It’s not surprising to learn that BIG BOYS, the debut feature film of Corey Sherman, is based on an incident in his own life, as it has such a convincing authenticity to it. In fact, the premise of his heartwarming tale of a confused teen coming to terms with his burgeoning sexuality is something that most of us gay men can relate to on a personal level.
Big Boys is the tale of 14-year-old overweight Jamie (Isaac Krasner) who is a bit of a geek and verges on being shy around others. Whilst other boys his age may be splitting their attention between sports and girls, he is just obsessed with developing his culinary skills. He is on the verge of going on his annual camping trip with his older brother Will (Taj Cross) who he tolerates and their twenty-something cousin Allie (Dora Madison) who is extremely fond of. However, his mother shares the news that not only is Allie now dating but her new boyfriend Dan (David Johnson III) is coming on the trip too. It doesn’t sit well with Jamie at all.
When they set off to the campsite, Jamie is determined to give Dan the cold shoulder, but that soon dissipates when the teen realizes he is developing some sort of feelings for him. Jamie’s awkwardness around Dan as he tries hard to win his friendship goes unnoticed by everyone, including Dan himself. It’s when the two of them are thrown together when are hiking on their own, that Jamie realizes that he needs to break out of his shell and somehow get to open up to the object of his affection.
Kudos to Sherman for the sensitive way he handled the young man’s sexual awakening with such a fine balance that gave such a sense of normality to both Jamie and his predicament. He was helped to no end by the absolutely pitch-perfect performance by Krasner who made Jamie so extremely relatable. And also with the beautifully measured response from Johnson …. who looked and acted like a charming gay bear… that we would have all wanted to have received back when we were ‘Jamie’.
Big Boys is about to have its US Premiere and is the perfect Opening Night Gala Film to start WICKED QUEER Film Fest on such a high note,
Review : Roger Walker-Dack
Editor in Chief : Queerguru
Member of G.A.L.E.C.A. (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) and NLGJA The Association of LGBT
Journalists. and The Online Film Critics Society. Ex Contributung Editor The Gay Uk &Contributor Edge Media
Former CEO and Menswear Designer of Roger Dack Ltd in the UK
one of the hardest-working journalists in the business' Michael Goff of Towleroad
Wicked Queer Film Fest begins on 3/31 and will end on 4/9. To see the whole program and book tickets check out http://www.wickedqueer.org/
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