#10 - Better than Chocolate

I should admit that I saw this movie a while ago, and wasn't very impressed. I couldn't bring myself to watch it again. No, it wasn't that terrible, but it also wasn't memorable enough for me to be okay with losing a couple hours of my day watching it.

But I will give it credit for being one of the first movies to introduce me to a whole new level of lesbian subculture. How do you ask? Well, this movie was made for lesbians. No duh right? I mean that this is indeed a lesbian movie. There are plenty of movies that would work regardless of the sex of the characters. This isn't one of those movies. The situations that happen in the movie only happen as a result of the characters being lesbian. Don't get me wrong - this isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, if you're the type of person who prefers movies where lesbian-ism isn't the main theme, then this isn't the movie for you.

This movie also isn't for you if you don't like overtly graphic/sexual material. I had a major problem with how sexual the movie was. While I don't mind sex scenes, hell a lot of people can attest to that, but I like them to be done tastefully. There is nothing tasteful about this movie. It's crude and low brow. The sex scenes are completely attractive, but they weren't erotic. The characters didn't have any real chemistry. It was all forced.

The plot in itself was a bit silly, but I could live with the plot. Wiki does a great job at summarizing the movie:

Maggie (Karyn Dwyer) has recently moved out on her own, and has started a relationship with another woman, Kim (Christina Cox). However, Maggie's mother Lila (Wendy Crewson) and brother, who are forced to move into her tiny loft sublet with her, are unaware that she is a lesbian. Maggie's freedom is compromised, and she believes she must keep her blossoming affair a secret. However, the clandestine romance introduces Maggie's family to a host of new experiences, many of which are "better than chocolate."

Yes, plot alone, this movie didn't have a lot potential, but it also could have had some really great scenes. But, the bad acting and editing makes sure that this doesn't happen. Better than Chocolate does get some laughs out of you, but they come too far and few in between the rest of the movie.

This movie felt like it was a big dream from a young lesbian hitting puberty. It was raw and gritty, and did pack a few obvious laughs. It's a decent movie and has a lot of references to lesbian culture and stereotypes (it was here where I first heard the u-haul joke). Like I said before, I wouldn't see this movie more than once, but it's a couple hours well spent on a rainy afternoon.