BearCity (2010)

One of my all time favorites.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Okay. I am old skool, back when Harvey was still alive and Sylvester screamed Do ya Wanna Funk? Guys went to bathhouses as a group, like it was a club; the whole Y-M-C-A thing.I spent a lot of time in a mixed group of straights and gays and the pathos and drama have not changed at all. The insecurities, the depression, the self-loathing - still there.I knew many many couples who were never monogamous - ever. This was back when it was expected that ANY delivery boy, phone installer, etc. was going to have sex with you - and they did. This was before dating sites on the Web or even cell phone chats. When it was an effort to see a gay porn movie and there were maybe the same dozen guys in every film - two of them black!!! Fat guys? Are you kidding? "Silver" guys? Get outta here. Bald guys? Uh uh. Nope. Too many muscles were even seen as denoting an empty-headed jock. Chest hair was a must. Men were wanted not pubeless boys. Delivery boys and prison scenes were about it - and hitchhikers. And nothing was Gonzo or hand-held or "amateur" in your bedroom either. ALL the military guys were actors too. Heck, they didn't even bother to cut their hair!!! It was the time of the gay magazine.Anyway, the guys I knew who considered themselves as having "lovers" would always be seen at the bars too. Spend time alone with them and you usually found that if they were not having sex, they fought, and generally could not stand each other; they could not really be alone together and just do nothing. So they had to always surround themselves with the "gang." Everything was about cruising, scoring, new meat on the block. Nobody but nobody had a "supportive" family. Hell, why do you think they left Des Moines?As for Bear City, I guess it is right that everyone find his crowd for support. It is just so contrived and so much work has to go into creating a reality for themselves. US against the world.As for these characters, the only fun part was the three-way with Uncle Milton or whatever. That dolt could not even remember HAVING the threesome. Of course this only came about because of pressure to spice up our relationship. So many daddy issues in this film too. I found the so-called hot boy dismally annoying and his so- called Silver Daddy love interest an insecure loser.I had no idea the back room orgies at bars still happened. None at all. Nice they show the occasional condom but in the shower with the water running? I doubt it. Oh yeah, they call that barebacking. And of course every bar has its so-called hottest guy who has had everybody and has first dibs on any chickens. BEWAREAnd the whole thing with the cute cub and his 400 lb daddy bear and the kid being so upset that daddy might actually lose weight was absurd. How does a kid like that get so hung up on a slob like that? No offense to the slob, but come on. I know there are guys who go for fat chicks too but that just proves my point. I do not think it is normal for some Brazilian hottie to be ga-ga over a 400 lb guy. I don't. The guy has issues.All-in-all, I could see myself talking to these guys but hanging out with them would only bring me down. The mad cruising, the anonymous groping, the constant double-entendres are fun for awhile but after that I think people to to face reality and grow up. It may be boring but at least it is real. Men were not meant to be married to each other and that is why it does not really work. It doesn't. Opposites attract and that means biologically mostly. The rest is just lust and it is fleeting. Good luck though.

This movie is a fine example of a project, made for a specific subgroup. Considering how much fun everybody's having and how unbelievably relaxed all the actors are, it could easily be a project among friends. And a well-done one.The story is simple: young Tyler finally comes out of the closet for the second time when he admits he likes bears, and starts exploring the bear scene with all its positive and negative sides. And, of course, falls in love on the way.The movie is full of inside jokes (by not being on the bear scene, I probably missed quite a few), but that's great, considering it was made for that specific group and not so much for the general public. It's a movie for bears and bear lovers to feel better in their own skin (and for open-minded others).My only negative remark would be about the script (the text) - it often tends to be really forced, it doesn't flow and seems unnatural. However, this doesn't go for the role of Brent. According to IMDb, the actor Stephen Guarino is a professional comedian and this is really obvious from the movie. It seems like the writers didn't write the words for him because they assumed he will be much better improvising everything on the spot anyway. He is definitely the most hilarious character in the movie.Conclusion: a really really funny movie. Apparently #2 is coming out this year and I'm hoping it will be at least as funny as the first part.

It's nice to see a movie about Bears. There are not that many out there. The scene stealers were Brian Keane and Stephen Guarino. If the movie was just about them, it would've gotten a ten. They were extremely funny and very cute together. They had the best scenes. I love the shower/threesome scene; that had my husbear and I reeling with laughter. I didn't quite understand the whole attraction with Roger's character. Tyler would've been better off not having anything to do with Roger. Also, it was a little too sickly sweet with Carlos and Michael, but I still liked it. All in all, an extremely enjoyable film. I am looking forward to the sequel.

Cute with the typical amateurish qualities that make gay films of this nature either charming or painful, depending upon your sensibilities. The acting is earnest but decidedly nonprofessional. The only standout is Gregory Gunter, whose character (Michael) is utterly compelling and which Gunter plays with pathos and humor but not self-pity. Gerald McCulloch as Roger is large unwatchable, though it's hard to tell whether it's because his character is such a d***head or because the actor's own ego kept popping through. (If you watch his endless interview after in the DVD highlights, you'll see what I mean.) It's tough to make a film centered around bar culture without making it seem petty, vulgar, soul-crushing, and at least occasionally self-destructive; and it's an open question whether the directors nudged a bit to highlight those aspects or whether they were simply recording cinéma vérité. With all the sweetness that comes through in the struggles of the film's couples (complete with serious and often over-the-top drama), the film's central mystery remains what Tyler (Joe Conti) could possibly see in Roger, a smarmy, shallow, ego-bloated scene queen who not once but half a dozen times snubs Tyler to his face because Tyler isn't bear enough or muscley enough (or something enough) for the superficial, middle-class-white-boys-with-gym-memberships crowd by which Roger judges himself and his actions. Or, to put it another way, you may never understand why Tyler falls for and pursues Roger (to the extent of giving himself a makeover –a move that likely guarantees the doom of any relationship) and you'll certainly find yourself asking whether he has a shred of self-esteem in his body. The fact that Roger isn't what anyone could reasonably call a bear only adds to the confusion. Personally, I'd have gone for a little less Jennifer Anniston-esque comedy and paid a little more attention to the serious and genuinely dramatic (as opposed to simply flamboyant) issues that the film skates over like thin ice before turning safely back to shore: self-esteem issues among big men and the difficulty of cultivating and maintaining a positive body image in a gay "culture" ruled by gym Nazis and diet maniacs; the painful issue that's raised in the Michael-Carlos couple when Michael considers getting lap-band surgery (is he going to wind up so thin that Carlos won't be attracted to him anymore?); the double "coming out" required of non-bears who are attracted to men who are hairy and/or fat and/or older than they are and who face ridicule for their desires; and the uneasy co-existence of working-class bears and their middle- to upper-class counterparts who wear similar drag and occupy the same physical spaces in which "bear culture" is practiced but who, arguably, are essentially antagonists. _Bear City_ seems to intend to be a coup against the slavish cultural propaganda promulgated by so many "gay" indie films, but it's more of a bitch slap than the good hard sock in the jaw that's needed. Still, the film deserves credit for its beau geste and for starting a conversation within a medium that tends to pretend it doesn't understand the question.