In his directorial debut, C. Jay Cox, the pen behind Sweet Home Alabama, has made a film sure to offend Mormons to the same extent it titillates gays and bores everyone else.
Steve Sandross is Elder Aaron Davis, a Mormon missionary in Los Angeles, moving into an apartment complex shared by Christian (Wesley A. Ramsey), a handsome gay waiter with a libertine's morals. It isn't long before boy meets boy and a bet is made over whether Christian can seduce the chaste, closeted lad. Aaron struggles with his repressed desires and deeply held faith, almost falling into bed until realizing he's just another notch on Christian's bedpost. After that, the movie becomes more about Christian's fight to find meaning in his empty life.
Eventually, Aaron is found out by his fellow missionaries and sent back home to face the wrath of his family and excommunication from his church. In short, his entire world collapses. In the meantime, Christian somewhat ruefully goes back to partying.
Based in part on Cox's own experiences growing up Mormon and then coming out, Latter Days is a sincere attempt to present a complex, balanced story. Unfortunately, Cox isn't up to the task and ends up giving short shrift to both sides. Except for Aaron, the Mormons are all presented as narrow-minded bigots. It has to be noted that Mormonism is hardly the only religion to have sanctions against homosexuality, but this is never hinted at in the film. Instead, we are shown a culture that has more in common with far-right Christian fundamentalism than modern Mormon life.
Not that the gay world comes out any better. Christian's sexual adventures are so numerous that he has to carry a PDA to track who he has and hasn't had sex with. Christian's fellow gay waiter isn't portrayed in any better light, nor is the AIDS sufferer whom Christian meets through a meals-on-wheels program. All three are empty-headed men whose lives revolve solely around their penises.
Making a movie about homosexuals is hardly the heady, brave act it once was, with even Oscars being awarded to stories about the love that dares not speak its name. And this is not Oscar material. The acting is stiff, the plot predictable and the camera work uninspired. While the film's final message is meant to be uplifting, it is too little, too late. If Cox had only had the courage to make a film truly exposing his own experiences, Latter Days might have been saved. Instead, it's damned to formula-movie hell.