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Chained To My Bully Stepbrother (AI Vertical BL Drama)

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 ...

Mailman

I wouldn't really call this a gay film. I know many folks would argue, but then sexuality is not the point of this film at all. Sexual fluidity is repeated across the film and yes, the character happens to be gay, but even if you left those things out the film, absolutely nothing changes at all. At its heart, its a musical and maybe queer coming out at the end. Thankfully, its not a C-grade horror film, as the title like this would suggest otherwise.

A young chirpy mailman Phil is happy with his job but he also wants and dreams of becoming a writer. An eccentric old lady on his route, who eventually becomes his friend is the only one who knows about this dream besides his colleague and another friend Ronnie. One day when the older lady gets mysteriously murdered, Phil suspects foul play by her son and daughter-in-law and sees this as an opportunity to investigate and write his book. The reasons behind the disappearance and the eventual reveal is all pretty random and yawn. In all this, he also finds love with Ronnie.

It’s a silly little plot and like you would expect from a musical, the characters bursts into songs literally every 5 minutes. There is a lot of talk about Phil’s sexuality, again for no apparent reason (probably just to please and cater to the gay audience) with everyone thinking he is into men,  but he refuses to be pinned down by old labels which is an excuse for one of his best songs in the film I’M Not Gay. He keeps reminding that his generation people are not into labels, they are all fluid and do not believe in gay, straight constructs. Other actors/characters are decent in their job. Its no surprise that the actor playing Phil also happens to be the director of the film. Made probably with all its heart, sadly the film lacks depth of any kind and is not even good enough to watch If you are looking for something silly, easy going time. I wouldn't recommend wasting time on this one: not for songs or for the story. (3.5/10)

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