G.B.F. (2014)

Really Surprised!

A Brilliant Conflict

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The movie develops the story quite well actually. Yet the main theme itself is very much a crazy one. Unfortunately it's too segmented and doesn't really be an all inclusive movie like what it's meant to be. The whole thing with the Mormons is a sad depiction of some people's hypocrisy. The depiction of the gay kisses is just a turn out for some. And I must say that this movie quite tested my patience and tolerance. The jokes are mostly looking forced out to be funny. The comedic moments succeeded only on the depiction of those awkward moments. The acting overall is just a so-so. The movie can be an entertaining piece of work if only there's less homosexual activity depicted in it.

'GBF' is set in an American high school where no pupil has ever admitted being homosexual (a reticence possibly explained by one of its main cliques being of Mormons). But this changes when comic book geek Tanner is accidentally outed, and to the school's most popular cool girls he suddenly becomes that most desirable of accessories: the Gay Best Friend.Tanner's journey from outsider to prom king, and how it affects both him and the uncool friends he leaves behind (including his 'still in the closet despite being the screamiest queen since Graham Norton' best friend) forms the meat of the film. You'll be able to cross off the teen movie plot developments as they arrive with clunking regularity: Tanner's former friends are disappointed in him; the school's most popular girl is actually insecure and simply wants a friend; at the end there's a big speech about being true to oneself and everyone claps. Not usually seen in teen movies, but in countless other genres, is the entirely predictable 'we already know' reaction of Tanner's parents when he comes out to them.The characters are also from the teen movie checklist (the prom queen, the jock, the cynical girl, the less-attractive-than-the-cute-lead best friend). One of the film's most telling (possibly unintentionally) moments is when a white girl tells the film's sole main black character how she's always wanted an 'SBF' - Sassy Black Friend.But perhaps that's the point: this is a bog-standard teen movie, but with a gay boy as the lead character instead of being one of the main character's hangers-on. There's a lot of laughs (particularly when Tanner, nonplussed at his parents' calm reaction to his coming out, suggests he might instead be bisexual and his father bursts out laughing). You'll also have fun spotting the famous television faces in supporting roles - Jonathan Silverman, Rebecca Gayheart, Megan Mullally... In short, if teen movies are all much the same, there's no point in watching more than one of them, and you could do worse than make this the one you watch.

I was first drawn to the movie G.B.F when I watched the trailer on youtube, it was a new, innovative high school comedy about a gay best friend, the comedic plot was what initially drew me, as I believe movies about or affiliated with LGBT are essential, especially today. I was enticed by the talented cast which included Natasha Lyonne (Orange Is The New Black) and Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars) they are both well known actresses and are incredibly talented, if you watch OITNB or PLL you may agree. I also read an article which compared G.B.F to the likes of Mean Girls and Clueless which intrigued me. Now you can say all you want about 'high school' comedies, I agree it's an easy concept an 11 year old could of came up with but Mean Girls and Clueless are apart from the rest. They are Iconic and really represent each generation, Clueless (1995) and Mean Girls (2004) a decade later and you have G.B.F. Ultimately I am disappointed to say it did not live up to expectations. I completely understand where they were trying to take this Movie and parts of it were exceptional, but it wasn't enough! Fortunately there were some really great performances especially from Sasha Pieterse as Fawcett, she was surprisingly likable given her character and her performance was believable as she may be one of the few who can actually act in this film. Now the lead Tanner Daniels played by Micheal J Willet, when I started watching his character he was ultimately likable, from the very beginning, although as the movie dragged on I found him aggravating and annoying. Caprice and Brent made as an entertaining duo towards the end but they were not outstanding. This movie being a comedy was funny in parts but some of the acting was unnecessarily over the top and annoying. Now the overuse of abbreviated words!! Leaving high school not so long ago, I understand that not that much has changed, we do not speak Instant Messenger and although sometimes it can be funny, this time, the overuse of abbreviations let the movie down entirely.Also there is a scene where Brent and his friend are supposed to stare at the others parading down the hallway, he even says a line but the others are not even down the hallway yet! If you've watched the movie you will know what part I'm referring too. Also instead of the unbelievable pink cans for alcohol could they not of just used plastic cups? Seriously! I do really appreciate this concept, three, high school, prom queen front runners battling it out to win Tanners friendship, as he is the only out gay guy at there School. I appraise there efforts. They handled it well as the premise was it could be overly offensive, G.B.F being a trend at there School, a gay guy being more of on object than a human being. Parts of the script were fantastic but the majority let it down. It angers me because this could of been a fantastic movie, I understand the writers idea, although someone went massively wrong in the making of this film. Final verdict, 6/10, Sasha Pieterse made the best out of a bad situation!

I first thought the movie would turn out to be an à la "Another Gay Movie/Sequel junk movie. To my surprise it did have a hint of ridiculousness but an overall feel good touch and lots of stereotypical drama, while keeping it real at the same time. The movie keeps surprising throughout the whole story, at some points you think "hey it's all gonna work out just fine" to then find out the opposite, and then it goes back to normal and so on and so forth. I would suggest this to anyone gay or straight, male or female and anyone in between. I also wanna add to this review that this movie does have an amazing cast who all did a good job at performing very realistically and not over the top.