Fun movie, well actually, coming out isn't that easy, but this movie bring it up as simple issue, with funny joke, interesting character, and well done actors.I like the acting. But, sometimes I don't really get Dorian's feeling by his language and tone. Somehow, Michael McMillian didn't get into his own character. There is time to laugh and there is time to cry, sometime he didn't get it, make me feel less emotional. Lea Coco and Steve Fletcher really did a great job.I really like the script but I have to say full stereotype of gay man/homosexual. Like perfect brother, muscle, and sport. And the gay one, skinny, didn't like sport, always to blame, never done anything well and always the minor in every parents love (less favorite).Let me make some comparison to some gay coming out theme. "Get Real" (1998) Steven Carter falling in love to John Dixon, school brightest running star while he look like a "nerd" and sometimes get insulted by other student. But, stereotype wasn't an issue here because that differences between them just a story about hard love and actually it wasn't love after all when John Dixon decided to shut up in order to maintain his reputation.Another shot, "Mambo italiano" (2003), this coming gay movie is completely free stereotype. Even Angelo Barberini falling in love with "macho" gay cop and since school he already called gay, and even his father suggested Angelo Barberini to play hockey because it might be cured him, stereotype wasn't much problem here united family more important than what other people think.For me, always interesting to watch gay coming out story. Dorian Blues good enough with 7/10.

This film benefits from really good acting and a strong, if familiar, storyline. Dorian is the stereotypical odd man out in his suburban town, the butt of schoolmates' harassment and his father's vitriol. It all seems so unintelligible until Dorian realizes he's gay. The one aspect of this film that is unique and wonderful is the relationship Dorian has with his straight, Daddy's favorite, brother, Nick. Instead of an oppositional dynamic, the movie sets them up as confidants and allies. The drawback to this film is that as Dorian becomes more comfortable in his homosexuality, he confuses arrogance for confidence. Dorian becomes less likable as the movie progresses. I also think the resolution of the film's greatest tension, the relationship between Dorian and his dad, was a let down. I think it is a testament to how much America has progressed that a movie about a kid coming out, meeting with criticism and hatred from his family, moving away to the big city, and finding peace when mean Daddy dies, seems so old-fashioned. Watch the movie for the historical curiosity of where gay culture was at in 2004.

This movie tried really hard to be a good little gay themed movie and coming of age film in general but it was done in by its flaws. The actors were all excellent, especially the two brothers, but I never believed they were in High School. And that's where the problems with this started. They seemed more like college frat brothers. It was as though the screenwriter/director forced everything to fit what was written, which causes the viewer to go, "Huh?"...When the viewer starts going "Huh?" you've got problems. And by the end, the "Huhs?" started coming fast and furious. The film started reaching for emotional moments it hadn't really earned because they'd never been established during the story and then it tried to cover way too much ground following Dorian from High School to college (in Greenwhich Village yet, where he manages to keep away from men for two years! Please!). The other major problem was the characterizations of the parents. The father was such an unrelenting asshole and the mother was such a zombie you just couldn't become emotionally involved in the family plot lines. Seriously, these boys could've given the Menendez brothers a run for their money with parents like that. Actually, the guy who played the dad used to be on the soap "One Life To Live". He played Brad the tennis pro who raped his sister-in-law, the ex-prostitute, played by Judith Light...which is weird, since she's so involved in the Gay Rights Movement. Interesting.

Writer/director/producer Tennyson Bardwell is definitely a talent to watch. In his first venture into film, DORIAN BLUES, he has created an intelligent script with razor sharp dialogue, witty and acerbic and touching depending on the moment, and has cast his film with a fine groups of actors who obviously hold him in great respect, as the final product is a polished film that is always entertaining as well as informative. Few 'coming out' films flesh out the territory as succinctly and realistically as this.Dorian Lagatos (a fresh and talented Michael McMillian) is sour on the world that doesn't understand him. His family is the microscope on his world: a right wing radical father Tom (Charles Fletcher), a seemingly ditsy but subservient mother Maria (Mo Quigley), and a brother Nicky (another bright and hunky talent Lea Coco) who is everything Dorian isn't - a jock, a ladies' man, and a happy-go-lucky high schooler. Dorian has an 'epiphany': he discovers the reason he doesn't fit in is that he is gay! With his discovery he finds some solace from another edgy gay friend Spooky (Austin Basis) but still feels he must remain in the closet. Finally he confides in Nicky who surprisingly listens to him and accepts him - just so long as Dorian doesn't act out. Frustrated, Dorian leaves for New York for college while Nicky wins a sports scholarship to another college. In New York Dorian finds the gay life, feels 'normal' at last, falls in love, confronts rejection and the games people play, and then lives a despondent life until Nicky visits him: Nicky has lost his scholarship. The two brothers make the rounds of Dorian's milieu until they receive a phone call that their father has died. Returning home Dorian must still face his anger at his father, though dead, and it is this anger that his mother (far more sensitive than Dorian ever knew) confronts Dorian and the message of the movie is completed in a very realistic and understanding way. Life's philosophy is not wholly bound to one's sexual preferences.Michael McMillian and Lea Coco both give notice of being young gifted actors to watch. And the apparently 'film inexperienced' Charles Fletcher and Mo Quigley deliver radiant cameo roles. Indeed the entire supporting cast is excellent, perhaps due to the fact the Bardwell is a fine director! This is a gay coming out film that is intelligent, free of the usual visuals that distract the general audience, and one that has more healthy bits of psychology scattered throughout than many a feature film.Highly recommended. Grady Harp