Twenty-something-year-old Evan Brisby is ambitious. Currently working on a gay magazine that covers the local community in Toronto his hometown, he aspires to bigger things and so sends samples of his writing to the The Gazette one of the city’s daily newspapers. He doesn’t get offered a job but the Editor is suitably impressed to give him an assignment to write a freelance piece on the city’s nightlife, something that shy Evan is not really an expert on. He does however accept the challenge as he knows that this could be his big break, and he also knows that Aidan his colleague at the gay magazine will be able to connect him up with exactly the right sort of people.
Aidan comes up trumps and hooks him up with Jordan who despite the fact he is Evan’s age is evidently THE king of the night who runs clubs and hosts parties that are the best in the city. It is also obvious that Hunter quickly takes a shine to his interviewer who is so single-minded and determined to get the best story he can, is totally oblivious to his new admirer. Evan is also distracted by the fact that he cannot shake of the memory of a recent ex. boyfriend who very inconveniently keeps popping up in his mind and his dreams quite regularly.
This micro-budgeted homegrown movie from first time writer/director Eric Henry is evidently partly autobiographical and besides being a fond love letter to the city of Toronto, is very much about different kinds of acceptance. When Evan is not shadowing Hunter for his article he is still doing his regular writing job which includes interviewing people like the gay couple into fetish sex, or the straight couple who have embraced the husband’s cross-dressing. Even when he is off-duty having a drink Evan has an uncomfortable encounter with an old man looking for company. Very admirable reminders about everyone needing to find their own path to happiness, but still a tad too preachy and really unnecessary to the flow of the story.
Kudos to the fact that the production values of the piece that are much higher than one has come to expect from movies of this type. Henry helped this by making good casting calls using Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski a very impressive newbie as Evan, Ryan Fisher as Jordan, and hunky male model/actor Matthew Ludwinski as Evan’s lost love, even though the script he gave them had more than the occasionally grimacing moment. The whole affair is an enjoyable boy-lite romance that may not stretch your mind too much, but if this is a genre you like, will nevertheless put a big smile on your face when you see that everyone does in fact live happily ever after in the end.
