Wrecked (I) (2009) User Reviews

Sex Wrapped Around Wrecked

[thesar-2 · 3/10 · 13 December 2009]

In reference to small, gay-indie movies, I've seen a lot worse than Wrecked, though not by much.

In reality, the only positives to mention is the lead character, Ryan (Richards) is actually not that bad and the different angles/shots kept me somewhat interested. The only real reason to see this, for those interested in porn, is the excessive amount of sexual activity and nudity. I wouldn't even call this soft-porn, though it's borderline (you supposedly see full-penetration, but after a second glance, it's obviously not.) The movie's only 73 minutes, and I would say a good 30+ minutes or close to half, is sexual situations.

That's fine, if that's what you want to get into: a porno with something resembling a plot. And the plot's not really that strong. We have Ryan trying to move past his ex and begin anew as a theatre star when all of a sudden (!) his ex returns promising he's cleaned up his drug addicted history. Of course, without a spoiler, it's easy to tell that not five minutes pass before he's using again, both the drugs and Ryan.

Apparently Ryan's not too bright, or simply wants to be in a lying, abusive relationship. I'm no psychologist, and I guess there's millions out there actually seeking a partner void of conscious and looking for trouble. But, nevertheless, that's basically the storyline and the downward spiral of Ryan's life.

All of this said, I actually applaud the director(s) and writer(s) for not holding back. If they wanted to show the explicit scenes, they did without reservation. (And yes, I would say the same things above if this involved the heterosexual realm.) But, I do have to comment that what they wrapped around Wrecked, i.e. the shallow storyline, was not worth the time.

Because everyone knows ugly equals real

[Isakawa · 4/10 · 24 March 2012]

So, we follow the exploits and losses of young gay man, Ryan (Montgomery), through a, frankly, bizarre and ever-shifting perspective: the hand-held camera and the constant switching of video stock doesn't help. I don't know who likened this to John Cameron Mitchell's "SHORTBUS", but whoever did seems either to have missed the entire point of that great film, or confused its message with that of this dreary attempt. "WRECKED" is certainly inclined towards being sincere; its problem lies in relying too much on the explicitness to keep the audience's attention throughout, and then spends less than 20 minutes chronicling the downfall of our protagonist. Evidently shot with only a rough outline for each scene and no script - at one point the producer of the play even says, 'I can't believe that kid can even read English.' I appreciate unwitting irony! - the delivery of the dialogue is reminiscent of a gay porno; not as OTT as straight porn, but not what you might call 'naturalistic', either. In fact it has been described as 'porn with a plot', but I'd contest this on the grounds that porn is meant to arouse; WRECKED seems to presume that showing sex explicitly is daring, that it pushes the envelope for decency, and that's a fair assumption. The execution, however, is lacklustre; throw two guys together on a bed and say 'Go' ('Action' just sounds desperate in this context!) and an edgy, artsy, gritty film you are not making! That said, it redeems itself by not relying on stereotype. Effeminacy, check - but that's just life, although the play's director was a 'fabulous' bridge too far!

All in all, I'm reluctant to give it any higher than a 4/10; a sincere effort, but without a script, decent cast or a crew who knows which end the lens is on, WRECKED is just, well... a wreck.

All caution, no tale

[LuvSopr · 4/10 · 26 July 2012]

Since the early days of cinema, viewers have been taught about the misery of being gay. Loneliness, addiction, obsession, violence, pain, death, you name it.

In more recent years, as our society has advanced, and independent filmmaking has become more prominent, the script has a little more leeway. For instance, in Wrecked, the characters are miserable and doomed, but at least there's no direct indication that this is due to their being gay.

Hooray for progress.

The basic outline of Wrecked is that Ryan's (Theo Montgomery) life is ruined because of damaged druggie Daniel (Benji Crisnis). This is also the basic failure of the film.

Who is Ryan? What is his life? All we know is he wants to be an actor and apparently he's in college, or has friends in college. He's living in a nice, large home, all on his own, so clearly he's not hurting for money. He doesn't even worry about a job, considering his only interest is in a local theater production led by a perv who dresses like Mr. Furley from Three's Company.

