Arizona Sky (2008)

As Good As It Gets

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Blistering performances.

Not everyone will appreciate Jeff London's film making style but I've actually found it refreshing in its straight forward (some would say simplistic) style and earnestness. The actors make the most of what they are given.

Jayme McCabe is one sexy actor. I would do anything he asked except watch this film again. How can a film about a producer be so poorly produced, written and directed.The dialogs was so choppy, it almost seem like they were responding to voices in their head. There was not a sincere emotion in the entire film. I can watch a man cry but can't watch a man pretend to cry. The actor relied on a poorly written script for motivation and brought none of there own. I assumed at the end , the leads would find love in each others arms. However the two leads seem incapable of displaying any affection. It's just another really bad Brokeback Mountain rip-off.

I made the mistake of not screening for Jeffery London movies before adding this to my NetFlix queue. I'd rented "Before Darkness Falls" months ago. It's so bad it's not even listed in his filmography, but he just doesn't get any better with successive movies. The film concepts are all somewhat interesting, but the plots, dialogue, and acting are so bad that my husband made me fast forward through the rest of "Arizona Sky" after the first scene. How can these two 16 year old boys go camping without immediately falling on top of each other? No liquor, no pot, no sex!?! Are they Mormons?! How about putting some thought into how real people act in certain situations? At the very least they would have discussed their fears about being out alone together at the start of the scene instead of after fifteen minutes of pointless yakking. If we wanted to see "real" real life we could just listen to our families. That last statement probably gives London the excuse to say that this is what he's trying to achieve, but sorry: I don't want to see that on screen. At least my mother-in-law can act. There are worse gay movies than London's, however. Try "Windy City Incident" (better yet, don't: it's truly horrible).

Arizona Sky opens with two teenagers going off on a camping trip, lamenting that they will soon be going their separate ways. They have a secret that they don't want getting out, even when Jake moves away. Then we flash forward to when hottie Jake (Eric Dean) is in the film industry, and needs to get away from it all. And, apparently, he has to take his housemate along... that relationship is a little weird ... he seems to be pretty involved in Jake's life for a housemate. So Jake heads back to his hometown to look up his old buddy Kyle ( Jayme McCabe). There are some holes in the plot, and issues with the script and the directing, but its a cute little story of homecoming. Worth the rental.