I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. The 80’s especially saw a lot of movies that were popular with teenagers such as Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles, The Last American Virgin, Can’t Buy Me Love, Stand By Me, Valley Girl and The Karate Kid. Some of these films were fun and “sugary sweet”. Others dealt with issues that many teens at that tie were dealing with such as relationships (both with their peers or parents), sex and fitting in.
Fitting in and being a part of the “in crowd” is important for a lot of teens. Back when I was a teen those who were on the outside of cliques were the nerds, “burn outs”, overweight people and people who didn’t have much money. I should preface this by saying I was both on the “inside” and “outside”. I was overweight and made fun of A LOT. At the same time I had some really cool (popular) friends which helped me too.
Once thing that wasn’t an issue when I was a teenager was homosexuality and “coming out” to your classmates. I know for a fact there were gay and lesbian students in our school, but it wasn’t something that was talked about. I had gay and lesbian friends. I didn’t care about their sexuality. I just loved them because there were my friends.
Fast forward to this century. Although it’s more accepted by our social to “come out”, there is still A LOT of fear in doing so, especially for teenagers.
Both of my kids go to high school. My daughter tells me that there are a lot of homosexual boys in school, but she has not heard of or met any lesbians yet.
As per my daughter, having a gay best friend is common place in school for girls. Having a gay best friend (or GBF) is literally like having a fashion accessory. I have not only heard about this from my daughter but I have seen this happening with a few of her friends. There is one boy especially at their school who EVERYONE wants to be best friends with. He doesn’t hide the fact that he’s gay. He’s actually one of the more popular kids in school (with the girls, not with the boys).
My oh my… how times have changed since I was a teen. The “must have” thing when I was a teen was designer jeans. These days is having a GBF.
There is a movie, which is available tomorrow (February 11, 2014) on DVD called GBF (Gay Best Friend).
GBF is a comedy about two best friends – Brent (Paul Iacono) and Tanner (Michael J. Willett). They are both gay and currently keeping it to themselves. No one knows but Brent’s mom certainly suspects it.
Brent has this brilliant idea about “coming out of the closet” to everyone at school so that he can become popular. Having a “GBF” is the new “must have accessory” and Brent is hoping one of the school’s popular girls will instantly become best friends with him and he’ll become popular by association. Tanner on the other hand rather remain under the radar until he graduates.
Accidently it’s Tanner who is “outed” and not Brent. As Brent had imagined, the popular girls at school wanted to make Tanner their best friend. The popular girls at school are…
Fawcett (Sasha Pieterse) – A blonde beauty who is known as the “Queen of Mean”.
Caprice (Xosha Roquemore) – A big time diva who is very sassy and rules the drama club.
‘Shley (Andrea Bowen) – A sweet and quirky Morman good girl who is popular with the religious students, but she’s not as “innocent” as she pretends to be.
It’s now a social war between Fawcett, Caprice and ‘Shley. The winner will have Tanner all to herself and claim him as her GBF. Before that can happen the girls are stuck hanging out together while they try to win Tanner over.
Tanner’s popularity has now shot through the stratosphere, but his true best friends are left behind. His relationship with Brent is especially strained.
Prom is coming up and Tanner would like to attend as himself and enjoy the time he has left with his real friends, but the girls (Fawcett, Caprice and ‘Shely) have other plans. They want to make Tanner Prom King and themselves Prom Queen.
Who will Tanner attend prom with? Will he win the title of Prom King, and if so, who’ll be Prom Queen? What about Tanner’s true friends? Who’ll ultimately win Tanner as their GBF? To find out you need to pick up a copy of GBF available tomorrow (Feb. 11, 2014) where ever most movies are sold.
I thought the movie was cute. It’s a typical teen movie, however I wasn’t too keen on the sexual references. I have an almost 17 year old daughter and I wouldn’t feel comfortable with her watching this film only because of the sexual references.
Most of the characters were over exaggerated, both in personality and even in their makeup and fashion. Most wore way too much make up and wore clothes which I am pretty sure would not be acceptable in any school.
If you feel uncomfortable with men kissing then you might want to skip on this film. There were a few instances where boys kissed and one instance where there was some groping.
The is a lot of stereotypical “gay” references and terminology in the film too. And all the students talk in today’s teen speak (a lot of abbreviated things).
GBF is a sweet “coming of age” movie that may or may not sit well with most viewers depending on your thoughts about homosexuality. It’s NOT a film that tries to sway you into accepting homosexuality. It’s more so a modern age teen love story with a bit of a twist.
Here is the film’s trailer for your enjoyment.
Kimberly
*I received a free screener copy in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
Tammy S says
I am not to sure about this one. I usually enjoy coming of age films. I don’t really care about the homosexuality part it’s more the making light of it and showing how unintelligent some of today’s youth are. I would probably watch it with my daughter just to get her take on it.