meaninglessbark Despite reviews referring to 50 Ways as "charming" the movie is hardly a pleasant coming of age film. If you're looking for something sunny and lighthearted to watch look elsewhere. Though 50 Ways is quite sunny in its setting, New Zealand during a drought, there is a mean tone throughout the film as the cruelty of children and families is accurately portrayed over and over and over again. (So much so that when the films main bully, a standard stock character adolescent bastard, plunges over a bridge to the rocks below it feels like a bright spot in the film.)The scenery is nice, the acting is good. The music is horrible and plentiful, meandering flute tunes that seem as if they're meant to hammer home the notion of how charming it all is.50 Ways is pretty boring, nothing much happens except children being mean to anyone different than them and some moments of melodrama which seem thrown in just to make the film more exciting. There are also some fantasy sequences which are so irregular in their appearance that they seem as if they somehow bled over from an entirely different film.

shapeupwithsimone '50 Ways of Saying Fabulous' is an absolute gem of a film. I was so thoroughly delighted to come across it inadvertently, thanks to the continuously dedicated efforts of Wolfe Video. Perhaps as an Aussie growing up during the same period and now having lived abroad for 19 years I found it particularly refreshing and nostalgic. My only wish is that this film had been helped to find a wider audience, as I'm convinced that it would have become a cult classic. I was disappointed in the sensationalised trailer which I only watched after having seen the film, as I wanted to post it on face book and encourage all of my friends to see the film. This movie should be seen by both queer and straight audiences alike, as it's themes are universal. Sadly, I could not bring myself to 'post' the trailer (which was not remotely representative of the film) as it would have put a lot of people off. Please re-release this pearla of a movie in order that it can have a new and on-going life in the canon of superb cinema. Simone L. Petersen

denesmith What could have been a great film was let down entirely by an appalling script that makes Shortland Street look Oscar worthy.With a damn awful soundtrack (did they run out of money?), melodramatic silent screen era responses to unrealistic dialogue and a cast that looks the part but cant act to save themselves.....i struggled to make it to the end.The saving grace of the film was the stunning NZ scenery and realistic visual atmosphere.Unfortunately it just wasn't enough to save this incredibly disjointed film.

mclyndle The story of my life as a young overweight gay boy growing up in a small town 35 years ago. What a darling little boy. I also noticed how very true it was that the young man knew what he wanted. His eyes were bleeding to see what he wanted to see! And, yet, his girlfriend, who was not all too happy about being a girl, had no concept of attraction to anyone. She just knew she wanted to play sports and it was her job to take up for the "puffits" of the world. My favorite line was near the end when he said he "belonged here." That sense of belonging is what brings us all together.Sweet movie. Lynn