This is your typical indie coming-of-age tale about a teenager, though it’s clearly working with a very tiny budget. Set within a migrant family living in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, the movie digs into how fragile old-school traditions and expectations can be. We follow a teenage son as he goes through the process of coming out and struggles to find acceptance while dealing with homophobia, domestic abuse, and a messy love triangle that involves his own sister. Goyo is seventeen and just about to graduate from high school. Since he’s been a bit more feminine since he was a little kid, he’s always had to deal with emotional and physical transition from his dad, Ramon, who is obsessed with him being "a man." The only real love he gets is from a lady next door who actually respects him for who he is. The family lives in a Mexican community where everyone works on a grape farm, but things get shaken up when a new guy named Lucio arrives. Lucio basically seduces Goyo ...
The premise is quite simple. Freddie and Stuart are an old gay couple who have been together for nearly 50 years. Their lives now revolve around entertaining their frequent guests and hurling insults at each other at every opportunity. Ash is a young handsome man who is their new neighbor. Their long term single friend Violet who is looking out for a man in her life. And then an old lady, who just keeps forgetting everything every minute and finally another guy who no one just cares about.
I can imagine that not everyone would like the show. You have to have an appetite for dark sometimes even morbid humour and be a fan of sarcasm. The dialogues and the sarcasm that is in Freddie's character is simply outstanding. And every time Stuart's mother calls him, that is superb too. My favorite is every time Stuart introduces Ash to Violet. Thats hilarious. Stereotypical characters in a brand new light. Excellent casting, perfectly matched the roles and the actors. The witty and snappy comments compliment the new character types not too often seen on TV. Original script with lines you can use in an everyday life. Agreed that the show is hammy and over the top but I think that's what I liked about it most. It's ridiculous and I think the ridiculousness is what makes it so brilliant.
I think the job is successfully done when a viewer doesn't mind watching something again and I would definitely not mind watching this show again with friends. It was simply funny. (8/10)
Update Jan'14: Just saw the Christmas special episode. I think my expectations were way too high, so I was a little disappointed but it was still very very good. Violet definitely is my fav character in this show.
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