Johns
by Scott Silver
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Product details
Actor: Christopher Gartin, David Arquette, Keith David, Lukas Haas, Wilson CruzDirector: Scott Silver
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 96 minutes
Release Date: 1999-08-24
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Fox Lorber
Studio: Fox Lorber
VHS Movie Reviews of Johns
Movie Review: There Is Humor But It Isn't A Comedy
Summary: 3 Stars
The VHS packaging calls this a "dark comedy-drama", and there is a level of street humor totally missing from two more famous films with similar subject matter, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO and TWIST. That said, there is almost nothing funny about it. This is one of those films that seems to be made so that it can NEVER be shown on commercial television. There is lots of swearing, sexual situations and some seriously disturbing violence permeates the film from beginning to end.
The Christian symbolism is laid on with a trowel, but the acting is uniformly good. Arquette and Haas are tremendously watchable in unappealing roles.
I don't think that I would want to watch this a second time. It is just way too violent, but there are some remarkable moments, especially an ineffably touching last encounter between Arquette and Richard Kind as a sympathetic hotel clerk.
Movie Review: A docu-drama style coming of age queer film with memorable performances from Arquette and Haas.
Summary: 4 Stars
I was rather surprised that I didn't see this film when it first came out more than ten years ago, because it's on the level of compelling drama as My Own Private Idahol(River Phoenix). Having recently worked with Lukas Haas in The Stillborn(a horror film kind of like The Sixth Sense), I was quite eager to check out what he was like in terms of acting when he was 19 years old. I didn't quite expect to see David Arquette play a hustler, but it's convincing enough because his character is straight and he's "gay for pay". I must say that overall, this film is more touching than My Own Private Own Idahol, but it's kind of lower-budget and has a documentary feel to it.
Lukas Haas plays Donner, a ranaway/disowned wealthy son of a businessman. He's down and out in L.A. and befriends a more experienced street hustler John,played David Arquette. Donner goes through "dates" that John had seen many times before and they share a strong bond dispite their different sexual orientations. Donner eventually considers leaving the street life, but he must save enough money to buy his ticket. John wanted to go with Donner, but his hope for a new life gets jepardized when he got picked up by his last date, a homophobic trucker....
I was quite surprised that Arquette was willing to do a lot of sexy scenes like kissing and seductively dancing, and simultated oral sex with other men. Lukas Haas' role is less challenging compared to Arquette, but his performance was still very real. I loved the scene when he got picked up by elderly client and he got smacked until he was nose-bleeding. He had more dramatic and moving moments at the end of the film. I noticed that even Terence Howard Stamp played a supporting role as a gay pimp.
Movie Review: guilty pleasure
Summary: 5 Stars
I really like this movie though it has not so hot reviews. I found it really sad, and it showed a side of the population unfamiliar to most of us. It didn't hurt to have David Arquette dancing in his boxers either!Movie Review: Maybe too realistic for most people
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a good movie with a solid story and realistic acting. Anyone who couldn't feel for these characters must have either not been paying attention to the movie or they are just heartless. Even though I don't enjoy seeing the sad lives of young hustlers the fact is they are out there. As with Donner many are there because they were kicked out of their homes by their parents who rejected them for being gay and others are there because of being repeatedly sexually abused. I didn't get the feeling that this was just another low-budget movie. The movie appropriately relayed the coldness and "bad lighting" of living on the streets.Movie Review: I am not a prostitute.
Summary: 1 Stars
This was a sorry, pathetic excuse of a film. Nothing, from the opening title sequence, to the characters, to even the paper-thin story, was worth redeeming or recognizable as value. Several reviews have argued the point that perhaps director Scott Silver (of The Mod Squad fame) should have done a bit of research on the life of a male prostitute instead of just allowing David Arquette the freedom of just jumping around and screaming to show the hardships of "reality". I couldn't agree more. I felt cheated and confused as I watched this elongated 24-hour period erupt chaotically into several convoluted themes and unsecured elements. There was never a moment in this film to feel for our characters. There was never a moment in this film for us, the audience members, to feel what living on the streets of LA involved. There was never a moment in this film for us to see the pain that Arquette or Haas experienced on a daily basis. Why was there never a moment? There was never this moment because Silver was too busy using clich? elements to force us to like Arquette as a character. Silver continually forced Arquette's empathy and tribulations onto us thinking that seeing a Hollywood actor playing a gruff street urchin would immediately force us to break into tears and bow at the mercy of this flawed character. How pathetic.
