IMDb user comments for
Cut Sleeve Boys (2006)

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4 comments in total

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13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
A thought provoking and entertaining comedy, 23 November 2006

Author: Gordon-11 from Hong Kong

This film is about the life in London of two gay men of Chinese ancestry. One of them is a posh and stylish guy who is good looking but insecure, another is a camp guy longing for love.

I saw this film in a film festival in Hong Kong, with the director present for the Q&A session. The viewers' reaction in the film festival was very positive.

This film clearly attempts to entertain the audience. The sets are very thoughtfully created and visually attractive. The plot is very entertaining and hilarious. It also portrays Chinese gay men as being attractive, powerful and stylish, instead of the usual stereotype. This positive portrayal empowers the people in this subgroup.

It has ample use of stereotypes, it really makes the viewers laugh in many scenes. The jokes are direct and to the point. It also examines the structure of gay relationships in a more subtle way. In the end scene, a twist of circumstances and personalities (the watch giving scene) leaves me wonder how people can succumb to vanity and disregard valuable friendship in the process.

The cast is very good looking, which makes the film perfect eye candy. It is also thought provoking as well. This film deserves wider recognition, but the portrayal of a hot 3 way kiss between 3 men may limit its crossover appeal.

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11 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Funny movie, 6 February 2006

Author: Yamato39 from Netherlands

I saw this movie at Rotterdam Film Festival on January 31 2006. It was presented as a surprise film of the Festival, called 'Surprising Gay' program.

From the beginning of the movie to the end, the theater was filled by big laughter of the audience. It was really a success. I am quite happy to have got the opportunity of viewing this movie before its debut in the world.

The Asian gay culture in Metropolitan London is vividly shown. A good sense of humor and joke is throughout the movie. If you are familiar with gay life style and know the gay scene in London a bit, you will love this movie very much.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Highly recommended movie, 30 June 2007

Author: (deewhy99) from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This review is from the point of view of a 30 something Chinese gay man, who grew up in Australia. Naturally certain scenes from the film resonated pretty loudly with my own experiences. As well, certain references, like those old songs ( from my parents' era), definitely added a touch of "something".... makes it feel closer somehow.

The story is simple enough. A friend's sudden unexpected death is the starting point of this film. At the funeral, various characters are introduced. Ash is the handsome hunky type who thinks still thinks he is young and gorgeous and does not want to be tied down. Mel is the incredibly campy sort, who dreams of finding the true all-male man.

An opportunity for love (Todd) appears for Ash, but it was not taken. By the time he realised his mistake, it was a bit too late. Mel thought he could find true love by cross dressing.. but things did not work out quite as he was hoping. All this may sound like a bit of a tragedy, but the journey is actually pretty hilarious. This is a gorgeously campy film, and highly recommended.

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Hot, Sweet And Sour Charm Saves CUT SLEEVE BOYS From Drowning In Cliché Sauce..., 30 June 2008

Author: Christopher T. Chase (cchase@onebox.com) from Arlington, VA.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The stereotypes and clichés fly thick and fast in CUT SLEEVE BOYS, yet another gay indie that has been a "featured film" at my favorite place for new discoveries, TLAVideo.com. If it were any other movie, I would have to consider it to be nothing more than another cotton-candy coated piece of cinematic fluff, yet more "junk-food"-type gay melodrama where young, handsome guys have lots of sex, do lots of drugs and continually pine for "Mr. Right" instead of "Mr. Right Now."

What makes BOYS so different from all those other films - in spite of the fact that it has exactly everything the others have - is it's point of view: the lead characters are all Asian, a minority-within-a-minority that has been woefully underrepresented in gay cinema in the past (and no, I'm NOT counting such high-art house flicks as FAREWELL, MY CONCUBINE, HAPPY TOGETHER or even Ang Lee's excellent THE WEDDING BANQUET.)

Besides the cultural references and differences that give it such a fascinatingly different flavor, it's also absorbing in the way it portrays the universal similarities of gay men from all ethnic backgrounds, as well as its choice to portray different aspects of the story in a way that smartly avoids a dangerous descent into maudlin histrionics, from which many films in this genre have never recovered once they've gone there.

Take the opening, for example. We meet Gavin Chan (Mark Hampton), whose name we don't learn until about five minutes or so after he's dead. That's right - the character who you think the movie is going to be about expires in a men's loo while receiving a little pre-night- on-the-town service from a stranger who also gives Gavin his first - and LAST - hit of poppers. At the funeral that follows, we meet all the interested parties whom the story will really feature: Gavin's best friends Ash (BOYS co-writer Chowee Leow), a devotee of camp who is waiting for his strong, hunky Prince Charming to sweep him off his feet, and Mel (Steven Lim), the Asian answer to QUEER AS FOLK'S Brian Kinney - a muscle hunk obsessed with keeping his bed full of hunks and his medicine chest full of the latest creams, dyes and gadgets to help keep advancing age at bay - along with anything like a meaningful relationship, of course.

Besides dealing with Mel's demise, the two friends encounter new complications in the form of - what else? - men who enter their lives. For Mel, it's a casual fling, the good-looking and naive Todd (Gareth Rhys-Davies), who has suddenly decided to come out to his parents, thanks to a past suggestion from his former 'boyfriend-for-a-night), while Ash finds himself getting involved with the ultra-masculine tranny-chaser Ross (Neil Collie), the soon-to-be- ex-beau of homely drag diva Diana (John "Ebon-Knee' Campbell), a former "fashion muse" of Gavin's.

Yes, it does trot out just about every single cliché you can possibly imagine and stir-fries them as thoroughly as twice-cooked pork. But the actors do it with such commitment and even a sense of charm (with Leow getting a makeover as possibly one of the best-looking Chinese drag queens in gay movie history - second to B.D. Wong, of course!), that it's hard to be mad at them for giving it the old college try. Plus (as other reviews I've read blissfully point out), co-stars Rhys-Davies and Collie are extremely easy on the eyes.

And thankfully, when it reaches its conclusion, BOYS is a tad more realistic about how its characters wind up, as not everybody lives 'happily ever after'. (But at least they do LIVE - thank God!)

Just look at it this way - watch CUT SLEEVE BOYS when you want something just a little bit different - but nothing TOO taxing - and you'll have a relatively good time for an hour and a half.

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