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robbo93 wrote on 03/03/2010:

I loved this movie...it is truly mesmerizing. The acting, singing, music, and general storyline are terrific. I have watched this movie several times since getting it just last week. Tanner Cohen and Nathaniel David Becker (my standout favorite) are as talented as they are gorgeous. It has quickly become one of my Top 5 Favorite movies. HIGHLY recommend it. Start to finish a beautiful movie.

rdean wrote on 11/05/2009:

Not your typical badly acted or directed gay film, excellent acting, coreography, marvelous cinematography and the overall "feel" of this movie is leaps & bounds past most typical gay fare. Feels like a true Hollywood production, and should appeal to a much larger audience. I love the soundtrack, and find the songs & singing really superb. It is not just a movie for Lovers or Teens, it is a movie that should be on everyones Top Ten Favorites, it is a top one of mine.

I love the premise of the movie and how they did not over think it, it has star crossed lovers, and many other magical moments, that make this movie both enjoyable to hear and captivating to watch. It is still Shakespearean, without drowning in being overdone. No, there is no sex scene, but that is not a basis for a well produced movie, gay or straight. There are planty of bare chested scenes to keep most captivated, and the lead actors are both very easy on the eyes.

It is what it is, and I think it is a Truly Excellent movie if you get it. The underlying "Sweetness" in this film is palpable and what Shakespeare is all about.

Daniel wrote on 06/29/2009:

It seems to me that many people have been unhappy about this film for many reasons ranging from it's lack of overt sex to the "immaturity" of it's characters.

But I think that is rather the point. What intrigued me here is that this is a film that depicts high school kids as high school kids. The pettiness of many of the characters, including to some extent the lead Timothy himself, are perfectly within character for teenagers. This is not the usual overwritten tripe wherein teenagers think and act like 40 year-olds and every word and deed has some deeper motive behind it. This is a teenage story and a teenage fantasy.

Which is perhaps why I like it. It's not trying to be pretentious and pretend that it's something it isn't. It's message is very simple and direct and the characters are not buried in layers of irrelevant subtext to create the illusion of depth.

The singing was actually quite spectacular and I love listening to the songs over and over.

Another interesting note is that this is a good movie for teenage audiences, since it isn't doubling as softcore porn as so many gay movies do. If one is looking for a good film for a GSA group to watch then this is it.

Contrary to popular belief Shakespeare didn't set out to create high art for the intellectual elite. He set out to entertain people with situations they could imagine and get into. The same is true of this movie. It's entertaining, but don't expect deep philosophical insights, nor expect a full and faithful reenactment of A Midsummer Night's Dream. But that's okay, this has it's own magic.

Vernon wrote on 06/29/2009:

This is a Movie for Lovers

This is not a great movie, it's not a terrible movie either.

This is a movie, that you and your lover, with your arms around each other, sit back and enjoy a love story.
The moon is out you and your lover are feeling at ease, with great bottle of wine.

In morning you will think back on this delightful little film and you will laugh.
You will laugh at the gay boys , playing straight boys turning into gay boys.
You will laugh at the acting and the plot and the fact the set look like a Pierre et Gilles photo.

Who could not smile at the use of the word faerie or the use of Shakespear's midsummer nights dream.

Watch it love it, don't hate it, because it does not deserve it.

This is a Movie for Lovers.

Franklin Hummel wrote on 06/24/2009:

There has been much praise for WERE THE WORLD MINE and it is deserved.

However, I personally was very disappointed in certain elements of the film which I think weakened it greatly. For me, WERE THE WORLD MINE is a good movie that could have been a great film.

There are three aspects in particular that hurt this film musical: 1) the song lyrics, 2) the choreography, and 3) the behavior of the main character, Timmy.

1) The song lyrics are based in part on the poetry of "A Midnight Summer's Dream". In their adaptation to WERE THE WORLD MINE, I found them to often be, sadly, a cheapening of not only the words, but the meaning of Shakespeare's humorous and romantic play. I often thought of them on a level of what I feel might better be found in an Illustrated Classics Comic Book.

2) The choreography (and its photography) throughout the film was often too jerky and quick for what should have been a more *dream-like* gracefulness nature reflective of romance and love. This quickness would certainly fit if lust were the only emotion being portrayed in this movie, but WERE THE WORLD MINE wanted to be more than that -- and the choreography and its editing failed this.

3) Finally, there was the too often callousness of Timmy, the main character. Certainly such behavior is proper for Ms. Tebbit, who many be the Queen fairy herself. Titania, as Shakespeare named her in his play. [A side note: Her callous treatment for amusement of human is much more accurate to the original mythology of fairies, the Shide, then the current sweetness-and-light as shown today. The original fairies were vicious, sadistic bastards.]

However, Timmy is *human* and his behavior throughout is often pointlessly cruel and hateful. The first thing he does is accidentally make his best male friend helplessly love him -- and then he abandons him, even allowing him to be bloodily beaten by Jonathan (the young man who Timmy "loves" and who Timmy has also caused to love him). Why didn't Timmy even try to reuse the "love juice" on his friend, so he might "fall in love" with the young women he did love?

Later on, Timmy causes a homophobic woman to fall in love with his mother, without the slightest thought of how his mother would feel and react to have a stalker after her.

Even the question of forcing someone to "love" you, something done by the inhuman fairies for their amusement, is just

Timmy's utter insensitivity for those who he supposedly cares about is shown repeatedly throughout the film. Timmy is a teenager and is so not fully emotionally mature. but he also acts and feels far more immaturely than a teenager of his age should. He acts as if he were 8-years old -- not 18.

When Timmy is finally forced to face his ethically, emotional mistakes, it comes across as a slap on the wrist and not as any gain of maturity or wisdom.

"A Midsummer's Night Dream" is a romantic comedy, but there is within a depth of understanding of love and, especially, unrequited love. WERE THE WORLD MINE is a romantic comedy, but its understanding and presentation of the hurt and pain that comes with both unrequited love *and* love is very shallow.

In the end, the depth of human nature that can be found in great films -- and very rarely found in a gay film that is great, like LATTER DAYS -- is absent from WERE THE WORLD MINE. The movie is only cotton candy, and nothing more -- where as LATTER DAYS, a romantic comedy/drama is food for the soul.

For me, WERE THE WORLD MINE will be a movie I watch a second and maybe a year or two from now, a third time -- whereas I watch LATTER DAYS, a film also of growing in and with love, at least once or twice every year.

Cotton candy is fun to eat, but it leaves me empty after an hour or two; After watching WERE THE WORLD MINE, I felt emotionally empty after a few hours.