It wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve never heard of the movie Were The World Mine, directed by Tom Gustafson. After all it is considered a gay cinema film, and was never released in mainstream theaters, but I am sure you heard the play that inspired the film, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Were The World Mine takes place at a high school and it is a musical, but I promise you, it bears no resemblance to the better known yet significantly inferior High School Musical. Were The World Mine follows gay teenager Timothy (The likeable Tanner Cohen) who attends an all boy’s school in a small town. I don’t think I have to tell you how he is treated in that specific environment.
He is however accompanied by his two friends Frankie (Zelda Williams, yes that’s Robin William’s Daughter) and Max (Ricky Goldman). Frankie and Max are kind of dating, but not really. Anyway, Timothy has a crush on the hunky rugby star of his school, Jonathan (Nathaniel David Becker). The movie begins with the boys at Timothy’s high school playing dodge ball. As a ball comes directly toward Timothy’s head, he slips into a musical daydream, as the boys dance in a surreal fashion. The film blurs the line between reality and fantasy. It seems as though the musical numbers all occur in Timothy’s mind but they directly move the plot forward to give the entire film a dreamlike feel. After Timothy comes back to reality, the dodge ball hits him in the head giving him a black eye; something his mom, Donna (Judy McLane), doesn’t like as she believes he got it by being beat up for being gay. She’s had a hard time accepting it, as she tells Timothy, “Every single day I come out of the closet just like you”.Timothy’s eccentric teacher, Ms. Tebbit (The elegant Wendy Robie) chooses A Midsummer’s Night Dream as the Spring Play. Being an all boy’s school, all the parts will be played by male students, something that the close-minded rugby coach doesn’t agree with, even though as Ms. Tebbit says, in “Shakespeare’s day only men were allowed to take the Elizabethan stage, women were forbidden.” Timothy is cast in the part of Puck, and as he is practicing his lines, finds the secret recipe for Cupid’s magic love Juice; The pansy Puck uses to make people fall in love in the play. After he accidently uses it on Max, he uses it on Jonathan… and uses it on the rest of his school. Boys start to fall in love with other boys, which of course can’t happen. Jonathan thinks he’s in love with Timothy, but Max does too. Frankie who wants a relationship with Max is furious at Timothy for what he did; he claims he will fix it. Why should he though, things are going great for Timothy and Jonathan. But as all of the character sing, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”
The music of Were The World Mine is haunting and inspiring at the same time. Most of the lyrics come straight from the lines of the Shakespeare play. Not an original idea, but if executed well it can be beautiful, and that is the case with this film. There are some flaws in the film; The first act is way too long and the ending is rushed (most likely because it was adapted from a short film titled Fairies) but if you have an hour and a half, follow this link here, http://www.novamov.com/video/4a327c4764298, and watch it. Some of the scenes drag on and the dialogue at times is contrived, but it’s cute, fun, imaginative, and to some a dream come true. I mean who wouldn’t want the chance to make whoever they could fall in love with them?
I give this film *** (3) out of 4 stars
