Shut Up & Kiss Me

By: Scott Cranin
In-House Review - Jan 11 2012

Straight from the heart, screenwriter/star Ronnie Kerr 's autobiographical romance Shut Up and Kiss Me hits home because it's his story, and it's a sweet one. Ben is attractive, successful, and looking for love...in all the wrong places. Failed attempts with video dating, his uproarious friends setting him up, and bad gym run-ins have this perennially single 35-year-old ready to call it quits. He figures maybe romance is just not in the cards for him. Except there is this hot stud who runs by his house each morning as he waters his lawn. It takes a fair amount of courage for Ben to speak with Grey, well actually, he's pushed into it by his best gal pal Callie, and the chemistry is instant. But there's one small problem, Grey's got some commitment issues and Ben's "a one man guy". Shut Up and Kiss Me is the classic story of boy meets boy -- one of the boys likes to with multiple boys -- the first boy wants it all to himself. Fresh, sharp and witty; this one's a romance for the rest of us.

By: Radeschty

The first 3/4 of the movie is really fun. Yes, it's low budget, but if you know that going in there's no problem. What I think the story was intended to be about is navigating a relationship around the subject of monogamy vs. an open relationship. But unfortunately that's not how it plays out. The new boyfriend is emotionally abusive. This is apparent to everyone, including the audience, except for the main character. It's this obvious abuse that left me saying - "What? Seriously? Did that just happen?" I'd also like to officially state for the record that I'm all for gratuitous nudity. Pinky swear. But this is not good nudity. There's no excuse for pudgy, squishy, middle-aged men having sex.

By: Mr. Bob

In reading the TLA review, I was hoping for a sweet love story with a happy ending. That's what I watch romantic comedies (gay or straight) for after all. Well Shut Up and Kiss Me tried to be this, but fell short in many, many areas. As other reviewers have said, the production quality is awful. Shot in video, it is jumpy, poorly edited and most of the camera work is amateurish. There are also some oddly presentational moments that don't add to the overall success of the film. I like Ronnie Kerr as an actor - but if this is his story, I think he got chumped. The moral of this story is supposed to be: if you love someone - take them warts and all. However, as presented in this movie, the real moral is - if you love someone, sublimate your needs for theirs and as long as you bury it deep enough, it won't matter. Disappointing.

By: Marty

A real life relationship - one guy wants monogamy, the man who loves him can't provide it. This movie shows them begin to work on the issue honestly A relief after the "one strike and your out" relationships of the serial monogamists. That being said, the overall production is spotty with some weak performances. But given the message,the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

By: Night_Tim

I was really looking forward to this movie because 1) for once, it was a love story with characters over 18, 2) I could relate to the main character, and 3) it didn't have a bitchy fag hag as a sidekick character. In other words, it was not the usual formulaic gay romantic comedy.

Unfortunately, while the plot was fundamentally sound, I couldn't say much for the movie as a whole. It was overacted, a little overwritten, and it had the cinematic quality of a home movie. It came across like community theatre on film, although a couple of the straight friend characters were actually pretty believable. Ronnie Kerr (Ben) was probably the best actor of the bunch, although he seemed to rush through his lines, as they all did.

Probably the most frustrating point of the movie was the ending. Contrived and confusing, like they just tacked it on in a hurry because they couldn't come up with anything more satisfying.

I'd say the most compelling part of the whole thing was straight actor Scott (Grey) Gabelein's woody in the all-nude sex scene (don't get your hopes up, it's just a glimpse). (We somehow never see Ronnie Kerr's peen in all the rolling around.)

If you somehow can, see it for a few bucks as a download or stream.

By: Golu

Ben is attractive, successful, and looking for love...in all the wrong places. Failed attempts with video dating, his uproarious friends setting him up, and bad gym run-ins have this perennially single 35-year-old ready to call it quits. He figures maybe romance is just not in the cards for him. Except there is this hot stud who runs by his house each morning as he waters his lawn. It takes a fair amount of courage for Ben to speak with Grey, well actually, he's pushed into it by his best gal pal Callie, and the chemistry is instant. But here's a problem. Grey cant be monogamous. He likes to play around while Ben is a 1-man person. Neither of them hides this from the other but after a while Ben can't take it and they break up. His friend tries to hook him up with other men. Then one fine day Grey runs into Ben who doesn't talk to him too well except that he had to go see a therapist for his problem. The movie ends with Grey being that therapist and the fact that Ben has accepted his man's philandering ways of life.

Yes, the movie ended exactly like that. After the movie finished, the director was present for Q&A, and all I wanted to ask was 'What was the point of the movie? What is it that he wanted to tell us?' It was all so absurd. The characters had no chemistry and connection. They were overacting their parts to an extent. It was just weird. Oh! and the most annoying thing was a big giant green frame at Ben's house entrance which was there is like every frame. Probably the director forgot his pay his VFX team

By: Amos Lassen

"Shut Up and Kiss Me"

A Wonderful New Romantic Comedy

Amos Lassen

About a month ago a friend told me to watch out for Ariztical's new film, "Shut Up and Kiss Me" and I understand why. It is a pure delight as it tackles the contemporary gay dating scene. Ben (hunky Ronnie Kerr) is 35 years old and wants to date someone for reasons other than sexual. He wants to be able to sit and talk to someone without first jumping into bed (I resemble that scenario). He tries a variety of ways to meet new people-a video ad, a classified ad, online match-ups, etc and he soon finds himself on various adventures, none of which provide him with what he is looking for. Some of you might recognize yourselves here. Lo (I love to use this word), one day he meets Grey (Scott Gabelein) and it is magic. They both generate the kind of chemistry that instantly wins each other over. However, there is a problem-they don't share the same beliefs about relationships. Ben has had his eyes on Grey. They live in the same neighborhood and Grey always manages to run by his house when Ben is gardening. Finally, Ben rustles up the nerve to talk to Grey and they are immediately attracted to each other.
This is a comedy that is filled with romance and is very sensitively done. It touches on issues that all of us in the gay community are aware of-monogamy, love, satisfaction and dating. Kerr also wrote the screenplay and it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. There are cameo appearances from Nick Moretti and Dylan Fox (Brad Benton) from "The Lair". Kerr is amazing and the kind of guy you could bring home to mom. Devin Hamilton directed this wonderful little film that will worm its way into your heart. I loved it.