[Movies] Were the World Mine (2008)

I'm big fan of musicals in general, but I'll be one of the first to admit that not all musicals work, especially when in the form of a movie. At the same time, I also generally appreciate LGBT films and books but recognize that the quality of such titles also tends to be rather hit or miss.

I don't quite get what drives that but it just seems to happen - I think LGBT filmmakers are just so determined to get out there that it doesn't meant the best stories are being told or are their films done in the best possible manner. there's a lot of shallow fluff that comes along and it just takes time to really develop the genre.

This next combination of both genres came out decently enough, but there's definitely a lot that could have been done to make it even better.

Were the World Mine is tagged as a rock musical that tries to merge the world of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with the realms of teen gay angst / drama. Some of the reviews used to hype the movie is the claim that Hedwig and the Angry Inch, another LGBT musical, should move aside. I think it was a good attempt but Hedwig has nothing to fear just yet.

The movie is an expansion of Tom Gustafson's short film Fairies, of which he has the credit of having both written and directed both films. It follows the life of a young gay man named Timothy (Tanner Cohen) who struggles with life in an all-boy's prep school. After getting the lead in the school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, he somehow stumbles upon a love potion of sorts that he then uses to expand everyone's horizons by turning them gay, all the while hoping to get the attentions of his major crush, the captain of the rugby team Jonathon (Nathaniel
David Becker).

The music was pretty good, but more so the sheer singing power of the lead, Tanner Cohen. Where did this boy come from? Seriously? The rest of the cast simply paled in comparison to him along and I have to admit I'd love to see more of him on the musical scene, although we can do without the Adam Lambert hair.

It sort of goes downhill beyond that.

It was clear that the story didn't quite fit the length of the film. Some bits didn't quite make as much sense as it could have and others just didn't seem all that essential to the overall plot. Acting was rather indie-feeling, but more on the amateur side and the dance choreography was just a little better than the actors' highly limited dancing abilities.

When taken all together, it didn't seem like that much of a coherent whole and it just sort of came out a tad flat and without real impact. It just wasn't very striking and the only saving grace were some of the humorous sequences and naturally Tanner Cohen's singing. Oh, and Nathaniel David Becker was pretty hot and definitely deserved more useless shirtless sequences, haha.

Were the Word Mine gets 3 love-potion-spurting flowers out of 5.