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Geography Club

I don’t know why but I have been holding off to watching this film. Somehow the name did not seem  inviting enough for me to give it a chance. Finally I did and honestly it wasn’t that bad. Sure its a bit cliched and we have seen plenty of movies with similar theme about high school teenagers struggle with sexuality and coming out and what not, but even this film manages to hold on with its individual merit

Russel and Gunnar are best friends since kids. But Russel has a secret. He is gay and can’t even bear to tell anyone since his father has high hopes from him. For his friend Gunnar’s sake , he goes on double dates but is very frustrated. But his dreams soon start to come true when after a few meetings, he gets into a secret relationship with the hot and hunky Kevin, the school’s quarterback. At their first kiss, their classmate Min sees them and invites Russel to join ‘Geography Club’ which essentially is a cover for clandestine LGBT club. Initially reluctant, Russel does join the group and meets a few other friends there. When his sexuality is revealed to the school, by some random jealous girl, Russel, initially hurt, decides to do something about it. He alongwith Min decides that they will officially make their geography club as the ‘Gay Straight Alliance’ club, the first of its kind in school. Russel also tells Kevin that he needs to come out in open. Even though Russel loves him, he cannot do that because he is looking forward to a scholarship and this could hurt his chances. Kevin walks away and Russel and Min get a decent number of people for their club. Russel is super surprised by how supportive his best friend Gunnar is with the whole thing. Finally its about being there for oneself.

The film had interesting premise but a lot of things were just too convenient. The way Russel just out of the blue becomes part of the football team just so he and Kevin can spend more time together was a bit unbelievable. There are certain scenes that have been handled with extreme sensitivity while others are amateurish. There is not consistent pace. More than the love story of Kevin and Russel, I felt the friendship with Gunnar was given more prominence; which is actually not bad because kids need to know that there is a lot of support out there from people who they are close with. They just need to feel comfortable. Acting by all actors is thankfully pretty good but I would hope actors who actually look like teenagers were chosen. Kevin, though extremely hot, barely looks like a high school student. And that sometimes takes away the authenticity of it all. Interestingly, from the film’s perspective, the conflict comes mostly from within, rather than from school bullies or inflexible parents, as each of the characters must decide whether to go public with his or her sexual orientation.

It's a good movie, but could easily have been a better one had the writers taken better care on the screenplay. Not bad by any standards, I feel bad when a movie could have been so much more. (6/10)

Comments

luigi43 said…
In the wake of word-wide successful Soaps Bevery Hills 90210 and all such college 's locations ,this very decent movie , has been shot . Even an actor is in the cast , the quarterback , played in this film fresh , young ( o.c.) and very realistic .
Sailor Maan said…
Refreshing movie. Not always realistic but it feels good to watch movies where everything looks kind of simple in the end :-)
Golu said…
Depending on my mood of the day, it is definitely good to see feel good movies sometimes
Hedgehog said…
Nice movie, i didnt expect the ending tho. But still leave you with a lot of question what happen to kevin are they really over after he didnt show up. I think this movie need a sequel.

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