The 10 Year Plan (2014)

Very disappointing...

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Blistering performances.

I watched this on a friend's recommendation, expecting a fluffy romance dangling from an enjoyably contrived premise (hey, it worked for decades of MGM movies, right?), but no. This is, without doubt, one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Writer/director J.C. Calciano tries hard to make a movie that looks good and capitalises on the eye candy potential of its two leads, but both Jack Turner (as hopeless romantic Myles) and Michael Adam Hamilton (as Grindr superuser Brody) deliver performances that are respectively horribly lacklustre and toe-curlingly bad. It doesn't help that they're both so bland, mannered, and manicured that it's hard to tell them apart after a while. Performance issues aside, the writing is either weaker than wet tissue paper or just doesn't make sense. Myles' coworker Diane (Teri Reeves) is a caricature strung together from obnoxious sexual puns and jokes about booze and women's biological clocks, allowing the move to espouse some sexist attitudes that leave a misandric taste in the mouth, but even the wisp-thin plot isn't safe from Calciano's wavering logic. The event supposed to bring Myles and Brody's relationship to the climactic point of realising they wanted each other all along is when Brody hooks up with Myles' new boyfriend "Hunter" (Adam Bucci) via Grindr, causing the jealousy and emotional baggage between them to flare into misunderstanding. Except... "Hunter" used a different name, and Brody left the minute he realised the guy was Myles' boyfriend, so there is literally no conflict here beyond Myles taking the fact he misjudged yet another relationship out on his friend, which is not really how the confrontation seems to go down.The whole thing is just terrible, neither character has the emotional range or depth that would have made the story worthwhile, and the actual story mechanics don't work. Possibly the only redeeming quality this movie has is that it showcases Brody being happily out at work with a straight friend/partner (Moronai Kanekoa) who - excepting one predictable moment of discomfort in a gay bar - is wholly supportive and comfortable embroiling himself in Brody's relationship drama. That is definitely evidence of social progress, but it's not enough to warrant watching this hot mess.

Bad acting, cheesy clichés, stilted dialogue, beautiful male eye candy. It's a pretty mediocre film, but I watched it to the end because it was nice just watching hot guys mooning over each other. Of course, they had the chemistry of, well, two C-grade actors that had just met, but whatchya gonna do?

The 10 Year Plan has some of the plot premise of the great MGM musical It's Always Fair Weather. That was the one where the 3 army buddies agree to meet at a Manhattan bar in 10 years to see if their plans for the future have worked out. In this film two roommates make a bargain that in 10 years time if the romantic Jack Turner hasn't found the man of his romantic dreams he and roommate Michael Adam Hamilton will take their roommate status to a different level.With the marriage decision a film like The 10 Year Plan could be made with the ultimate goal of romance the ultimate commitment of marriage for a same sex couple. These two roommates have differing views however. Jack Turner is an incurable romantic waiting for that perfect Mr. Right to wine, dine, and romance him into a happily ever after ending. Michael Adam Hamilton believes in Mr. Right Now, he's got a lot of wild hedonistic oats to sow.I think you can see where this is going. One unexpected bonus was the fact that Hamilton is a cop, completely out and with a partner Moronai Kanekoa who is also quite hetero and completely comfortable with it. Imagine that, things are indeed changing despite whatever roadblocks the religious right throws our way. I found that aspect of the film more interesting than the main plot.Nothing terribly special about the film itself. But the making of it is terribly profound.

The writer/director/producer of this film has managed to show such a minute slice of life that it's amazing it can even be seen. Barely a person of color and certainly no one who isn't chiseled and manscaped within an inch of their life. Literally the only thing I could relate to in this film is the first time the Grindr sound appeared. I was like, oh, I know that sound. I don't know if I have ever seen such a bland, whitewashed, recycled telling of a gay story. Boring, narrow-minded, and irresponsible. If you want to watch a gay-themed movie with real heart and not a WeHo spray tan, check out Tangerine, The Weekend, or Beautiful Thing. But don't waste your time on this.