Like You Mean It

When will couples (gay & straight) realise that when they need to go to see a couples counsellor...and let's be up-front truthful...the relationship is over?!? Especially when there are no children involved!

Until that realisation sinks in...then, we must endure many more films about couples falling apart.

Jonah & Mark are falling apart...without any calamity...and that, dear chums, is the problem with the film. There's no drama. Nothing [really] happens. It's all so downbeat and civilised.

It will all seem a little familiar to many, many men...it's the...it's not you, it's me sort-of-thing. When one of the two is hanging on by the skin of their teeth...waiting for the inevitable. And, the inevitable happens.

It is a little worrying when the counsellor asks about their sex-life...as if all relationships are based entirely around sex...well, babies, that's just not true. Even for gay men. The discussion about masturbation is...groundless, worthless. Even stupid.

Obviously, the film was made on a shoestring...the sloppy editing and the gawd-damn awful music are testament to the miniscule budget.

Performance wise...it's not bad. Get rid of the actor-on-anti-depressants...let's face it, we all know, failed actors are all depressed. It would have worked far better with ordinary men, with ordinary jobs...falling apart ordinarily.

As for the acoustic guitar bit...Jeezuz, you would have been forgiven in thinking that it had turned into a lesbian melodrama...! Gay men and acoustic guitars...no!

Still, it's Karner's first feature...and, as writer, director and star...he does a decent job at avoiding the usual pitfalls that these egotistical projects invariably throw at you...which is a blessing.

Most relationships are so terribly mundane...this is a mundane film about a mundane relationship.

Trailer...