Men to Kiss (2013)
Men to Kiss is a fun, romantic comedy. It’s about opposites attracting, but finding common ground in between the chaos of friends and life.
Amazon’s summary: Earnest is a banker who finds his work and personal life thrown upside down after he meets and quickly falls in love with Tobi, a flighty, high energy performance artist who lives for the city’s wild nightlife. The two are complete opposites but they want to make it work and need all the help they can get from Tobi’s coterie of alternative friends. But when Earnest’s friend Uta arrives on the scene she thinks Earnest can do much better and schemes to break them apart-setting off a frenzied battle of the ‘fashionista’ divas. Funny, fresh and unpredictable…
Production values are very good, and the writing/acting are good as well. Sometimes the story seems to veer to the unbelievable especially as some of the group of friends’ shenanigans border on illegal, but it’s not to be taken too seriously and it’s all taken as comedy. It also serves as a metaphor for how far we will go to protect what we have in our lives, and how far our friends will go to protect us.
Looked at beyond the light-hearted comedy, there are many layers to this film. From the aforementioned protectiveness to themes around family (biological and chosen) and living in the moment versus living the organized life. None of them are analyzed in a heavy way, but they are there. For instance Earnest complains that his friends are really Tobi’s friends and he doesn’t have any of his own except for Uta. However, when the chips are down he finds he can’t even count on his own mother (for some reason), but Tobi’s friends are really rooting for their relationship and willing to help him.
The only thing I don’t quite get is the DVD cover – at least the one on Amazon and TLA (above). I don’t think it quite represents the film as the character in the middle isn’t really “in the middle” of the relationship, nor plays a central role. The other cover photo (to the right) I’ve seen online better represents the story with Uta’s role more pronounced and Tobi dressed in balloons.
This is a good film for some light-hearted watching with a glass of wine. The sum of its parts are more than it’s low-budget origins, and a worthwhile watch.
My Rating: 
Availability:
Amazon – DVD
Netflix – DVD
TLA – DVD & Streaming
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