See those two boys on the cover? SPOILER ALERT: They live Happily Ever After.



I first watched this movie a long while ago, and vaguely recalled it as little more than pretty and colourful entertainment---skin-deep, with nothing but fluff on the inside. Precisely thirty-one minutes and fifteen seconds into this marvellous movie, I hope you'll join me in laughing at the irony of that misconception.



In point of fact, Latter Days is a savoury, fulfilling, prime-cut of classic Happy Gay Cinema.



But, as the best critics should, let me deflate your expectations (only so you can more-radiantly enjoy the movie, of course): the first Act is borderline abysmal, plagued with overacting undoubtedly due to a micromanaging director: You'll have trouble empathizing with characters who, at first, seem stiff and one-dimensional---you'll "feel" the director behind the camera, telling who to say what, and how, and when. If only the director had enough confidence in his great cast to let them breathe a little in that opening act, even ad-lib the odd line in the heat of the moment... but he didn't, and so too much dialogue feels telegraphed to unnecessary precision, lending a bit of inauthentic stiffness to the air.



But, like a butterfly bursting from a chrysalis, Latter Days becomes something truly glorious in Act 2, when the bumpy start of Act 1 vanishes into background static: Those leads, who were so stiff and cliched when you first met them? Watch them suddenly ignite before your eyes with believable, beautiful, touching chemistry that persists until the credits roll, and will keep you enthralled well past the Happily Ever After you know is coming. (And the Mormon boy? He fills out shirts so well, you'll find yourself hoping he STAYS clothed! I mean, what kind of devilish sorcery is at work here?!)



Plus, Joseph Gordon Levitt! And Buffy's Tara lives again!



And, best of all, at precisely one hour, twenty-five minutes and five seconds, the greatest whisky of all time is poured! Note to American bartenders: When a Canadian asks for "rye", THAT'S what we're talking about. (May God have mercy on your soul: If you pour me one more Morgan's-Spiced-Rum-And-Coke when I ask for a Rye-and-Coke, I swear to whatever god you hold dear that I'll burn your establishment to the ground.)