User reviews

This is another one of those gay themed movies that tries to show some deeply hidden emotions or something, but instead goes nowhere.

Let's start with what's good first... Most of the cinematography is pretty good - expect for overly shaky camera in few scenes. There is a lot of eye candy in terms of shirtless guys and more - can help in making the movie at least a bit more interesting. And the acting isn't totally bad. At least the actors don't feel stiff.

Sadly that is where good things end. There is little dialogue in the movie, though that is not always a bad thing. But in this movie it actually is. Because we don't really see any character development and no real story. We have a young guy that takes drugs, has sex with older men and spends time with his friends doing stupid things. That's almost the entire story. Backing characters have no names, no personality and really don't do anything. Main character... pretty much the same. No ambitions, no desires, no anger, nothing. He just is. Pretty much the whole thing can be seen in the trailer.

You will get the same story if you look at pictures of random strangers in a city near a beach. Though those will probably have more depth. Overall I can't really recommend this one. If you want teens coming to terms with life and their sexuality go watch something like Hidden Kisses or Boys and leave this one alone.

Woah. I knew almost nothing going into this but it really affected me like few films this year. It was tough seeing such a repressed, confused character in such a dark state of mind, especially one that was going through such a similar experience to many others and I in the LGBTQ+ community. The lead, Harris Dickinsion, was so authentic and genuine, it made it that much more difficult to watch him go through what he does here. The film doesn't deliver anything in terms of a satisfying conclusion or tidy little arc. Instead, it becomes harder to watch the more it goes. I don't know, I just found this to be quite powerful.

"Beach Rats" (2017 release; 95 min.) brings the story of Frankie, a Brooklyn teenager. As the movie opens, Frankie is on the Brooklyn Boys dating website, where he, tempted but uncertain, looks at the profiles of older guys. We get to know him better as he is hanging out with his buddies on a boardwalk. While at a nearby amusement park, he gets to know a beautiful girl, Simone, and they eventually hook up. In a parallel story, we also get to know Frankie's family: his younger sister, his worrying mom, and his ailing dad, bedridden with cancer. At this point we're not even 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the second movie from writer-director Eliza Hitmann, who a few years ago brought us the equally sexually charged "It Felt Like Love". Here, Hittman portrays the confusion and curiosity and social pressure facing a young guy who is dealing with a heavy family situation, while at the same time also trying to fine his place, or should I say himself. BEWARE: there are a number of pretty graphic scenes in the movie so if that bothers you, please do yourself a favor and check out another movie. I must admit that, as a straight guy myself, I was a bit uncomfortable at times with some of the scenes in this movie. That said, this is a great "little" move that shows a slice of life that feels very real. There are some outstanding performance, none more so that Harris Dickinson as the vulnerable/curious Frankie, and Madeline Weinstein as Simone. Surely we have not seen the last of them. When Frankie and Simone first meet on the boardwalk, they watch the fireworks, which Frankie terms boring and not romantic at all. Responds Simone: "What is your idea of romance?", and that goes to the core of the movie, as Hittman navigates the themes of sexuality, love, longing and belonging.

"Beach Rats" premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival to immediate critical acclaim. The movie finally opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended okay but not great (about 10 people). I can't say that surprised me, given the nature of the film. Yet with positive word-of-mouth this movie surely will get, maybe the movie will find a larger audience, if not in the theater, then later on VOD or DVD/Blu-ray.

A picture of a sadness life of a boy that has gay tendencies while is surrounded by a toxic masculinity context. It just made realize how many guys must had experienced horrible relations with other mans because they don't accept themselves. The movie don't pretend to have a happy ending and it was a good way to represent the internal conflict of self acceptance that for a lot of mens ends never happening. May be a good example of what not to do for some boys out there.

Frankie (Harris Dickinson) is in his late teens and lives at his Brooklyn home with his family. He also lives a double life: he hangs out and does drugs with three macho friends while also living a closeted life of arranging sexual encounters with men (mostly middle-aged) on the Internet.

While "Beach Rats" has a standard tone in its coming-of-age storyline, it can be given credit to going where most films dare not go: its man-to-man encounters are upfront. While this is courageous and rare, the movie suffers like many other recent ones including "Good Time" above: the main character is unlikeable.

Franikie's gradual descent into drug dependence might have elicited sympathy but he lacks soul and character whether he's drugging with his friends, having secretive sex with men, trying to go "straight" with a young woman close to his age, or in the few encounters he has with his family.

Some characters in smaller roles do show glimpses of depth but these moments are too few and far between. Director/writer Eliza Hittman uses a cool, distant approach to the characters but as the characters themselves are also cool and distant, there is an empty feeling by the end. - dbamateurcritic

I went to IMDb to see what other people had said about this film, and the very first review I saw had the title of "Boring."

