Hate Crime (2005)

Sick Product of a Sick System

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

For such an important topic as homophobia (and, in general, any kind of fear & aggression towards a certain group of people), this movie does not have any input. In my opinion that is because it is so painfully stereotypical! The gay couple consists of two quite rich, handsome, big-hearted and loving each other madly men. Gentle, soft, sincere, helpful - all what's best in a human. What is worst in us is represented by the characters of gay-haters. They are all double-faced, buttoned-up till their necks (and I mean also the clothes they wear), always making evil faces and keeping their muscles in amazingly visible tension. Especially the preacher's son seems to me like a parody of himself. Just like in a Bollywood movie: his eyebrows look very angry, so that you don't miss, he is very angry. Add some angry music in the background and it's ready: he is very angry. Put one stereotype against another, and is becomes comic rather than dramatic. Also, the depth of a relationship between preacher and his son is lost. And it's a shame, that could bring more light to what happens. Why does suddenly a detective with a camera appear to follow the son? (BTW, the movie have few more logic gaps, e.g. no password for a computer if you want to hide something really really "nasty" and "perverted"). Despite the shallow treatment of the gay-haters topic, it is worth to see the movie for it's way of playing with silence and for it's beautiful pictures. I really thought I felt the atmosphere of that town. Beautiful and touching. Unfortunately, the way of talking about the hate-crime did not touch me. It just happened, because one side was good and the other was bad. Black & white world, just like in conservative minds.

For movie night tonight we have chosen Hate Crime. What a disappointing and lack luster movie this turned out to be. I have lost 100mins of my life that i will never get back. To its credit there are some positives: * Gay characters that fit into society like in reality. They aren't cliché queenies. * A clever twist to finish it off. Now why didn't they put this creativity into the other 80mins of the movie. * Closets are usually gay themselves. I love this revelation and believe this to be true in most instances of homophobia. A great expose of the psychological dynamics of straight s who hate gays. Now the negatives: * The movie evolves so slow i started to focus on the irritating texture of the couch covers i was sitting on while watching this. * Characters lack depth, i had no emotional connection. So when the tragic pivotal event occurred I decided to make a cup of coffee. * Its like a B grade thriller. With little build up and suspense. I was never participating in the movie itself. * This movie's content is created by the intolerance of one way of thought to another. Yet portrays intolerance itself in it's journey. ie. Church mongers hate gays. Horrible events occur. Church people are closeted gays who hate gays!. As a gay man this film has a responsibility because of its content which it clearly ignores. "I don't put down others to make myself feel better". The content base is controversial. Though this movie is not the movie to depict it. Stay Clear...

Tommy Stovall makes a stunning debut as a writer and director for the very insightful, sensitive, and courageous film HATE CRIME. It is difficult to believe that this is his first attempt at cinematic communication, the film just works that well.Robbie Levinson (Seth Peterson) and Trey McCoy (Brian J. Smith) have been in a successful relationship for six years, complete with home, cute and devoted dog, supportive parents and siblings, and especially funky supportive neighbor Kathleen Slansky (a major turn for veteran character actress Lin Shaye). They are approaching their commitment ceremony and even talking about adopting children when the sky darkens with the moving in of next door neighbor Chris Boyd (Chad Donella), a stormy right wing bible-thumping homophobe who catches a glimpse of Robbie's and Trey's affection. When Trey is walking their dog in the park one evening he is beaten severely with a baseball bat: the obvious suspect is neighbor Chris.Kathleen warns Robbie that justice will never be achieved in the hands of the law and sets of a sense of revenge in Robbie's mind. Trey lies in a coma in the hospital while his mother (a superb Cindy Pickett) is shaken not only form her only son's tenuous condition but also from her recovering alcoholic husband's (Sean Hennigan) flat affect and continued lack of communication. A fine young detective Elizabeth Fisher (Farah White) does what she can to attempt to gather the shaky facts of evidence of Chris' guilt, but is thwarted by the entry of Detective Esposito (Giancarlo Esposito) who has homophobic issues of his own.Chris' father, Pastor Boyd (Bruce Davison) rants from his pulpit that all sinners - especially fornicators - must be punished by God and Chris supports his father's preachings and actions, as does his beautiful bimbo mother Martha (Susan Blakely). As facts are found and everyone surrounding Trey's beating is suspect, the story gathers momentum in the true fashion of the best detective mysteries. Dark secrets appear from every corner and eventually the crime is 'resolved', but not without many surprises as to the perpetrator and the motivation.The entire cast is excellent from the leading roles to the cameos and Stovall keeps the pace at a breathtaking speed. Yes, there are some gaping holes in the script, giving us the feeling that Stovall had to pare down his story to the 104 minutes it takes. But what he does accomplish is a masterly look at strident right wing religious views of gays while balancing those with compassionate religious views by the more moderate and love-oriented factions. He raises a lot of issues, leaves many concepts unresolved intentionally, and draws performances from his committed cast that rank with the finest. This is a film that SHOULD be viewed by a wide audience. Highly recommended. Grady Harp

I projected this movie last year when it was shown at a film fest I was working at. This is THE STUPIDEST type of movie I have ever seen. It's a Lifetime Channel movie, only with a vengeful lover instead of a vengeful wife. If there was just one substitution made, the gay couple for an interracial couple, you would have a terrible wannabe social commentary film.The film follows Robbie, who's lover Trey is bludgeoned with a baseball bat one night, as he tries to solve the crime and prove it was his hyper-Evangelic loony neighbor. What follows is a bunch of conundrums wrapped in a McGuffin of an idiotic ending. If this movie was trying to make a point in the pantheon of gay cinema, its that there can be moronic thrillers that play on stereotypes from gay people too. If you want a good movie, see something else. If you want to have you want a hate crime committed on you so to end the pain of this mind-numbing dreck, rent this idiotic mystery.