Rating: 
Summary: Better Than Chocolate between...
Review: I give this movie five out of five stars. Although it moves rather quickly you can't help being hook. Twenty minutes of the movie has past and Maggie, 19, not-quite-out, college dropout, and working at Ten Percent bookstore (no it's not a discount store) meets Kim, a nomadic artist, butch but sweet and romance starts. There's a scene that will leave many people exploring the arts.Within the first twenty minutes, Maggie meets and falls in love with vivacious Kim, helps her conservative lesbian boss fight customs who seem to be trying to put her out of business. Oh, don't forget Maggie has to find a place to live, because her newly divorce mother, Lila is moving in with her along with sibling, Paul, neither who know that Maggie's been living in a bookstore since she quite law school, and she's gay! Couple this with her omisexual co-worker, and transgender friend, Judy, who has love and parent issues of her/his own, and you've got a great story. I almost cracked up when Lila goes..."Kim do you have a boyfriend?" and Kim replies, "No...Funny that!" Everyone seems to be in on the joke, but Lila who replies, "What's wrong with boys?" Maggie's fighting off an uncontrollable need for laughter and the audience does too. Wendy Crewson as Lila is an added addition to this romantic comedy. All said in done, I wonder what it's like to live in that world. Definitely never a dull experience. This is a must see regardless of your lifestyle.
Rating: 
Summary: A deliciously sweet romantic comedy!!!
Review: Canadian director Anne Wheeler's "Better than Chocolate" is a wonderful movie about gay women, but it is also moderately about larger issues, such as liberation and acceptance. Maggie, a sweetly innocent clerk at a lesbian bookstore appropriately called 10% Books, meets intimidating butch Kim one afternoon. After Kim's van is towed away, they move in together faster than you can say "What the hell are you thinking?" Unfortunately, Maggie's mother Lila and her teenage brother move in that same night, thanks to Lila's nasty divorce. What really complicates matters is that Maggie hasn't come out to her mother yet, and even when she tries, Lila tries to avoid the subject, like she knows what's coming and doesn't want to hear it. (Haven't we all been there?) Interwoven with this is a dramatic subplot about Judy, a male to female transsexual who's in love with the bookstore's owner Frances, who is always freaking out because custom's officers are holding a list of books she has ordered, claiming the books are obscene and cannot be sold.
The end result is a sweet romantic comedy with a hint of drama, which realistically portraits the problems faced by the lesbian community and how not everyone is willing to accept them. A powerful scene has Judy harassed by another woman for using the ladies room, because she is a man. The woman attacks Judy and begins beating her with a purse, splashing her drink in Judy's face. This was a tragic and powerful moment that really affected me, making me realize how unaccepting people can be of anything that is slightly different. It is moments like this that really make the movie so much better than other lesbian films. The title "Better than Chocolate" does not refer to sex, but to love, which Lila is convinced she will never find again now that her husband has admitted he's been screwing his partner's wife for more than a year. Since love is doubtful and sex seems out of the question, Lila has turned to chocolate instead. This is a great movie that really makes you think. It's wonderfully witty, surprisingly charming, and incredibly funny. It's the feel-good-movie of the year that just so happens to be about lesbians. This is highly recommended...is it better than chocolate? Who knows. But it's one [heck] of a great movie!!!
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good
Review: The movie is pretty good. Maggie meets Kim and has Kim move in with her just before Maggie's mother and brother move in as well. Maggie tries to continue a relationship with Kim while attempting to keep her mother from finding out she's gay. The characters are cute and a lot of the movie is humorous. My only big problem with it is that there are a couple of scenes in which the characters face homophobic violence against them. Although the writers and directors felt this was an important enough issue to include, they don't address how the characters deal with it. I find it hard to believe that the characters just shrug it off and move on like it's no big deal. Aside from that, though, it's a good movie, and worth a viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Love it - Loved it - Will always love it!
Review: This is one of my all time favorite lesbian movies. The love story is so sweet! A must see!
Rating:
Summary: 8 out of 5 stars!
Review: Better Than Chocolate describes itself in the title... a feel good, laugh a lot movie, BTC will hook you into the plot right from the first scene. With an incredible array of characters, including a transgendered(male to female) woman named Judy, the movie is funny and heartfelt. The low budget filming makes it seem that much more real and the storyline is excellent, though the acting may be slightly amateur and the dialogue a little cheesy. The main couple, Maggie and Kim are lesbians, but they represent any other couple going through real-life problems. Wendy Crewson is wonderful as the lonely, unknowing mother, and she steals at least one of the hilarious scenes. Anne-Marie MacDonald plays Frances, the boyish owner of Ten Percent books, where only ten percent of the merchandise is books. Overall, it is a warm, feel good movie, predictable at times but for some reason, I keep watching it, and I find myself crying right along with the characters every time. Definitely see this movie if it's the last thing you do...
Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Screwball Comedy!!
