Poster Boy: Critic Reviews

A polemic masquerading as a movie, Poster Boy unspools like a humorless lecture on right-wing homophobia.

Although audiences will admire the film's do-it-yourself energy and commitment, Poster Boy finally collapses of its own contrived weight, deflating just when it should soar into madcap -- or at least thoughtful -- satire.

An overwrought story of American politics and image-making that really only gets interesting in the final act.

Tucker's heart is in the right place. His work, however, isn't: Lectures belong in school, not in the movie theater.

Director Zak Tucker is a bit too fond of jump cuts as signifiers of edginess. Still, when the material doesn't get in the way he's pretty good at getting across the emotional content.

Coming during a period in which the collision of politics and gay rights has created perhaps unprecedented sparks, Poster Boy is a flawed but absorbing drama.

Poster Boy is a muddled coming-out movie that, for no good reason, unfolds flashback style as Henry tells his story to a sleazy newspaper reporter.

Even with satisfying performances from the principal actors, Poster Boy is longer on energy than focus.

We all sat around in college having the sort of angry liberal rap sessions that this film painstakingly recreates. We don't have to relive them now.

Offers an affirmation that conservatives are not ready to cast that proverbial first stone.

The people do not reduce to issues, but we know they will hit their issues marks reliably.

While the movie's discussion points certainly rank on par with those political thrillers, there's not enough substance for the movie to succeed on its own merits, a point underscored by posters selling the movie on Newton's perfectly airbrushed chest.

The film touches on a number of hot-button issues, including homophobia, the ethics of outing, and the intersection of public and private lives, but it suffers from an excess of subplots.

Some clunky writing and a distracting subplot limit the effectiveness of this ambitious low-budget indie.

The tale is unnecessarily fractured and becomes increasingly didactic as it collapses into a mess of shrill big-screen activism and smugly relayed leftist ideals.

Screenwriters Ryan Shiraki and Lecia Rosenthal exploit red state/blue state tensions, scripting an act-up soap opera that unintelligently panders to pro-gay sentiment.

Aside from topicality and good intentions, the film is reasonably engaging and well acted. But it's also more than a little bit overwrought.

By the final half-hour, Poster Boy manages a surprising amount of magnetism.