Search - Boystown on DVD

Bears vs. bad guys

Thomas A. Heald | Rapid City, SD USA | 10/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Sinfully handsome Victor (Pablo Puyol, 20 Centimeters) is a real estate agent working in Chuecatown, Madrid's quickly gentrifying neighborhood (think Northern Liberties). But he hides a terrible secret: he has been murdering elderly women, disguising them as suicides and then quickly flipping their apartments to upwardly-mobile gay couples. When bearish couple Ray (Carlos Fuentes, Kilometer Zero) and Leo (Pepón Nieto, Bulgarian Lovers) inherit the latest victims apartment, they offer it up to Rays mother, Antonia (the saucy Concha Velasco, Kilometer Zero), but Victors master plan is to create the ultimate gayborhood, and the older woman doesnt fit the demographic. Meanwhile an eccentric detective (Rosa Maria Sardá, All About My Mother) and her sexually-confused son, Luis, begin to undercover the scheme. In this fast-paced comedy, Chuecatown is brimming with zippy one-liners, a smorgasbord of male eye-candy and comic mishaps in the great recent tradition of Spanish cinema. (Spanish with English subtitles)



Life ain't easy in "BOYSTOWN" (Chuecatown) (TLA Video) for poor Leo (Pepón Nieto)! His driving school students leave him exhausted; his comic book geek hus-bear Ray (Carlos Fuentes, "Kilometer Zero") seems more interested in an old flame, his mother in-law Antonia (Concha Velasco, also "Kilometer Zero") hates him; he's being framed for the murder of their landlady; and the sex scheming real estate agent Victor (Pablo Puyol, "20 Centimeters") who's seemingly making a play for him (but really Ray's inherited apartment building) just made Leo get his back waxed.

It's a crime that Leo can't catch a break in the manic Spanish farce. But the hunky lovechild of Russel Crowe and Mark Addy is a delight to watch as a modern-day Jackie Gleason. "La Cage Aux Folles," "American Psycho" and the work of Pedro Almodóvar blend nicely in a saucy black comedy that argues for old fashioned Cary Grant values over those of "Sex and the City's" Carrie Bradshaw. -- Thomas Allen Heald, [...]"

Unique comedy with a twisted edge.

Bob Lind | Phoenix, AZ United States | 11/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Boystown" (Chuecatown) (2007) is a gentrified area of Madrid, in which long-occupied flats are being purchased and upgraded for resale to upwardly-mobile gays. Victor is the realtor making the rather generous offers, to the mostly older widows living in the area, but doesn't take "No" for an answer. If necessary, he'll murder the elderly owners in order to make sure the flat will be available.



When it is revealed that bearish gay couple Rey and Leo inherited the home of one of Victor's victims, Victor tries to cajole them into selling the flat, but they are renovating it for Rey's feisty mother. The old lady doesn't like the flat, and instead intrudes on the lives of the couple, driving a wedge between them. Victor takes advantage of their arguments to befriend Leo, hoping to get access to the flat that way. Meanwhile, it's up to a matronly police investigator and her sexually confused son/patrol partner to try to solve the case.



Kind of a simple story, but done in an endearing, witty and entertaining manner, making it a good viewing choice. Spanish with English subtitles (somewhat difficult to follow, since the characters talk fast). No DVD extras, other than chapter stops. Would be rated R for sexual content and some rear nudity. I give it four stars out of five."

Best Gay Film I've Seen

DaveO | San Diego, CA USA | 10/28/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I find a lot of films that are focused on the gay genre to be very trite and unrewarding for the viewer. This was the exception.



Saw it at a film fest last year and have been waiting for the DVD to share it with my friends. It's definitely a dark comedy with several laugh out loud moments (and I rarely laugh out loud). They acting is great and the characters are easy to attach to.



Overall a very well done film. Were it not for the subtitles I'd give it 5 stars....I mean, who likes to read when you can stare at the guys."