Why does Daniel's presence destroy Ryan's life? As far as the movie tells us, Daniel tells some obvious lies that Ryan sees through. Daniel sleeps around, which bothers Ryan, but not enough to kick him out of bed. Daniel gives Ryan some pills, which doesn't seem to have any big effect on Ryan, aside from making him oversleep one day and miss part of one rehearsal. The movie undercuts Ryan at every turn, in terms of viewer sympathy - Ryan knows what Daniel is like. Daniel doesn't really do that much to Ryan. You can't even say that Daniel cost Ryan his dream theater role, because the pigtailed director tells Mr. Furley some time before the firing that she doesn't think Ryan is any good. Generally, Ryan is just kind of a lump on the screen - he sits around whining about his relationship that isn't a relationship, and he looks confused as Daniel initiates sex and pill-popping.

Ryan's downfall is rushed and is clearly designed for some shock value to tag onto the end of the film, for a message. As a result, it's totally unbelievable.

What does work about the film? Well, there's a scene right before Ryan's downward spiral where he is very lonely and seduces his somewhat reluctant friend, Rodney (Womack Daryl). This has an ache and is the most believable moment in the film.

The sex scenes can be an awkward blend of explicit and coy (erections and strokes, but never penetration). But most of them get the message across, with a particularly delirious, glow-in-the-dark erotic encounter between Daniel and rich boy dope-head Taylor (Forth Richards), leading to bath fun and oral gratification.

The best reason to watch Wrecked is Benji Crisnis as Daniel. He is very sexy and charismatic as a man who does not know or does not especially care what impact he has on the people around him, as long as he can get off and get high. When the character goes, the movie goes with him.

The film's message, presumably unintentional, rests with Daniel over Ryan - the strong survive.

a big disappointment

[GayFilmViewer · 2/10 · 28 November 2011]

Of all the gay-themed films screened during my Thanksgiving Day marathon, this was the biggest disappointment.

I don't look for reasons to dislike a film; I truly do my best to watch a movie on its own terms. But sometimes a movie comes along that fails on so many levels. Poorly shot, badly edited and incompetently directed, there is almost nothing to recommend about "Wrecked" (save for the decent performance by the lead).

I would have forgiven the film all these flaws had there been a good story, but there really wasn't one to speak of. Hell, I could even forgive the lack of story had the film been poetic and lyrical... but it wasn't.

Calling this film borderline pornography is, quite frankly, an insult to the pornographic film industry.

Expected little got LESS

[Havan_IronOak · 3/10 · 24 March 2010]

This film (like its main character) doesn't know what it wants to be. Too grainy for good porn. Too full of plot holes to be much else.

To give it more credit than it deserves, this is the story of a young man who's an aspiring actor but is hopelessly addicted to his junkie user of a boyfriend.

There's plenty of out of focus, low grade footage of simulated sex but the low grade quality of the writing and the poor film making rob what story there is of any interest.

I cared nothing for the theater rehearsal scenes. The co-directors, the other actors, and the play that they were rehearsing was uninteresting and wasn't anything I cared to see.

One example of the plot holes that made NO sense to me involved the druggie boyfriend taking a shower after sleeping with his boyfriend and another boy that the druggie had invited over. When the boyfriend tries to talk to the druggie boyfriend who's locked himself in the bathroom we hear the shower running and see the actor boyfriend get a key and unlock the bathroom door only to discover that the shower is empty and the druggie boyfriend has disappeared leaving the shower running. One might wonder how druggie boyfriend got out of a locked bathroom (if one cared). But at that point I no longer did.

While 40 some viewers have so far rated this film a 2.7 I've given it 3 stars. The one besetting sin that this film avoids that allows me to give it even this high a score is the absence of cringe-worthy dialogue and plastic sincerity.

The actors who get the most screen time are nice looking young men and they appear to be what they are acting for the most part so this doesn't have the icky feel of some other overly sincere gay films.

However, while the thought of viewing this film again doesn't fill me with pain, as some other very bad attempts at gay film do; I've absolutely no desire to see THIS again.

Quite frankly, the worst film I have seen this year: WRECKED it is.

