Is It Just Me is a sweet, romantic comedy about finding true love in a sea of readily available one night stands. Blaine, a columnist for a gay newspaper writes about his eternal search, never believing that love is possible for him. When his actor/Go-Go dancing flatmate Cameron uses his computer to upload sexy new photos to his online profile, a chance encounter with a young Texan living in Hollywood leads to a comedy of errors and the chance at falling in love.

 

Played by Nicholas Downs, Blaine comes across as someone more willing to live life on the sidelines. His anonymous magazine column detailing his lack of luck when it comes to finding true love, is the perfect foil for a man who feels as though the chance for love has passed him by. His lack of confidence and self esteem drives him not to put himself out there in case no one wants him.

When he starts chatting one evening with an guy on a chat site he finds a kindred spirit in young Texan, Xander (played by David Loren) who opens the conversation with a quote from his favourite magazine column, one that Blaine happens to have written. Over the course of a couple of days, the two talk – first in the safety of an anonymous online environment, and later over the telephone. All is going well until Xander suggests they meet up at the local coffee shop. It is then that Blaine discovers his flatmate’s profile is the one logged in on Blaine’s computer.

 

 

Blaine begs for help from Cameron, played by Adam Huss. The idea being Cameron will pretend to be Blaine – simply for the meeting – to give Blaine time to come up with a way of explaining the original mistake to Xander. Obviously as this is a romantic comedy plans go astray fairly quickly and it isn’t until Xander notices something in an unexpected way that he finds out he’s been lied to.

Is It Just Me is a fun film. I first saw it a few years ago after wandering around Amazon looking for films centred on gay life. It was an impulse purchase and for a while after it arrived I watched it often. I hadn’t watched it in a couple of years until last night and the film definitely stands up to the test of time.

My only problem with the film is Blaine’s lack of confidence. I understand where the character is coming from, but there’s a line Cameron says “If he knew how nuts you are, he wouldn’t date you,” that rings true through most of the film. The relationship between the three stars of the film develops beautifully, but I couldn’t help but think “Gee’s dude, if you’d just told him up front you wouldn’t be in this hole in the first place.”

I do understand though that if he had told him we wouldn’t have had a movie, so I forgive him that.

The film is filled with wonderful supporting characters, from Blaine’s bosses PA Reggie, to Blaine’s best friend Michelle. But two of the supporting characters really stand out.

Bob, the frenetic -and I think perpetually stoned – editor of USA to Gay who doesn’t understand the depth of Blaine’s writing and is over the moon when another mistake lands Cameron’s boyfriends “Circuit News” column on his desk. While he’s only in a couple of scenes Bob is a scene stealing role and handled with expert precision by Bob Rumnock.

Ernie (Bruce Gray), is the older queen who Xander rents a room from. In what could easily have been a one note character of an ageing gay guy content to live the rest of his life alone after loosing the love of his life decades earlier, Gray instead turns in a performance of a lonely, overly confident southern belle, delivering fast paced quips and handing out sage advice when it is most needed.

 

 

Is It Just Me, written and directed by J.C. Calciano is a fantastic, light-hearted romp examining the themes of being yourself, living life truthfully and what happens when two old fashioned romantic gays find each other in a world set up for sex over love.

Is It Just Me is available on Amazon and if you like gay romantic comedies that are light and don’t bother to encumber themselves with heavy topics, this is the perfect addition to your DVD collection.