This is the second vertical AI BL drama I've sat through, and honestly I went in knowing better. I had it on while I was doing cardio at the gym, and what struck me was just how much the plot echoed the last one I watched. Same step brother romance angle, same mystery girlfriend showing up near the end, same extra guy pining after one of the leads. Genuinely the only thing going for it was the runtime, the whole thing wrapped up in forty five minutes flat. The setup kicks off with Finn moving schools because his mom just married into money. He finds out his new step brother Aiden goes to the same place, and he's warned to keep his distance from him. Their first run in at school is rocky, just like you'd expect, but there's this odd pull between them neither can shake off. Finn keeps telling himself not to read into it because Aiden's straight and openly homophobic. Things shift when some kids start bullying Finn and the student council president, Ryan, steps in to ...
After the police department is criticized for failing to solve the murder of a gay man, the Chief assigns the clichéd manly Detective Sergeant Benson to go undercover with the gay desk officer, Kerwin. Kerwin naively believes that he is closeted, although the entire Department knows about his sexual identity. Naturally, this means that the two will spend the remainder of the film bonding with each other, while tracking down clues about the killer. For the most part, Benson works through his homophobia by uttering homophobic remarks whenever he gets angry and having sex with lots of women, while Kerwin cooks and does the laundry for both of them. Soon using multiple clues, in their own way, the two men are able to find enough clues, but a woman Jill's love blindsight Benson. Its through Kerwin's eventual jealousy/ fast thinking the killers is finally nabbed.
This is a dramatic romance that veers into comedy, and a central mystery most likely to provoke yawns. The film doesn't take itself too seriously in any department, be it thriller or comedy and that makes it weird to watch. The whole relationship that develops between the two men feels not like partners. Kerwin is there is cook, clean and do the chores while Benson just enjoys the attention while using a homophobic slur whenever he can and wishes. Only a handful of times, he shows any respect or understanding of the whole gay community, but even then he says things like "Now, I understand how women must feel". Also, I am not sure what Benson's character morality was like. He is shown to have a girlfriend but happily jumps with 2 different girls when found an opportunity. So, it's not just the homophobia but morality aspect as well. The search for the killer is the only saving grace of the film.
This film feels too rushed with the laziness of the writing and directing sinking the idea almost completely. Sniggering jokes, embarrassing and half-hearted sentiment, with just a decent murder crime mystery makes this film slightly below average. (4.5/10)
Comments