Issues 101

Director(s): John Lincoln
Writer(s): John Lincoln
Producer(s): John Lincoln, Kenneth Schuyler
Starring: Michael Rozman, Dennis W. Rittenhouse Jr., Jeff Sublett, Kelly Clarkson

Joe, a new freshman to an LA-Based college, finds himself in a predicament when he finds himself pledging a fraternity in which his "Big Brother" also serves as the object of his affection. Big Brother Christian, self-described as "straight with issues" tries to divert Joe's attention from himself by pairing Joe with his gay real brother, Michael. But when Michael and Joe hit it off and seem to be developing a loving relationship, a one-night tryst between Joe and Christian that was videotaped rears its ugly head. Coincidentally, Joe is also running for Associate Students President and risks losing the election if his homosexuality is plastered around campus.

I wish every movie can have a four second cameo by Kelly Clarkson. Actually, I take that back. Could you imagine Kelly Clarkson in The Dark Knight? Me neither. I can honestly say that Kelly Clarkson was the highlight of the film. While this film is nice in theory and on paper, the translation to screen makes it a complete mess. While other major fraternity plot based films focus on the hazing and ritual in a subtle manner evoking a homoerotic tension and mystery, this film has blatant oral sex hazing between the frat bros and their "Younger Brothers". Shot with primary florescent lighting and really bad set design (really bad!), watching this film is rough on the eyes. The plot is loose and rather lackluster with no real problem. The only major crisis is between Joe and Michael when a sexual encounter in Joe's past is brought to question, and even then I was yelling at the TV for making such a big issues about something stupid. That's all i got on this film.