As far as I know, from what I saw on Project Greenlight, Pete Jones isn't gay. So, I'm curious what motivated him to make this film, and to play the gay lead. It's not forbidden - and I'm always happy to see filmmakers portraying gays positively in their work - it just seems a little odd. And, in fact, that's one of the weaknesses of the film: Pete Jones doesn't really come across as gay. I'm not saying he should act effeminate or anything like that. It's just that that there was something not quite "on" about the scenes between his character and the character's boyfriend. At other times, I really got the impression that he'd watched "Jeffrey" a few too many times, and was trying to imitate it.
The other element that really didn't work for me was the voice-over and talking to the camera. It drew too much attention to itself, wasn't as funny as he seemed to think it was, and often didn't tell us anything we couldn't have learned from watching the characters interact.
Having said that, though, I think the film also has some excellent writing and strong performances, especially by Nathan Fillion. The best parts of the movie are when the brothers are trying to deal with Riley being gay. Jones is brilliant, when it comes to writing realistic - and very funny - dialog between characters he obviously relates to. This film, and his earlier film, "Stolen Summer", prove him to be a talented writer and director, and it turns out he's not half bad as an actor, either. I really hope he continues to make movies, and they get distribution.
The other element that really didn't work for me was the voice-over and talking to the camera. It drew too much attention to itself, wasn't as funny as he seemed to think it was, and often didn't tell us anything we couldn't have learned from watching the characters interact.
Having said that, though, I think the film also has some excellent writing and strong performances, especially by Nathan Fillion. The best parts of the movie are when the brothers are trying to deal with Riley being gay. Jones is brilliant, when it comes to writing realistic - and very funny - dialog between characters he obviously relates to. This film, and his earlier film, "Stolen Summer", prove him to be a talented writer and director, and it turns out he's not half bad as an actor, either. I really hope he continues to make movies, and they get distribution.