Hidden Away

So, of course this is a gay film about boys who realize their hidden feelings for one another, lots of drama, furtive glances, hidden desires bubbling to the surface. We get it. That's why we watch these movies, to see two dudes realize they like each other and consummate that somewhere within the hour and half movies of this ilk are allotted to tell their stories.

But not once in this entire film do the boys even so much as hold hands, let alone kiss. I was expecting at least a small peck, even a romantic caress, a passionate kiss in the rain. For the entire movie, we are given the suggestion, the inkling, the promise that they were going to fall in love and that we were going to see the full force of that love presented on screen. The most we got was a few dream sequences where they almost kiss, some horseplaying that almost leads to a kiss, and a scene in the bathroom where they almost kissed, but their lips did not touch once throughout this entire movie.

Now I'm not saying this as someone that watches these movies solely for that, but when you have a romantic film (even if it's gay), show some damn romance! It might have as well been a bromace for all that happened! I've had more intimacy with some of my straight friends than was shown in this movie. I guess since they were teenagers they had to limit what was shown, but I've seen similar films that had no problem showing love between boys or men, no matter how little of it is actually shown.

This is why I titled my review "Bait and switch'; they baited you with a promise of a sweet love story where two boys fall in love, and it was more like two friends share some super intimate moments without showing any of it on screen. It's still a good movie, great even, but don't make a gay movie and not have anything actually gay happen. Then it just becomes a disappointment.