"Beach Rats" is quiet and thoughtful, and it demands a certain amount of patience, but it breaks my heart that someone would dismiss it as boring. It follows a lost youth navigating the no man's land between teenager and adult as he tries to figure out how to be the person he wants to be -- whoever that is -- in an environment that tells him who he should be. He hangs out with a bunch of losers who speak in a kind of dumb bro language and couldn't string together an articulate thought between the three of them while wandering aimlessly around Coney Island and its environs looking to score easy drugs. Meanwhile, he carries on a secret life of gay encounters with older men while at the same time trying to force himself to enjoy a relationship with a young woman who's too mature for him.

Is he gay? Probably. Does he specifically seek out older men as father figures because his own dad just recently died of lingering cancer? Maybe. But the point is that he doesn't have the tools required to process any of the things he's feeling because he lives in a stunted place surrounded by stunted people, and it's easier to escape into feeling good the bad way than to put work into feeling better the hard way.

More than anything "Beach Rats" is about how hard it is for men to explore their own feelings in a culture that has rigidly defined what it means to be masculine.

Grade: A

Don't worry, no spoiler here:

I didn't understand the ending. I understood the confusion and struggles; been there. Whatever it was, it must be hidden under some artsy symbolism.

Should I have picked up on fleeting Sherlock-like clues? There were many things they could have used, I waited for them to tie things together, but it just stopped; just hung there like a gay man's rubber parts during str8 sex

The plot was too drawn out and could have easily been wrapped in a bow. It was all set for the shy, non-conforming, 3rd friend to fill the gap, meeting at the carnival. Watching fireworks together would have been too cheesy, but hearing them in the background as they played with the 2 (basket)balls and scoring would have been subtle symbolism. Such an ending would have given me happy tears (rare in gay centric movies these days). Was I suppose to notice if the guy's car is still in the lot to see if he made it out?

Not a spoiler because none of this happened, thus the low rating; nothing happened. It got 3 stars because we need more gay movies, but this is just 1 step above "all gays die in the end" by proving "all gays have unhappy, confusing, drug and alcohol abusing lives". That's just the plot, no spoiler ending...because there is none I could see.

I'm gay (since the days it was labeled a TV freak show disease, all gays in movies were either killed or were a cheap comic relief character as "sissies"), I didn't get the ending in Beach Rats. Then again, I didn't like the ending of "Brokeback Mountain": Gay assault, brief gay sex that looks more like rape, homophobia and closets are OK if a gay man is allowed to eventually cry for a minute.

Brokeback Mountain: Crappy middle, OK ending. Beach Rats: OK middle, bad ending.

Harris Dickinson gives an amazing performance as the sexually confused aimless teenager who also faces family tragedy and drug problems. The whole film works well telling the story from his perspective. But the film lacks the ambition to expand the themes touched by it. It should've been daring in exposing the problems faced by the protagonist and the results of his actions. While what's been shown catches the state of mind of the protagonist perfectly, it feels like the film ends without telling everything it could and should have.

A film about homosexuality made for heterosexuals, 'Beach Rats' neatly fits the tired and restrictive 'LGBT' label by conforming to many of its trademarks, such as self-loathing and confused gay men that simply wish to belong, gays being betrayed by other gays, gays getting beat up, macho blokes, predictable plots and clichéd characters, nudity, homoerotic soft-porn visuals and drug taking.

The underlining psycho-sexual Freudian craving for a father figure (the six pack underwear model guy's dad dies of cancer) is clunky and too obvious, and the cruising and outdoor sex will only shock heterosexual people who are still living in 1995, everyone else will be bored.

The story's conclusion is both preposterous (a closeted gay male tells his aggressive, homophobic friends about a gay cruising site he uses that they can score weed on) and predictable (the effeminate, helpless gay male they trick into meeting them is beaten by the group).

Gay/queer people are some of the bravest you will ever meet, but from viewing a film like 'Beach Rats', you'd never be aware of this. The idea with these intellectually lazy films is to present the world as a predatory, scary place for gay people; sometimes that is very true, and sometimes it is not. I've never been attacked for being gay, for example, yet every 'LGBT' film features a gay bashing. Is this the only way to tackle homophobia -- to show fictional gay bashings? To show repressed, miserable young people hurting other repressed, miserable young people? Does it change the world? Aren't we tired of seeing gay men get beaten up yet?

In the 1970s you had a wide range of incredibly varied queer film makers all over the world making thrilling films, from Fassbinder's nihilistic, confrontational 'f--k you's, to John Waters' palpable joy in seeking to offend everyone on the planet, to Pasolini's fierce socialist attacks on the hypocrites of the world, to Kenneth Anger's esoteric and homoerotic Thelema-inspired creations -- these are films that are still vibrant and powerful to this very day, forty years later, and that is because they were works of complete originality and power, there is no self-loathing to be found in any of it.

