) is called along with his nurse/illegitimate child/fortune hunter (Chris Brown) and the many secrets of this absurd family all surface with the subsequent murder, brain transplant, ménage a quatre...it just goes on and on.

Parody on the order of, say, Gilbert and Sullivan can be witty, acerbic, naughty, and very intelligent. Castro seems to have written this little bit of treacle in an evening, called in his friends and neighbors to pose and read lines with the emphasis on exaggeration, and quickly turned out a movie for public consumption. Unfortunately the mixture (though a good idea) just doesn't work. One 'good' but still annoying aspect of the film is the presence of a music score obviously added in the editing room at a level that covers the lines so that they are inaudible: that is a mixed blessing. This is a film for the curious viewer who has a lot of patience and easy laugh quotient. Grady Harp, January 07 January 8, 2007

Pretty bad

This dvd had its moments, but only a few. I enjoy camp, and have a good sense of humor, but there was very little humor here. The acting and dialogue were so poor that I couldn't enjoy the camp value that was intended. Sound quality was also very poor; at various points in the movie I couldn't hear what was being said because of the loud background music. Not worth the money by a long shot! January 6, 2007

Pure Camp

"THE YOUNG, THE GAY AND THE RESTLESS"

Pure Camp

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

There is something about drama queens. They manage to get themselves into all kinds of situations and they can be extremely tiring. "The Young, the Gay and the Restless" (Ariztical) has more than its share of drama queens and they are fun. This campy satire on television soap operas with grabby friends and deceitful relatives is just fun.
Victoria Gaylord is very rich. She also has an illness that cannot be cured and she invites all of her relatives to come to her home and share her last few days. Little does she know that they are planning to take over her wealth. This comedy has so many twists and turns that sometimes you feel you need a road map t keep everything--shall I say--straight?
* Quite honestly I expected this to be a really bad movie. The original screener I received from Ariztical would not play on my DVD player or my computer and I took this as a sign that the movie wasn't worth my time. I was very much in error. I found myself laughing aloud several times. This is a real gay comedy. To make it more believable and to resemble a soap opera, there are a few straight characters thrown in for balance. Everything about the movie resembles soap--the acting, the editing, the sets and the film work.
* I can't say the acting is memorable aside from being memorably bad. And the script needs work. For a movie like this, you have to take it for exactly what it is--a spoof, a satire. But to write a good satire is not easy and that is what bothered me the most. I saw so much that could have been improved and I saw the seeds for a really funny movie. Instead we get a fun movie that is occasionally funny. It is too bad that those occasions are when it is not supposed to be funny.
* But there are good things in the movie as well and you may have to search for them. I have read several reviews but I have yet t read one that in some way did not slam this movie, I am not going to slam it, I had a good time with it because I knew what I was watching. As silly as it was, it is an attempt t broaden gay cinema and to me that is very important. Every movie can't be a "Brokeback Mountain" and every comedy is not "Another Gay Movie". I say that we have to give newcomers a chance and although this is a movie that is far from perfect, it is a start and everyone deserves that.
December 31, 2006

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