Review: Funny plot and sub-plots throughout not to mention catchy tunes by fabulous drags! Wheeler has a real sense of colour, contrast in depicting every scene and emotion, enabling the viewer to feel and be a part of the whole journey in the movie. She wickedly reconstructs the stereotypes into something that we can laugh with the characters but not feel offended in any way. All too often we're slammed with gay movies that almost always have sad, depressing plots and endings, or preachy and political lines throughout, like it's an obligatory premise to making a gay movie or something! But, Wheeler shows us that gay-related movies can be funny and have a happy ending, too!! Laugh-out-loud comedic situations, i.e. the mother (played excellently and totally uproarious by the scrumptious Wendy Crewson)discovering various sex toys in horror yet doesn't mind "having a go" at 'em if you know what I mean, the oddball but utterly hilarious attraction between the bookkeeper and the transsexual friend, the bookkeeper's facetious reaction towards the Customs' threats of confiscating her books, the instant clique between the mother and the transsexual, the list goes on!! Great performances by new and veteran actors alike. Even though the movie kinda centres around the 2 youngsters, Kim and Maggie, but it is the supporting cast, played exquisitely well by the gang of talented actors from start to finish that makes this movie a repeat watch and definitely a highly recommended one!!
Rating: 
Summary: This movie was not better than Chocolate
Review: I am afraid I was rather disappointed with this movie. I found the characters not very interesting or real. Frankly the movie was plain silly. I found Maggie's mother to be totally unbelievable and annoying. I mean would a mother, who has just learned that her daughter is a Lesbian, say "Are you in love with her". I cannot believe that. And Kim got upset because Maggie would not answer. Why the heck should Maggie answer that question whilst she was under so much pressure. That whole scene really grated me. I gotta give this DVD away.
Rating: 
Summary: could have been..better
Review: the lesbian scenes were bad. could have been more to it, better acting, more scenes, more love. ugh waste of time watching. paint scene is only worth rewinding over and over.
Rating:
Summary: get the chocolate wit this film... you'll need it!
Review: The gay and lesbian movement is a very young one, so young that many people can remember some of the popular films that came out in the last twenty years. In fact, the subject of gays and lesbians has become so popular that producers add it in their script to make the films (or television shows) more accepting- as if it's a wild card and an attempt to show how tolerant we are of progression. I do support this very mcuh- we need diversity in media. However, what I do not support is the substitution of gay characters in leiu of character development. And "Better Than Chocolate" lacks character development. Just because you have characters that are gay, it doesn't make them more interesting.
The movie chronicles the life of 19 year old Maggie, who's recently dropped out of college, works at a lesbian sex shop, is out and embraces the community, but hasn't told her mother and brother who move in with her right when she meets Kim, the girl of her dreams. There are also subplots about a gentle sensitive female to male transsexual who is in love with her prudish boss Frances, customs holding several books because of obscenity, a bisexual co-worker who thinks of nothing but sex and is therefore dubbed "omnisexual", a supportive, but heterosexist man, and some skinheads who participate in gay bashing.
"Better Than Chocolate", I'm going to take a stab at and guess that it is set in New York, in a very thriving gay community. The characters have an inner harmony between each other that was pleasing to watch on the screen. All of the actors are great looking and every scence has a plush feel to it that is so often missing in films. (In fact, I almost fell in love with Kim, Christina Cox herself) If you want to see a movie with some lovely club scenes, beautiful actors and even lovlier settings, this is the one.
But don't watch it for plot. I'm a bit plot finatic, and I was looking for that, which is the main reason why I can't really recommend this film. The first major problem that I encountered was the love story between Maggie and Kim. They meet, fall in love, and make love in a 24- hour period. This was a formula most producers relied on for heterosexual romances. I have never liked them in those movies and I don't like it here. It doesn't work, and it's not plausible. How can a bond so strong be formed in hours? Call me cynic, but I have my doubts. Because the coupling happens so quickly it's difficult to beleive that they can survive any real turbulence together- for example, when Maggie attempts to tell her mother and fails to do so, Kim leaves immediately. And even if the romance was true, after the camera goes off, it won't last long. I give it four weeks.
Another problem I had with the film were the subplots in the film. There are too many! The characters are cute, but they're presented in a caricatured fashion. The transsexual (Judy, I believe was her name) is gentle and kind, whose parents won't accept her decision; the mother is seen as old fahsioned, and seems to leave right before she receives the news that her daughter is a lesbian, and the bisexual is seen as a slut. Could there ever be a movie where a transsexual is supported of their decisions, where mothers are understanding and already know, or give a big reason for their opposition, and where bisexuals get a full character sketch instead just seen as nimphos who will take anything? For some reason, I think the supportive characters were there to drown out the character development that is lacking in Maggie and Kim. But these characters are like fill ins for plot. Too much busy work.
I think "Better Than Chocolate" is much like my friend said "Bar Girls" is to mainstream America: these are just movies for mainstream Americans who have a limited perception of gays and lesbians and not for people who actually are gay and lesbian. Most of the struggles in the movie are simple, predictable and have the strong moral undertones that many have today, gay or straight. Most American's believe discrimination is wrong, and everyone should have an equal opportunity to love who they chose and be happy. However, I would like to see a movie that looks at being part of the LGBT community and the struggles that may occur within the community itself: what it means to carry around the lable of "lesbian", how "out" should you be, and why those who are homophobic chose to be so. "Go Fish" does a remarkably good job at starting this movement. I only wish films about those in the LGBT community would delve further, and challegne its viewers. There's so much good stuff out there to discuss, and it's not on the grounds of saftiness. What a waste.
Rating:
Summary: could have been..
Review: This movie could have been so much better, but it was marketed for more than its worth. The subplots make more sense than the main girls in the movie. The two lead characters basically make out then fight, then get back together again. boring !
|
