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Category:    Home > Reviews > Gay > Science Fiction > Comedy > Star Appeal (2004/Water Bearer Films DVD)

Star Appeal (2004/Water Bearer Films DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: D     Main Program: C-

 

 

Trying to combine homosexual themes with Science Fiction is not easy, though the idea of being alien makes sense in the common denominator department, but sexual ambiguity has been a permanent part of the genre since the first aliens showed up.  Thanks to Stanley Kubrick and Nicolas Roeg, the sexuality sides of the genre were more closely examined and created classics like A Clockwork Orange and The Man Who Fell To Earth.  So when Cui Zi’en’s Star Appeal (2004) presented itself as a Gay Sci-Fi film, I wondered what it would be like.

 

Well, try a disaster.  The script by Zi’en is loaded with tired pop culture references, jokes that don’t work, dialogue that leaves the actors looking stupid (and their performances are barely at grade-school play level) and there is hardly any effort to do anything with Science Fiction beyond claiming the actor running around naked is one (and a boring plaything at that) is as far as it gets.  Can the extra-terrestrial learn about love?  Not with this set-up.

 

The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is weak, shot on video and soft to a point of distraction, while the location sound in Dolby Digital 2.0 is as weak sonically.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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