[philip-ct · 1/10 · 26 September 2013]

I think the review by GayFilmViewer says it all, except that I disagree on one point, I would add, abysmal acting. Seen with the rest of the cast, I would grudgingly agree that the lead gives a decent performance. Comparing his acting to that in similar films, it is tepid. Story line, nil; acting, one (for the lead); photography and editing - at times, bizarre colouring and sound, nil; this film is fake, unengaging and unpleasant. This is gay cinema at a total low. (Review refers to DVD version; just seen.) A pity this was dragged out to over an hour; 15 minutes is long enough. In Afrikaans, there is a lovely expression: ".. vol strond"; Shakespeare's line from Macbeth more than suffices: "Full of (unpleasant, bizarre, inept scenes), signifying NOTHING.

Amateurish

[friedmannc · 3/10 · 7 January 2020]

If this was a high school senior project it could be considered marginally good. The acting itself could be considered marginally OK depending upon which character is acting. As a story, guess what, it is again OK but poorly executed and poorly connected from scene to scene with some parts, like the acting tryouts a disaster. The premise could have worked but because of the writing, it didn't. Some viewers will find this a waste and some will find it tolerable for some scenes including the nudity. The director's commentary was confusing and contradictory at times. The directors seemed like they couldn't remember details of some scenes including the name of some actors.

Total BS

[Cyma_Rizwaan_Khan · 1/10 · 21 July 2014]

Come on people you can't call this a film! Nothing but a bunch of sex scenes tied together in the most childish, boring plot. I don't see how anyone with access to free porn would want to waste their time with this. The sex scenes themselves were nothing special and there wasn't even potential for a story let alone an actual plot. Someone making a movie and this guy goes to audition for it. Then we see that the main character's life is shitty especially because of his junkie boyfriend. And well, then we get the most trite plot related to drug addiction and the ending, yeah it was supposed to be freaking awesome right? But while the idea was good, how do you expect me to feel anything for an ending after such a crap film?

A movie that challenges the nice boy gay image of Hollywood

[qouth_the_raven · 7/10 · 16 April 2010]

Movies that depict flawed people are rarely popular, more so when they address a community that likes to keep it's real self hidden.

'Wrecked' is a low budget indie with so-so production values and the occasional poor acting. But that is soon forgotten as the viewer engages with Ryan, a boy trying to maintain a clean mainstream persona but who is continually undermined by his ex Daniel. This is their story. Ryan is weak: Daniel strong, and there is no feel-good ending for Ryan in this movie. To that extent it rejects Hollywood (US cinema?) values and looks to Europe for its depth of storytelling and richness of characters.

Ryan is engaging in his way but Daniel is magnetic in his use of sex and drugs as weapons. In a scene where Ryan, after a down-putting rejection over his career, walks in on Daniel having sex with another boy we'd expect Ryan (in your average gay flick) to fling a hissy-fit and try to throw Daniel out but rather he's immediately seduced by the pill in his mouth and the other boy on his bed. His slide continues.

The acting of the main leads is good: we 'get' them. The sex is astonishingly explicit: I'm surprised it was able to be released like this. This is a movie that tells it like it is and it will be criticised for that.

Wrecked -- or the joys of drug addiction

[atlantis2006 · 20 July 2010]

"Wrecked" is a story about an ill-fated relationship that takes place in a somewhat decadent background. Shumanski's film, however, cannot be fully understood if one forgets Jacques Lacan's notion of jouissance.

Jouissance can be translated as joy. And according to Lacanian theory, joy is not the same as pleasure. Pleasure is a discharge of tension while joy is the building up of a tension. Joy is also the painful pleasure; joy presupposes an eventual and belated pleasure, but quite often it remains as joy and thus blockades the real possibility of pleasure.

Ryan is a young boy struggling to become a theater actor. Daniel is Ryan's ex-boyfriend who one day shows up in his apartment and reinserts himself into Ryan's life. It's made clear for the viewers that this relationship will end up badly. Unbeknownst to the viewer, though, is how badly it could actually end.

Narrative strategy relies upon addiction and its effects on people. One could say that Ryan becomes too dependent on Daniel's presence. But what is undoubtedly a fact is that Daniel is a drug addict that will eventually bring down Ryan.

