User reviews

I think of Swell as a soap opera. Done in half-hour episodes it would be appealing - in both cast and scenery - but pretty boring. In the form it's in, we only get the sexy bits, served with just enough exposition to help us join the dots. And that's plenty. Possibly too much.

I find the premise of Blinn's works on male sexuality range from intriguing to laughable (you can sample any 3 of his previous efforts and you'll know exactly what I mean). This particular series revolves around some sort of flop-house/communal residence in Hawaii, where some guys are Firefighters, and others are just flotsam I guess. Then there's some Hawaiian houseboy who everyone treats like a frat brother they love, but no one seems to relate to or have any dialogue with. In fact, beyond the very high-level and insignificant one sentence background stories on each character, none of them seem to be fleshed out enough to understand WHY they share such a bond (with the exception of the firefighters who work together...I guess that's a given). This goes even double for the main character, Swell, which was apparently written for a much younger, hotter and more Alpha-male actor than Eric Colton from the descriptions about him in the dialogue. Not sure how this project came about, but it really seemed VERY low-budget (sound quality is bad, there are several over-saturated shots and the entire thing looks like it was recorded on a celphone camera) compared to some of Blinn's more polished and edited work. It's almost as if Blinn for whatever reason found himself living in Hawaii and thought, "why don't I just use this as the back-drop for my next project?" and hastily put something together. Because to be frank, the dialogue between the Hawaiians themselves and the "acting" (yeah, quotes are very necessary here) really doesn't work, and borders on racist cliche'...I felt very uncomfortable watching a couple of segments. All in all, interesting premise not very well thought out. But there's just not a lot to choose from as far as gay/bi series these day, so whatever.

I can't even describe how bad this was. It was so boring. I kept waiting for something to happen that wasn't a discussion that should have two exchanges being turned into 15 minutes.

Interesting, fun, unique, and, with few exceptions, well acted, Eric Colton and Cody Easterbrook are standouts who deserve wider visibility.

I love all of Branden Blinn's videos! There are several other thought provoking gorgeous videos on YouTube.

Swell needs to be a proper series.

Branden is a talented writer with a great eye for steamy guys and I am sure all those FIRE men hunks need the work );-)

Al Hawaii

Guys are so cute! Eric Colton is so handsome! Hope I can see you in person. :)