Here are some customer reviews of
Latter Days (Unrated Edition)
: A closeted Mormon man falls in love with a very out gay man. The movie chronicles their relationship.Wow. This movie is LOUSY! The acting isn't too bad--both of the main actors are attractive but not once did I believe they were gay or in love with each other (both are straight in real life). They kiss all wrong and the one sex scene is VERY brief. That aside, the writing is lousy. The dialogue was off (some of the lines were just unbelievable) and there are about 4 or 5 plot "twists" that would never happen in real life. Also Mormons come off very badly in this movie. They're portrayed as homophobic jerks and very evil too. Add in a pointless role for Jacqueline Bissett and a totally unbelievable happy ending and you've got one BAD movie! Want to see a good gay movie about relationships? See "Jeffrey" or "Love! Valour! Compassion!" Avoid this.
 Ok, so maybe the acting isn't the best at times, and the camera work isn't anything to write home aboue, but what this movie lacks in the visual aspects it more than makes up for with the soundtrack. THe soundtrack is similar to that of Vanilla Sky, successfully speaking for the characters' emotions and desires.
The story was very well written, including a few surprises. It successfully had me and several friends going between crying and cheering, as it's easy to find parts of yourself in a variety of the characters. The added humor only makes it that much more enjoyable, and helps to create sympathy with the characters.
It's a far cry from anything like "Trick" or "L.I.E." in almost every way, and manages to be depressing and uplifting at the same time (a rather odd feeling). My general rule for a good movie is that it should leave you wanting to find out what's going to happen next for the characters. If it does that, then you've identified with them, suspended your disbelief, and thus have experienced the world onscreen with real emotion. Latter Days does this with flying colors.
This is one of the most thoughtful, caring movies I have ever seen. WOW! It is very revieling look at the gay community of 21st century. A must see.
 I really wanted to like this movie. I put it on my Netflix list a while back and finally bumped it up to the top slot so that I could see it. When I finally watched the movie I was not pleased at all. First and foremost, I realize that this is an independent film. I did not expect Hollywood production values. What I also didn't expect was to see a second rate high school type production, which is what I got. It is like watching a very bad, non-equity, off-off-off Broadway play. This movie is so amateur that it could have been shot with a video camera. The writing is terrible, and it is filled with every gay-clichı imaginable, from the guilt-ridden `Midwest religious character' to the `AIDS infected shut-in'. The clichı's don't stop there, no! We also have the `sassy black girl'. I even laugh while writing this review, the movie could be a statistics formula!
Everyone in the movie overacts, especially Jacqueline Bisset. Her scenes are howlingly bad (for an example, witness the scene on the bench with Elder Davis outside the hospital in LA). I know that we are starved for good quality gay-themed movies, but this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. I implore anyone reading this review, don't waste an hour and a half of your life on this drivel. (...)
To the Amazon.com staff, please update your ratings system to include `no stars'. This movie doesn't even deserve the one star I was forced to give it.
After viewing this film several times, I can honestly say this is one of, if not the best film, I have ever seen. Coming from an LDS (Mormon) background, I immediately related with Elder Aaron Davis and his inner strife; his battle between his ideals/religion and his sexuality. We thirst as Aaron does, for understanding and acceptance. We the audience are granted the gift of accompanying Aaron on his journey of self-discovery. We meet his conservative parents, missionary companions and his LA neighbors, the crew of a trendy restaurant and their wise matriarch and a haunting AIDS victim. Throughout this emotional tale, we ride the highs of self discovery and physical intimacy, spiral downwards reaching the lows of self hatred and rejection from family, church and God and soar again reaching newly discovered heights of self acceptance, true love and family. Through it all, we gain insight to the mind of one elder, one twink, and two families; one torn apart by intolerance and one brought together by unconditional love. Bravo to the talented C. Jay Cox for creating such a magnificent film. There has never been a film to date, which has taken me on such a trip, where I so closely related to the characters. As the tears dried and I walked out of the theatre into the sun and streets of Hollywood, I felt reborn and truly fortunate to have survived the wages of war, that took Aaron to the brink of self-destruction. From the bottom of my heart, I thank C. Jay and the entire cast and crew for creating such an unforgettable and powerful film.
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