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Review #170 of 365
Film: The Mostly Unfabulous Life of Ethan Green [R] 88 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $9.00
Where Viewed: Landmark Mayan, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 1 July 2006
Time: 2:30 p.m.
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DVD |
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
One day, when you least expect it, you might just wake up in a movie theatre and become convinced that you have fallen into an alternate reality and wonder what is up with the world now. Precisely this happened to me yesterday when I found myself waking up to the credits of The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green being shown at the Landmark Mayan Theatre in Denver where the air conditioning wasn't working properly, and you could have your money back after 30 minutes if you just couldn't bear the heat any more. The heat, I'm guessing caused me to pass out, and when I awoke there was Camp star Daniel Letterle being introduced as Ethan Green with a jab that it's his own fault that his life is so unfabulous. Well, if you haven't heard of this film, and you would probably have to frequent Landmark Cinemas to see the preview for it because this is one of those independent films that Landmark Cinemas shows while mass-market-media theatre chains will shy away from—which I think is sad, but I am happy that at least one movie theatre chain has committed to keeping independent and international films on the national scene. In any case, The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green is based on the comic strip of the same name by Eric Orner. This is not like most comic strips, hence the film is not like most films. The protagonist is a 26-year old guy who has a really hard time keeping himself involved in a long term relationship. He is described by the movie poster as being a serial dater. Poor Ethan, according to his mother, played by Meredith Baxter-Birney, has always had issues with commitment.
"… fills its niche and might open some doors for some more relevant comedies and dramas for and about gay people…"
As a child she read him stories, and when Cinderella married Prince Charming, he said, "She could have done better." That vignette gives great insight into Ethan's character, but only a taste because the other necessary story is one about a classic board game called "Dream Date". In his pre-teen years, young Ethan used to play the game with a clutch of little girls, and this one particularly nasty girl who controlled the game told him, "You will never get the Dream Date, Ethan Green." Sadly, these words seemed to become etched permanently into his brain preventing him from really believing that he deserved or could find the dream date, the one true guy to settle down with for the long term.
"…the film reminded me an awful lot of an extended episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, only with transvestite male uncles watching over Ethan instead of witchy aunts from the other realm."
For example, just as the movie begins, Ethan finds himself in mouth-to-mouth resuscitation with a former baseball player who has just come out of the closet. The two develop a very tight relationship that lasts a while until Ethan fear he'll lose Kyle (Diego Serrano) to someone else and dumps him much to the chagrin of all of his friends, his mother, and his two Uncles the Hat Sisters (Joel Brooks and Richard Riehle). Nearly at the same time, Ethan and his housemate Charlotte (Shanola Hampton) find they are about to become homeless as Leo Worth (David Monahan) their former housemate, Ethan's x-boyfriend three times removed, and current landlord, is fixing to settle down with the president of the Gay Republicans local chapter, Chester Baer (Scott Atkinson), and they need the money for the down payment on a new house. So, this throws both Charlotte and Ethan into a tailspin causing Ethan to launch a plan to hire the worst realtor on the planet to sell the house. He finds this realtor through a referral from his new boy of the week, Punch Epstein (Dean Shelton)—a love-sick 19-year old who falls into Ethan's life and whose confident irreverence brings him a fresh outlook on the more fun aspects of life. As I wrote, an unconventional comic strip becomes an unconventional film.
With fairly good acting: Daniel Letterle, David Monahan, and Dean Shelton do remarkably good jobs of keeping their characters real and not over playing them or playing them in a stereotypical way, and a routine plot, the film reminded me an awful lot of an extended episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, only with transvestite male uncles watching over Ethan instead of witchy aunts from the other realm. Still, the movie was supposedly shot in fewer than two weeks on a shoestring budget so one cannot be too picky. The film has its funny moments and is certainly better than some other films of a new crop about gay people that don't have AIDS, aren't psychotic, aren't constantly doing drugs or hanging out in clubs. This is a very normal film really that focuses on relationships with people and how to make them last. It is also a film about seeing what's right in front of your face and doing something about it.
Unlikely to set any major records or the world on its head, The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green fills its niche and might open some doors for some more relevant comedies and dramas for and about gay people that portray gay people in ordinary situations and ordinary life.
With fairly good acting: Daniel Letterle, David Monahan, and Dean Shelton do remarkably good jobs of keeping their characters real and not over playing them or playing them in a stereotypical way, and a routine plot, the film reminded me an awful lot of an extended episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, only with transvestite male uncles watching over Ethan instead of witchy aunts from the other realm. Still, the movie was supposedly shot in fewer than two weeks on a shoestring budget so one cannot be too picky. The film has its funny moments and is certainly better than some other films of a new crop about gay people that don't have AIDS, aren't psychotic, aren't constantly doing drugs or hanging out in clubs. This is a very normal film really that focuses on relationships with people and how to make them last. It is also a film about seeing what's right in front of your face and doing something about it.
Unlikely to set any major records or the world on its head, The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green fills its niche and might open some doors for some more relevant comedies and dramas for and about gay people that portray gay people in ordinary situations and ordinary life.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life Of Ethan Green [DVD](2005) DVD
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Review-lite [150-word cap]
The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green is based on the comic strip of the same name by Eric Orner. The protagonist is a 26-year old guy who has a hard time keeping himself involved in a long-term relationship. The movie poster describes Ethan Green (Daniel Letterle) as being a serial dater. With mediocre acting and a routine plot, the film reminded me a lot of an extended episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, only with transvestite male uncles watching over Ethan instead of witchy aunts from the other realm. The film has funny moments and is better than other films about gay people. This is a very normal film that focuses on relationships and how to make them last. The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green fills might open doors for more relevant comedies and dramas about gay people that portray gay people in ordinary situations.
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