Love Is All You Need? (2016) Reviews

• Intriguing Premise, But Movie Tries to do Much

  max-885012016-05-01

  ***Spoilers may follow. Reader beware! *** A lot of time and effort went into this film. And for an independent production with a no doubt smallish budget, it looks great. But sadly the concept is dated. It would have been perfect for in 1982, just after Anita Bryant's Miami jihad and the rapid rise of the religious right. And much of it it would have been relevant as late as 1998, after the Mathew Shepard murder. (My bona fides for this review: a gay male, who came out in rural Texas in the late 70s. Homophobia. Football. Religion. I know this territory.) But today? We gays and lesbians are everywhere. We're not only tolerated, we're accepted. We've won the debate on same-sex marriage. We've even risen to the level where we can be a CEO, or simply a boring, suburban, PTA member, and totally ignored. Politically, we have the momentum, whether it is in controlling campus debates or ordering at the local bakery. We would be hard pressed to find any school district or college tolerating the over-the-top bigotry and hatred displayed in this film. MSNBC, the New York Times, CNN, ESPN, and social media would be all over any of the incidents portrayed. And forget about those Nike and Coca-Cola sponsorships. OK. Set that aside. Look at it as science fiction: a parallel, opposite world -- Bizarro World for all you Seinfeld fans -- in which homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuality looked upon as abhorrent, as in the early 80s. It's a fertile concept. But there are still problems. Writer/ director Kim Rocco Shields' Homosexualworld is wildly inconsistent, obeys no rules and simply fails. Here the women are the jocks, playing football, and being scouted by the NFL. Yet the college coaches, and the play-by-play announcer are all male. More confusing is a major character who becomes a stereotypical, super-fem, mean-girl homecoming queen, not student body president or something more "male" and Y-chromesoney. The college boy characters (who would be women in a sorority house in our real, opposite, heteroworld) live in a frat house where violent, macho, physical hazing and even sexual assault is tolerated. I've never heard of the tri-Delts getting up to that kind of bad behavior. More puzzling: references, never fleshed out, to some sort of "breeding season." Yes, where DO the babies come from? Is there some sort of test-tube / IVF ritual? I'm a sic-fi fan, and yes, there must be rules for an alternative world. There are other inconsistencies. Since when does a fundamentalist Protestant church have a confession booth? And outside of Anglicans, where does the priest wear a clerical collar? Is the movie taking a swipe at Catholics in addition to the Phelps / Westboro clan in Kansas? Meanwhile over at the stadium, the football team's behavior is just ludicrous. Our "real world" men would never act like these petty, vengeful, homo-world women. There would be other unpleasant consequences, yes, but nothing like the on-field action. It could be that Shield's has tried to do too much and taken her eye off the details. The film covers everything from garden variety homophobia to teen suicide; gay bashing (shades of Mathew Shepard); grade school bullying; teen suicide; religious fanaticism (Westboro Baptist Church); social media shaming (the Tyler Clementi case); the impact of right wing politics on school curriculum; the gay rights movement; and even, tangentially, college sports excesses. These are all worthy topics, but why not focus on just one or two? And stop with the with the "messages," the lectures, the exposition. Whatever happened to subtlety? Or a consistent style for that matter? I felt I was watching a campy mash-up of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit; Friday Night Lights; a SciFy series; General Hospital; an ABC After School Special; and maybe even a Lifetime made for TV movie, all slathered with preachy, docudrama gravy. One especially disturbing scene was positively Tarantino-like. Despite the messy material, the actors were troopers. You'll recognize a few of them from TV roles. Two were actually from the Law and Order series. Convincing, competent performances from all despite the material. I especially liked Emily Osment in the mean-girl / Homecoming Queen role — a tiara no less! — who played it totally for camp. On that level -- camp -- I actually enjoyed the movie.

• Shaken and Stirred

  kanikanigam2016-11-25

  I've been critiquing food all my life, neglecting my other love- movies. I've never gotten around to reviewing a movie title barring maybe one other time. This movie moved me into doing this and though one movie may not make a difference and bring a change in the dogmatic perspectives of the society, ' every drop counts', right? I absolutely loved the perspective. When I first watched the short, I was fascinated. Just to get one quick thing out of the way- I'm as straight as straight gets; I love men. That being said, I support the choice of every individual to love as they choose because love is a beautiful thing and everyone should have enough of it in their lives. So, when the tables are turned and the society accepts homosexuality and shuns heterosexuality, I was left to wonder how brutal life would have been. The hatred, the resentment, the unnecessary judgments, the violence, the constant fear. So, as I watched the central characters getting killed, maimed and abused, I sat there wondering what gives anyone the right to do all this in the name of their religion. How are these prejudiced people any different from the terrorists? The acting was brilliant and the direction was superlative. I'm glad I randomly clicked on the short years back and I'm glad I happened to chance upon this title because it wasn't a movie that ever received the highlight it deserved. So, if you're looking for something that would be different and enlightening- this movie would be a great start. -Love should be all you need.

• Profoundly Impactful

  rgillaspie2016-07-10

  I was tremendously impacted by "Love Is All You Need?" The movie is based on a simple, yet brilliant premise where it's society's norm for same gender couples to date and marry. Heterosexuality is taboo and those that seek relationships with the opposite gender are bullied and ostracized. It really made me stop and think about what it would be like to be outcast for falling in love with my husband. I can't even imagine people thinking I'm gross or disgusting because of my simple relationship choice. As I heard the characters in the movie being bullied for being "heteros" it make me stop and think how often I've heard people in our society "insult" people using the term gay or fag with disapproving tones. Especially when I was younger. Blake Cooper Griffin's performance as Bill Bradley was intense. You could literally feel the anger, disgust and tension towards Tyler Blackburn's, Ryan character who had a torrid love affair with Jude Klein, played by Briana Evigan. Director Kim Rocco Shields, went to great lengths to show how the church can impact an entire community, and Elizabeth Rohm plays the perfect villain, who you really want to smack with her perfect white family values nonsense. I found the direction to be remarkable and the the cinematography to be stunning. I'd highly recommend checking out this indie film if you're in the mood for a dramatic love story with a twist. Especially with all that's going on in the world right now with LGBT issues. It really makes you see things through a different lens. Great conversation piece.

• Did some of these reviewers see the same film I did?

  hjfbd2016-07-11

  LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED? is one of the most effective and touching films I have seen in years. It could have become a polemic so easily and yet this sensitive and touching screenplay draws real people and not political statements. When creating a world where sexual roles are reversed(and, therefore, so is the power hierarchy) the filmmakers could lead us down a road of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm. But that is not the case. These characters breathe on their own and not as some stereotypes created to make a point. And the performances of each and every actor finds the touch of identifiable humanity that makes this film so poignant. I do not know what film some of the reviewers here saw, but my experience was one of needing Kleenex for real tears for the first time in a very long time.

• Beautifully executed

  littlepeppy2016-07-11

  This movie delivers a powerful message of how gay people are treated by the church, their peers, family, society, etc. However, this is an alternative universe where being gay is the norm and being straight is bad. It's a beautiful love story shared between two people and it makes viewers think about the world we currently live in and how gay people are treated on a daily basis. This movie is gorgeous, heart-breaking, funny, breath-taking, and looks like it took lots of effort to make. I encourage everyone to watch this movie. However, this movie isn't a cute love story. It delivers the hardships of being born as "not normal" and having to hide your love because people don't agree with it. Also if you are uncomfortable about violence (emotional + physical) I recommend not seeing it. However, this movie may be seen as controversial due to the view of the church. Amazing movie in the end.