Straight Story (2006)

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Apparently yes as this movie plainly demonstrates. The intention of the filmmaker is obvious I think. As pointed out by several other reviewers, by inverting a situation where society - or rather the reactionary movement - condemns from a moral point of view a certain subculture, the film tries to establish the notion that morality - at least where sexual identity is concerned - is based upon a convention as arbitrary as the next. Which is smart. Unfortunately their chosen method to accomplish said goal is to present this fictional inverted world with all the ridicule they can master - and they do so admirably. I say unfortunately because ridicule is transfered back to the original institutions rather than validation been attributed to the subculture. So everything is invalid, tradition is ridiculous and, oh yeah, the subculture itself too - if it aspires to validation and recognition. And this argument finally transcends the rather dull debate of morality in sexually driven social institutions. I will go as far as saying that after this, every film created to promote homosexuality can officially be categorized as part of the reactionary movement too. Applause.

As a Greek I have to say that if this is where Greek culture is heading, then Greek culture is in very serious trouble. The characters are wafer thin and the plot is a 95-minute extension of one joke that wasn't funny to begin with.Yiannis is a straight man in a gay world, who secretly goes to straight clubs and has fallen in love with a gay woman. On the surface it seems the message of this film is that when you reverse the roles 'gay people are just like straight people', which would be perfectly fine if: a) it were true that all people are alike b) society was progressive enough to have reached such idealistic levels Equally objectionable is Yiannis' 'seduction' of Sofia. Basically he gets her drunk and sleeps with her and upon realising her confusion, kisses her until she 'turns straight'. Though this certainly isn't the first film whose would-be couples are one-dimensional cardboard cutouts with nothing in common, this oral assault sequence that uses 'love' as a justification is something I find frankly disturbing.I can't begin to explain on how many levels this movie is wrong. Just because everyone is gay and the straight people are in the minority in this warped 'comedy 'doesn't make sick bigotry any more acceptable.When you re-invert the premise, fundamental biases in the ideologies of directional/writing team become patently obvious. Is prejudice OK when the oppressed become the oppressors? Is being gay acceptable 'as long as you act just like everyone else'? That's what this movie is trying to assert and it's not a happy feeling.

The film is extremely funny if you possess the ability to laugh ... or at least have a sense of humor. Excellent production - excellent still photography. Excellent roles with appeal to every taste sexual preference and age. Not offensive to the Gay audience not sarcastic towards the Straight audience. A huge commercial film for Greece but with equally high quality in plot - roles - and to top all that a magnificent original music soundtrack by C:real ! Funny balancing the message with humor. At the end we realize that all the happily married couple of Mouriki and Kuriakidis wanted to say to the audience is that racism has no face and we must give love and accept love with examining the other's sexual orientation ... as Epicures said thousand years ago ..."It is not the things that upset people ... but the peoples ideas about the things " so the message here is clear and it is amusing to ... free your mind "and as here" the rest will follow . Enjoy an 8+

Even though the idea is interesting (a society where the Gays are the majority and the straights are the exception), the implementation of this subject on the movie was awful. Characters without any cause of existence (the two fathers, the "funny" friend of the boy etc), a REALLY NAIVE plot, caricatures who scream all the time without knowing why (it is supposed to be funny in Greek movies), and a very bad approach lacking any comedy characteristic. I didn't laugh at all, and at the end of the movie I felt like an idiot (the end is VERY-VERY naive). At the pros of the movie I only add the photography and the good production. Don't see the movie and waste your time like I did.