BoysTown: Episodes 1 & 2 (2004, 2011)/Heels (2010/Water Bearer DVDs)

 

Picture: C/C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Main Programs: C+

 

 

Ricky Reidling is anxious to make a name for himself in gay drama and has been plugging away (no pun intended) for a few years.  I have not seen his work before, but now we have two DVD releases from him that are not awful.

 

BoysTown: Episodes 1 & 2 includes what seems like an unsold pilot from 2004 and a relaunch in 2011.  An attempt to do a gay male soap opera set in Hollywood, et al, it is not bad but not great either.  Casting is better than the acting, which can be mixed and some of the dialogue is silly, as well as inconsistent, but there is some effort here to make this work and with some more work, this could be better.  It is not that far away from more successful such programs, a few of which we have seen, but the results are mixed.

 

Heels (2010) is a feature about a gay male couple (Reidling plays one of them) who eventually fall in love when they get involved in the cross-dressing world.  This is more feature length in nature, yet I thought it plodded along and simply did not say or do enough about the people or cultures represented.  We get some of the same actors as the other program, but like it predecessor, is made for its audience in a way where it assumes they know more than it should.

 

The 1.33 X 1 on the first episode of BoysTown is softer than the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the second or on Heels, which look better, but still have softness issues throughout.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is simple stereo at best on all three programs, but all have some location audio issues holding them back.  Extras on both include interviews, trailers and outtakes.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo