East Side Story (2006)

Two-dimensional cliche but fun

This is a fun, but heavily flawed, movie. It's charming as eye candy, and the story is light and amusing enough that it certainly passes the time favorably. But sometimes the comedy is too broad, the characters have crossed the line from believable to not, so the entire film suffers as a result of a screenplay and director who needed to take a heavy handed approach, or at least needed to know what the target was. Was the film meant to be a light-hearted romance, or over-the-top nonsense? We've got both here, and that means we've also got characters of little depth.

The villain, and I am referring to the live-in parter, one third of the romantic triangle that has developed, has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and is of so little appeal overall that one can't figure out how he's managed to have a faithful, devoted, good guy lover for two years.

We open with an over-the-top homosexual-hating chef who is nearly frothing at the mouth, who after being fired by the part-owner of the restaurant who is himself gay (almost angelically gay, in fact, we nearly envision him with a halo, he is so perfect), the dying chef places a curse upon the place of business with his final words. After that, either because of the curse or more likely the owner's being an outed gay in a neighborhood culture that is vehemently anti-maricon (so to speak) the business starts to fail.

The owner might be more upset about this except he has other worries: his one-time real estate agent lover who has just rejected him after the "I love you" words is now dating his young and vibrant aunt, determined to stay in that closet forever, and out angelic hero is now newly attracted to one half of the gay couple who has just moved in across the street.

The couple across the street are an unlikely pair, if merely because one is so straight-acting, he doesn't seem gay at all, and he seems unaware of the true character of his partner (a deleted scene clues us in even more to how bad the guy is), which means he is not overly bright, yet otherwise seems intelligent and sensitive. The other half of the pair is a snob from Mississippi (that has to be meant as a joke; it's such a contradiction) who isn't very bright but whose best friend is also his letching wealthy boss - but at least these two talk the same language.

The aunt is a real hoot and steals the show. She is vitality plus, and is the one who goes through the greatest amount of character growth through the paces of the film. From a globe-trotting, social-climbing "Blanca who has changed her name to Bianca" we see her begin to own up to her responsibilities to her family and her heritage. In a gay romance story, it's the female who owns the film.

Obviously we're touching on racism and homophobia, and a Mexicana strong cultural vocal rejection of homosexuality. We also have self-loathing types, both the real estate agent who is striving to pass as straight, and a woman who is self-loathing as to her heritage, who obviously wishes she'd been born anything but Mexican, as Mexican probably means she can only rise so far in class, and no more.

Some hot kissing scenes, and definitely good-looking male leads, but nothing too explicit. Just randy, hot guys looking for love and finding their place at the end. If they are all just a bit two-dimensional and cliche, I guess we can live with that. August 4, 2008

Nice people...Bad film

Well...Home-movie to be precise. I guess a lot of effort went into it, but the result is without a doubt the worst DVD that I [still] own. Somehow you keep hoping that things will eventually turn out OK because most of the participants seem so charming -in real life. But no, when the last potential climax turns out to be an anti-climax again, and the end-credits begin, you know you'll never watch this film again. Don't see for yourself. May 31, 2008

What a bad story

I not sure what the people who gave this movie a good review where smoking. It was such a horrible moive, I could not finish watching it. The best part of the movie was when the main character takes off his towl. May 21, 2008

Utterly Predictable

This lame take on "West Side Story" -- substitute gays and Latinos in East L.A. for "whites" and Puerto Ricans in NYC -- is predictable almost from the opening scene. Worse, most of the gay characters exist only for cheap laughs at their stereotyped behavior. It's idiotic. One more thing: In a genre where the DVD jackets bear little resemblance to reality, this one takes fantasy to a new level. The flick's skin quotient is fine, but it's nowhere near as much as the jacket indicates. On the plus side, Rene Alvarado does a nice job, considering a poorly written script that has him alternating between sulking jerk and the perfect boyfriend. (Having said all that, I'm a sucker for any gay romance film, so there were enough threads to make it worth a look -- assuming you rent it rather than buy it.) May 3, 2008

should you pursue your dreams or stay and help out your family?

Very few low-budget films are worth watching that deserves recommendation to friends. It's rarer to find/view films that addresses or contains gay Latinos.

Diego is a waiter/chef, who is stuck, by familial obligation, working for his grandmother's small Mexican restaurant. In addition, Diego has to deal with the homophobic head chef, whose rantings increase as more and more gay people are moving into the neighborhood. Diego wants to leave and pursue his dream of opening his own restaurant but his grandmother insists that he stays.

His life is pretty much monotone, including occasional trysts with Pablo. Diego wants to announce their relationship but Pablo doesn't see himself as gay. Pablo just enjoys an occasional man-to-man "bonding".

However, things change when heart-broken (& broke) Bianca returns home from Monaco. The grandmother suddenly takes off to her homeland for a visit, entrusting Bianca to help out Diego at the restaurant. Pablo dumps Diego for Bianca, who soon abandons helping out Diego.

Meanwhile, a new gay couple, Wesley and Jonathan, has moved into the neighborhood. Well, actually, they came to flip a house, which they'll move on to a new project. Wesley is truly interested in the neighborhood and tries to get to know Diego. Jonathan is a stereotypical character who thinks lowly of Latinos and is irked that Wesley is friendly with them, especially Diego. The different treatments of Latinos soon put their relationship to the test.

*East Side Story* is an enjoyable film that addresses homosexuality, sex, love, family and diversity. April 23, 2008

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