Sweet, well-intended comedy/drama examining sexuality and love. A company comes out with a pill to make gay men straight and Tim (a very good Jonathan Slavin) decides to try it, since there is a painful lack of romance in his life as a gay man, while a number smart women seem to like him. This leads to all sorts of complications, hurt feelings, lost friendships. Some of this is clunky, the plot relying a bit heavily on some thin ideas, cliché characters, and big coincidences. But it has a good heart, nice performances and ultimately is a real affirmation of self- acceptance, without pretending that is always an easy thing.

This movie was a free Logo offering on my Comcast On-Demand that I happened to pick at random. What a lucky choice I made. It's hard for me to convey concisely how this movie moved me. As another commenter mentioned, it is a low-budget type film but that makes this even more powerful and poignant. What is great about this film is that it pulls no punches and lays its messages out on the line. The main character is a plain but still attractive guy that is often at the mercy of the vanity and cruelty of the gay world. This movie blows the lid off the Will & Jack stereotype that all gay guys are nice, fun, and cute - the reality for many guys like myself is not always so pleasant. The main character constantly falls for the wrong (straight/confused) guys that often use him intentionally or not. It is this frustration and unhappiness that drives him to consider taking a pill that allegedly will make him straight. The great thing about this film is that none of the characters are portrayed as perfect - they're portrayed as human.A gay guy who has experienced rejection and ridicule by "his own kind" must see this movie as an epiphany of sorts. Even better, someone who may have a distorted picture of what the "gay lifestyle" is should see this movie - this IS the reality for the average gay guy. We're not all depressed like this but it blows the lid off stereotypes like nothing I've ever seen. Please, please see this jewel of a movie.

I started watching this movie while sitting one evening channel surfing. It caught my interest...and, at the end I said, WOW! I very seldom say WOW to a movie! There was laughter and there were tears. That is pretty rare in a movie these days. The initial premise is a pill which makes a gay guy go straight. You assume it is going to be a comedy. But, once it gets going, it is heavy. The movie brings to light how such a pill would ruin wonderful friendships and relationships. Feelings are hurt, bridges burned, and then mended again. Especially if you are an older gay person, it brings back memories from your own life. I remember thinking how I wish there was "straight" pill. As the movie shows, it is not such a good idea after all. Be sure to see it and enjoy.

If there was a pill that would change gays into straight, would you take it? If so, what would the effects be? Those are two of the pertinent questions in the excellent sci-fi flic Hard Pill. Tim (Jonathan Slavin) is a sad little cubicle monkey. His personal life is a disaster. He pines for guys he doesn't seem to have a chance with, mostly because they are straight or straight- ish anyway. This is a point made clear by his coworker Joey (Scotch Ellis Loring) when he says that Tim has "a sea of fags at his disposal and he stays home with a straight man." Nowhere is Tim's social life more depressing than when he practically begs his straight friend Don (Mike Begovich) to let Tim fellate him ("Can't we ever just watch a movie?" Don asks?). As Tim's personal life is defined each of the cast is introduced with a graphic that works as a spectrum of sexuality. It's an interesting and clever idea to show the shades of gay and straight in each character though it wears out its welcome a bit by the time the entire cast is introduced.The film uses "street interviews" with various folks to introduce a new controversy involving a pill intended to provide an opportunity for homosexuals to go hetero by making a chemical change in the brain. One of the best one-liners in the film has a Christian fundamentalist making a selectively supportive comment about the drug. With Tim feeling that, "The only currency in the gay world is being attractive," he signs up for the human trials for the drug. What Tim doesn't seem to realize is that each of his friends and neighbors has problems as bad or worse than his own, they just have ways to deal. Sally (Susan Slome) covets Tim but continues an unfulfilled flirtation with a coworker. Joey throws his balls between more legs than the Harlem Globetrotters but he lacks an emotionally satisfying relationship. Don's relationship is contingent on his continuing use of antidepressants. It's to the credit of writer/director John Baumgartner that these subplots are so well developed without sacrificing the central story or adding superfluity.When Tim begins using the pill it's not just his world that changes. Each person has a place they fill in others' lives and when one tries to change something so fundamental to their own self it goes without saying that there be effects on their relationships with others. The film's major success is in exploring these results. After a first straight screw that he apparently regrets, Tim finds himself attracted to Tanya (Jennifer Elise Cox) with results transcending the chemically dependent nature of their mutual attraction. Slavin's excellent performance makes Tim a sympathetic anti-hero. Despite Tim's consistent aversion to sensible solutions for his problems, one can't help but root for him to succeed, even if it's the result decidedly unsympathetic actions on his part.Baumgartner's superb story offers a lot to viewers beyond just the visual story and fine performances from the cast. Musings about the effects of chemical personalities are as relevant to the real world as they are in Hard Pill speculative Los Angeles. The gradation of sexuality is a path rarely explored but it's done well here with the help of not only a graphic, but a healthy dose of remarkably non-exploitive skin. Throw in a brief yet profound argument for gay marriage and you've got yourself one hell of a movie. Enjoy.