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Poster Boy

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Poster Boy (2006)

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Reviews Counted:19

Fresh:5

Rotten:14

Average Rating:4.5/10

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Television

Synopsis: This seething political drama stars Matt Newton as Henry, the closeted homosexual son of a rabidly right wing senator (Michael Lerner, who is terrifying). Known in liberal circles as "the Nazi from... This seething political drama stars Matt Newton as Henry, the closeted homosexual son of a rabidly right wing senator (Michael Lerner, who is terrifying). Known in liberal circles as "the Nazi from North Carolina," the senator is determined to use his college-age son to win the young people's vote at an upcoming rally. Understandably scared to come out to his bullying father, Henry finds himself snared in a take-no-prisoners battle with his conscience and his circumstance, especially when he's seduced by a boy at college named Anthony (Jack Noseworthy), who turns out to be a staunch pro-gay activist with a plan to out Henry and subsequently sully the senator's red-state reputation. Framed within the context of a newspaper interview, the story unfolds in a series of flashbacks, which director Zak Tucker captures with dynamic handheld camera work and jumpy editing (an impressive debut, especially considering he stepped in at the last minute after the original director bailed right before shooting started). Karen Allen is a welcome face as the senator's long-suffering wife, a woman who has chosen booze and gracious living over the important things in life. Valerie Geffner is also memorable as Anthony's HIV-positive roommate and co-conspirator. The script from Ryan Shiraki and Lecia Rosenthal provides lots of sub-plots, trenchant political discourse, and big soap-opera-style confrontations, all of which the talented cast is more than game for. [More]

Starring: Matt Newton, Karen Allen, Michael Lerner, Jack Noseworthy

Starring: Matt Newton, Karen Allen, Michael Lerner, Jack Noseworthy

Director: Zak Tucker

Director: Zak Tucker
Screenwriter: Lecia Rosenthal, Ryan Shiraki
Studio: Regent Releasing

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Reviews for Poster Boy

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
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Aside from topicality and good intentions, the film is reasonably engaging and well acted. But it's also more than a little bit overwrought.

Full Review Source: All Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/11/04
Josh Ralske
Josh Ralske
All Movie Guide

An overwrought story of American politics and image-making that really only gets interesting in the final act.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
08/25/06
Janice Page
Janice Page
Boston Globe
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

Director Zak Tucker is a bit too fond of jump cuts as signifiers of edginess. Still, when the material doesn't get in the way he's pretty good at getting across the emotional content.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
08/10/06
Hank Sartin
Hank Sartin
Chicago Reader

Offers an affirmation that conservatives are not ready to cast that proverbial first stone.

Full Review Source: EDGE Boston | comment Comment
10/30/06
Phil Hall
Phil Hall
EDGE Boston

We all sat around in college having the sort of angry liberal rap sessions that this film painstakingly recreates. We don't have to relive them now.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
12/02/06
Don Willmott
Don Willmott
Filmcritic.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
11/20/08
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
Hollywood.com

The tale is unnecessarily fractured and becomes increasingly didactic as it collapses into a mess of shrill big-screen activism and smugly relayed leftist ideals.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
08/10/06
Ernest Hardy
Ernest Hardy
L.A. Weekly

Even with satisfying performances from the principal actors, Poster Boy is longer on energy than focus.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
08/10/06
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

While the movie's discussion points certainly rank on par with those political thrillers, there's not enough substance for the movie to succeed on its own merits, a point underscored by posters selling the movie on Newton's perfectly airbrushed chest.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
09/15/06
Peter Debruge
Peter Debruge
Miami Herald

By the final half-hour, Poster Boy manages a surprising amount of magnetism.

Full Review Source: Mixed Reviews | comment Comment
04/23/04
Gabriel Shanks
Gabriel Shanks
Mixed Reviews

Tucker's heart is in the right place. His work, however, isn't: Lectures belong in school, not in the movie theater.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
08/18/06
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

Poster Boy is a muddled coming-out movie that, for no good reason, unfolds flashback style as Henry tells his story to a sleazy newspaper reporter.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
08/18/06
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post

A polemic masquerading as a movie, Poster Boy unspools like a humorless lecture on right-wing homophobia.

comment Comment
08/28/06
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The people do not reduce to issues, but we know they will hit their issues marks reliably.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
09/22/06
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

Some clunky writing and a distracting subplot limit the effectiveness of this ambitious low-budget indie.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
08/18/06
G. Allen Johnson
G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Chronicle

Screenwriters Ryan Shiraki and Lecia Rosenthal exploit red state/blue state tensions, scripting an act-up soap opera that unintelligently panders to pro-gay sentiment.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
07/13/06
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/21/06
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The film touches on a number of hot-button issues, including homophobia, the ethics of outing, and the intersection of public and private lives, but it suffers from an excess of subplots.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/18/06
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Coming during a period in which the collision of politics and gay rights has created perhaps unprecedented sparks, Poster Boy is a flawed but absorbing drama.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
08/10/06
David Rooney
David Rooney
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
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