No one will be talking about this dated, gay-bashing soft porn in even five years' time.

I'm not a critique or very affluent in English, but I found this movie to be extremely enjoyable. Harris Dickinson gives a brave and enduring performance as the main character.

The third act could be more revealing, the actors are not quite believable, and Jackie's struggle could be a lot more highlighted. But I love how the story is told in subtle and not in spoon-feeding ways.

The film was as aimless as the lives of the spivs whose lives it followed. Their characters and lives didn't develop and nor did the film. It's quite appropriate, in fact.

As a story of urban youth, some of them second generation Russian immigrants with all the disadvantages that this might imply, the narrative was compelling. They have no rhyme or reason in their lives, no goals apart from getting laid or high.

In this group, Frankie walks a tightrope. He's less amoral than his peers, secretly a gay bottom, a bit weak and easily led. He runs with the crowd and as an attractive lad has an easy time pulling girls to act as a cover for his real desires.

There are some hints that one of his mates might be subject to the same proclivities - there is one shot of him seemingly ogling guys in shorts on the beach and he refuses to participate in the meeting at the beach at the end. But it would be too much of a risk for either to hook up or express any sort of affinity with each other. What if either had got it wrong?

We don't see an out for any of the group. The film ends as it begins with the fireworks at Coney Island. Nothing has been resolved, there are no solutions. The guys will have different futures if only because of their sexualities and personalities but it's not going to happen any time soon. It's left to us to imagine what will occur.

First off, by tough to watch, I mean that in a good way. The almost painful, questioning and awkward teenage years of a man learning, or trying to learn his sexuality and family fit with turmoil going on all around him could not be captured better. His "not (his) friends" don't seem to make anything easier for him, and his love interest isn't much better.

The one big difference in this film which in my opinion doesn't make it bad, just makes it unique to what is to be expected from many coming of age/life films around is that a majority of the movie is portrayed not by dialog, but by character demeanor, and actions. It is not a feel good movie, and it is not a re-assuring style film. It is as it tries to be a movie showing the hardship of being a teenage male, unsure about his sexuality or life in fractured times.

I would highly recommend this film if that sounds like your cup of tea, but if you like the more light hearted, or 'scripted' style of teenage life this may not be for you.

**Fair warning this film does have a fair bit of nudity, and drug use among others**

It's supposedly about a young man coming to terms with his sexuality and wrestling with who he should be hanging out with. I felt that rather than exploring these themes it meanders around them.

The mood is kept dark and edgy - hand held camera work is very much the go here. The colouring is also fairly monochrome. Generally the cinematography was fine.

Acting was passable - no real stand outs - the lead was OK but I don't think the director stretched him.

Passable.

"Beach Rats" is an extremely potent movie. The plot turns around the anguished, conflicted sexuality of the central character, a teenager named Frankie. Frankie enjoys having sketchy sex with older men. Unhappy with his own tastes, he tries to refocus his libido on more conventional outlets. Unfortunately, though, Frankie's efforts to take an interest in women are an utter failure, only serving to confirm, again and again, his lust for men and his appetite for anonymous gay encounters along roadsides, on beaches and in motels.

Unable to cope with the dissonance between what he craves and what he wishes he craved instead, Frankie relies heavily on drugs to numb the pain and kill time. He spends his days and nights with a small pack of pathetic, frustrated thugs who resort to petty crime to buy drugs and booze.

Frankie's downward spiral is portrayed with great finesse by Harris Dickinson. Eliza Hittman's writing and direction are highly effective, and the photography and editing are also first rate. All of the subsidiary roles are well cast and played with uncanny naturalness and precision. I did not detect a single false note in any of the acting in this film.

Fundamentally, this is a movie about the inability of people to accept the mountain of ambiguity and filth they have to climb in order to become themselves. Beyond conformity and rebellion, what is a human being? "Beach Rats" proposes no answers to the profound questions raised by the shabby ruins it excavates.

Sensational film debut by Harris Dickinson who has since quickly escalated up the ladder of more mainstream films including one that has just won the Grand Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. That success is no surprise as his performance here is as honest and authentic as they come from someone with as little experience as he had before this. His touching and vulnerable performance along with his character gets a little lost as this film nears its ending. A story of a youth struggling with all sorts of things, but primarily his sexuality, is very interesting until it sort of loses its way with an odd and not very believable twist of him introducing his straight beach bum buds to a gay man for weed. It may be my limitation, but the very final scenes are meaningless to me and I wish that were not the case as I really liked it a lot up until then. Nevertheless, I found the majority of it honest and moving. I didn't know when watching this that Dickinson was British, but you would never know it. I seem to say that a lot. I am endlessly surprised and impressed by British actors at the beginning of their careers or at the end. Their training for performing seems unparalleled.