hddu10 ...because they have it so bad in life...especially in the gay community. I'd really have to file this movie under "give me an effing break!" Yes, it's "cute" and uplifting in a way, since the writer-director who also stars as the lead (surprise! Betcha never saw THAT coming!) has a very up-beat demeanor throughout. And there are some funny performances thrown in (i.e. "Anne Ziety" from Go-Go Boy Interrupted) to keep us mildly engaged. But the whole fact that the main character's "dream" is to be a go-go dancer (note: not on Broadway, the local Ballet or any other legitimate venue, but as a go-go dancer in some gay club) just seems to be an exercise in self-indulgence and lowered expectations...as if you are only truly valued in the gay world if you can be on stage and objectified for your body. And given there are two scenes where Daniel gratuitously shows his bare butt, apparently life really is imitating art here. So, for all the twinks out there coming down from their ecstasy tabs and looking for something to do in that twilight period after the clubs close but before you have to get dressed for work, this might just be the film for you. Otherwise, you can do better.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Go Go Reject" is a 20-minute live action short film from 2010, so not a very new movie anymore, but still from the 2010s. The director is Michael J. Saul and the script is by Heath Daniels, who also plays the main character. For these two as well as many others working on this project I am sure this is still among their most known works today. This one here is about a a young man who loves Flashdance and dreams of being a dancer himself, but keeps getting rejected because he is too skinny. I guess his random gay romance story was included to advertise this as a gay movie because this phrase seems to make a film more popular these days. However, this is really not what the film is all about as it is all about the audition story I mentioned previously. The question I kept asking myself is why he simply won't audition anywhere else, but I guess the end brings the solution to that question too. I read other reviewers saying that the film succeeds thanks to the likable main character, but I did not find him likable at all. He is an over-the-top drama queen who honestly is not even that good of a dancer. It was impossible for me to cheer for him and hope he can make it. But of course we get the unrealistic happy ending. I say this was a mess. Watch something else instead.

preppy-3 Gay short I saw at the Provincetown film festival. Nerdy gay guy Daniel (producer writer and actor Heath Daniels) watches hunky guys dancing at a gay bar. He LOVES dancing (and is quite good at it) but he's not hunky or hot enough to get a job at the bar. He meets hunky Cesar (drop dead gorgeous Korken Alexander) who agrees to help him pump up and dance in the bar. Daniel is encouraged by his best friend Matthew (Matthew Bridges).It's quick-moving, friendly and just begging to be liked--but that's the problem. It tries so hard to make you like it that it gets annoying. The acting occasionally becomes too frantic and the story rambles all over the place. Still, I find it hard to hate this film. It was obviously a labor of love for Daniels and all the acting is great. So it isn't good but it's totally inoffensive and just begs to be liked. I give it a 5.

eslgr8 Go Go Reject is a 20-minute gem of a short gay film. Producer/writer/star Heath Daniels is Daniel, an adorable would-be go-go boy rejected by club owner after club owner for being "too skinny" and "too white." A 21st Century gay male Doris Day/Jennifer Beals, Daniel vows to make his Flashdance dream come true. On the way, he meets his own Rock Hudson (smoldering Korken Alexander), all the while aided and abetted by true-blue best friend Matthew (nerdishly handsome Matthew Bridges). Michael Estime, Iva Turner, and Drew Droege shine in supporting roles, with plenty of scantily clothed hotties to provide eye candy on the way. Daniels has such boy-next- door charm, charisma, and pluck that you not only want him to succeed, you will totally buy it if and when he does. Michael J. Saul gets thumbs up for directing this entirely winning short that goes by so lickety split, you'll wish there were another twenty minutes to go at its final fadeout.