Get Real

Austin Chronicle

DIRECTED BY: Simon Shore

REVIEWED: 03-29-99

Almost everything is right about Get Real. Despite the slightly medicinal feeling one gets watching it, as if Get Real were an after-school special -- it's good for you! -- the story of Steven, a sensitive, intellectual gay teen who falls in love with studly, athletic John, who also happens to be gay, rings true. That's partially because Get Real is about more than the awkward fumblings two gay teens have to make before attaining even a modicum of success at a relationship. Steven and John's relationship is placed within a larger context -- what it's like to be a teenager and desperately in love, and in the case of Steven and John, it's across class barriers -- that brings to life the trials of other characters in Get Real, notably Linda (Brittain), the funniest fag hag to hit the screen in a long time. Thoroughly realized characters, impeccable comic timing, and credible plot twists make up for the fact that Get Real borders on hitting viewers over the head with its message: that life is hard if you're young and gay, and perhaps just as hard if you're young, gay, and in love.

--Clay Smith

Full Length Reviews
Get Real
Get Real

Capsule Reviews
Get Real

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