What should have unfolded during the course of this film was a chance for us to see the underbelly that LA attempts to hide. There should have been more hardships aimed toward Arquette that would have developed into sympathetic moments. A tragic character allows audience members to connect freely, while a forced character, like the one seen in Johns, makes us fall asleep, feel apathetic, and overly pressured. It nearly seemed that during the course of this film Arquette could have run for Mayor of the homeless if he would have pushed himself a bit further. Arquette's final version of his character reminded me of an annoying politician instead of a homeless person. He was shaking hands with everyone, becoming a stronger part of the street's culture, whether the street wanted it or not. Never was it apparent that he was upset with his current living situation. It was never made apparent that he wanted to escape the life that he had created. So, when the unstructured ending finally occurred, it boggled my mind. Arquette, or maybe it was Silver, made his character do things that I believe he would not have done in real life. John (Arquette's character) would have not fallen asleep as shown in the beginning of the film once he had his birthday money in hand. John would not have easily thrown his dream into the trash, as stated, but instead worked throughout the film to make it a reality.
Silver's inclusion of Donner (Lucas Haas) into the script only brought the story further into the dismal zone. Donner is a random target. Silver makes Donner stronger than John and I do not think that is a fair assessment. Whatever Donner wants, he gets, no matter how that hurts John. Donner is not the "good friend" that we all assume throughout the course of the film. In fact, I believe that we could have done without this "friend" and just watched the course of John in this one day period. Donner takes John's heart, his dreams, and nearly places him in trouble, and we are to assume that Donner was about to save him from this disappointing life? I didn't buy it. Secondly, did anyone else have trouble with the fact that Arquette and Haas were the two worst male prostitutes ever filmed? Not that I have any experience with male prostitutes, but it felt as if each time either of these two "professionals" got into cars with clients, they had quite a "no" mentality. This led to my impression that these two characters were not just weak, mismatched, and underdriven, but also lazy. Silver successfully created two of the laziest male prostitutes to ever grace the silver screen. I guess we cannot knock him for completely failing in this film.
Finally, I would like to say that Silver had a boatload of opportunity with this film. The talent (perhaps outside of Arquette) was present on the screen, sadly, they just didn't do anything. Keith David, Nicky Katt, Terrance Howard, Elliot Gould, and even John C. McGinley kept this film watchable, but with the counterpoints leading back to Arquette it only worsened the overall feeling of the film. Even these independent heavy-hitters couldn't save this little ditty of a production. We needed emotion and heartache instead of the suppressed anger we felt when dealing with the stereotypical generalization of these characters. Silver didn't create an original body of work, but instead took clich? moments from other cinematic features and called them his own. Throw in a spaz-tastic lead, and you have what I like to call a little film named Johns.
This was not worth the DVD it was printed on. I normally don't mind general independent films being made to tell a story about the hardships of living in America, but what I do mind is when they cast decent actors and give them horrible parts, or surround them in a horrible story, or just do not allow them to blossom. Arquette hurt this film by not fully embracing the character or the realism of the life that follows these certain individuals. Lukas Haas completely embodied this film with his character. Poorly developed and randomly tangent. This was a poor film and I do not recommend it to even the novice of cinema fanatics.
Grade: * out of *****
Summary of Johns
A gritty and poignant look at the world of male prostitutes through the course of a single day on the streets - hustling for money and love while hoping for a little decency. A veteran male prostitute, John, befriends the new guy who looks to John for advice and friendship.Prostitution Video
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