In the past drug addiction was seen as perfidious attack on morality and the parental authority. It wasn't long before drug addiction was considered a disease, and as a disease it had to be treated in a most clinical way (rehabilitation clinics, pills, etc.). Lacan, however, adds an extra layer by defining drug addiction as yet another manifestation of the jouissance. One of the typical characteristics of joy is that the individual is rarely aware of it, most of the time the individual is trapped in some sort of vicious circle of joy. The woman who is constantly beaten up by his husband is, in fact, enjoying it, id est, she is suffering, she is building up tension, she is expecting a reward after experiencing all this pain, her commitment with the violent situation is so strong that she can't simply step out of it. The same happens with drugs. Drugs can be seen as joy but never pleasure; the risks of an overdose usually don't scare drug users, one might say that this risk only entices them.

Much can be said about the differences between joy and pleasure. Nonetheless "Wrecked" has been clearly inscribed into a Lacanian narrative of jouissance. And as such, it's no surprise to observe the inevitability of a dreadful outcome.

'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out

[NoDakTatum · 2/10 · 22 October 2023]

I've said it before, and I will say it again- if you are a film maker, and can find actors who will do ANYTHING onscreen, including hardcore explicit sex, then why won't you give them a script that will serve as something more than an excuse to break out endless explicit shots? Ryan is a young wannabe actor. He has landed his first part in a play, but his happiness is short-lived as former boyfriend Daniel (Benji Crisnis) shows up. Daniel is a drug addict, but Ryan takes him in (again) anyway, hoping to change him since he won't change himself. Daniel immediately goes back to his old habits, including introducing Taylor (Forth Richards) into the relationship. Ryan's life begins to spiral downward, and the film ends with a scene you could predict before you even popped the disc in the DVD player.

The three leads get nude, often. The Shumanski brothers wallow in Ryan's filthy world; you can almost smell the stale cigarette butts and warm wine in his squalid little house. However, the Shumanskis let their willing cast down. Some of the scenes are obviously improvised, and watching the young cast try to smoke and talk like adults before shedding their underwear is embarrassing to sit through. I began to mistake Ryan's constant naivete for mental deficiency as Daniel goes through his drug addict and casual sex routine and elicits only tsk-ing and rolled eyes from the viewer. The direction is sloppy- you can spot a cameraman in a mirror in one scene, and dates on cell phones never jibe, the editing is fair, and the music makes no impression whatsoever. The Shumanskis pad the film with unnecessary shots of the dudes waking up, getting their bearings, and dressing. The only scenes that almost work are Ryan's play rehearsals. The play, as presented to the viewer, is a disaster. The director obviously wants to take Ryan to bed, his chain-smoking assistant hates the world, and one of his co-stars is a Brando wannabe who must stretch and do annoying preparation for this piece of garbage he is "starring" in. Trust me, I have a theater background, and a lot of this is dead-on. Plus, these scenes provide a break from all the cocaine snorting and sex. "Wrecked" joins the sad list of sexually explicit films that fail because of the script and direction, and not the sex. Move over, "9 Songs," "Shortbus," and almost everything Larry Clark has ever done, "Wrecked" and its truth-in-advertising title is here.

Waste of Youth

[jromanbaker · 8/10 · 26 September 2023]

To say that this film is amateurish is to say that a Jacques Rozier film is amateurish. Rozier was a great Nouvelle Vague director, mostly unknown outside of France and then.... he died this year and some papers have not even bothered to mourn him. This film reminded me of one of Rozier's films, a short called ' Blue Jeans ' and its youthful zest for life, and its desire of two young men to waste hours in finding young women. This film ' Wrecked ' shows a young man who wrecks himself on drugs, searching for the right guy and the final scene is certainly worthy of either Warhol or the Nouvelle Vague. A wasted body, lipstick on his mouth on a sea of red blanket covering. Out of it completely. No more spoilers, but just to say the camera searches this young man with all the enthusiasm of a Rozier film, darting here and there like an exploring fly to finally settle on this sea of a drugged, sexed out body on a bed.

Downward slide

[FromDecatur · 7/10 · 2 September 2013]

I thought the movie demonstrated that sort of unaware slide that can take people out of their lives and into addiction. We have a young man in the lead character who has a lot of potential in his life, whether a career acting opportunity or the obvious affection of a nice young man interested in photography.

His downfall is his inability to say no to a young man with a drug addiction who is very skilled at getting what he wants from people then moving on. The explicit sex is needed to establish the attraction, because there isn't a lot to that young man without it. I found it a good movie that sort of lulled me along with the main character.