Being drawn here by the trailer about a gay kid fighting for his right to play volleyball (to get a scholarship) in a school where there's no boys team, it looked interesting. Sadly the reality of the movie is anything but interesting. Sure the concept is great but the execution leaves to be desired.
I have no problem with all the side-stories that are just there and half of them even feel as to lengthen the movie.
So the story starts with the introduction of the family in 1999. Standard things, mom and dad with a teenage gay son. The son spends most of his time in his room on his computer, chatting on AOL.
Why we get to see all of those conversations, I have no clue. Some actually contribute to the movie but most of them have barely any added value. Perhaps they were just there to add to the gayness of the movie. I mean gay son, talking with an unknown gay friend in Chicago, inspiring said friend to come out of the closet and get a boyfriend all within a (few) month's time. So far all the gay issues. Which are just problem solution result in one go.
So back to the main story. Father dies and leaves his family with no money cause he spent his kid's college fund on a car for his mistress. So introduction of the problem of the main story + introduction of side story of the mistress which leads to a few scenes of no value to fill in some time. Mom argues with said mistress' mother, mom nags about the affair of her dead husbands once or twice and pees on said car. Side story leading nowhere.
Main story. Miles, the kid, looks for a scholarship to escape his small simple-minded town to Chicago. Add a counselor with only 2 possible scholarships (since baseball and football are off the table, only 2 remain? How likely?) so Miles tries out for the volleyball team but it's a girls team. He makes the cut, plays some games and protest arises. So far, so good. He losses his job cause people don't like him playing, teams forfeit cause they don't like him playing. (You can understand but still it's rather close-minded). So good job on getting all that wide-spread close-mindedness on tape. So a hearing follows and he's off the team. You actually feel sorry for the guy cause the actor is good-looking and the character is very likable. But so far close-minded people have won. They decide to fight back and snap... 4 months later, no clue what actually happened, Miles is graduating and going to a community college in Chicago where they have what he wants to study. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? HOW DID THEY DO IT? WHY WASN'T THIS AN OPTION FROM THE START? Basically you get problem, solution, bigger problem and jump to the end. So for being based on a real story, you are kinda missing half the story. Let alone the side-stories, half of which you won't remember since they lead nowhere. This movie was just one big disappointment.
Something good to say about it? Well the actors do a nice job. The main character is likable and cute. Euhm... that's about it...
Besides the story problems, please try to ignore the some times (thank god only some times) mechanical conversations.
Good luck if you plan watching this one.
Tingnan pa