This week’s review of La Mission complains that the movie tries to do too much. It wants to be both a love letter to the spiritually charged street culture of San Fran’s Mission District AND a family drama about a recovering alcoholic (Benjamin Bratt) forced to examine the roots of his violent machismo after his beloved son (Jeremy Ray Valdez) turns out to be gay. The final grade is — Street Vibe: A, Family Drama: C-.
Watching it, I was reminded of an obscure 1994 Australian comedy called The Sum of Us, also about a working-class dad’s attempts to understand his gay son. This must-see curiosity starred a pre-Gladiator Russell Crowe as the soccer-playing, tight shorts-wearing, bloke-snogging son whose father (the late Jack Thompson) took a personal interest in finding his grown-up boy a long-term boyfriend. The Sum of Us is not a great movie, but it’s a unique one. And as Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood fast approaches, it demonstrates that Crowe – early in his career, at least — didn’t give a shit if passionately kissing another guy on film might hurt his prospects as an actor.
You might want to check your facts……I really think the “late Jack Thompson” is still on time……
moolib’s correct. I buried Thompson too soon.