Product Description

Sweet, smart, and funny, Mulligans is more than a poignant family drama; more than a coming out movie.

Straight college jock Tyler brings his best friend Chase to his family s lakeside home for summer vacation. The Davidson family welcomes Chase but as the summer blossoms, unexpected attractions flare. Tyler s Mom Stacey tries to keep it all together while Tyler s Dad Nathan valiantly struggles with his long suppressed sexuality.

Exceptionally well-written and packed with great performances from a strong cast that includes Charlie David (Dante s Cove, A Four Letter Word), Thea Gill (Queer as Folk), Dan Payne (Watchmen), Derek James and newcomer Grace Vukovic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6822 in DVD
• Brand: WOLFE VIDEO
• Released on: 2009-04-21
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Features

• Sweet, smart, and funny, Mulligans is more than a poignant family drama; more than a coming out movie. Straight college jock Tyler brings his best friend Chase to his family s lakeside home for summer vacation. The Davidson family welcomes Chase but as the summer blossoms, unexpected attractions flare. Tyler s Mom Stacey tries to keep it all together while Tyler s Dad Nathan valiantly struggles

Amazon.com
This well-meaning Canadian indie opens with the explanation that a "mulligan" in golf parlance means "a second chance to perform a certain move or action." Golf enthusiast Nathan Davidson (Watchmen's Dan Payne) seems to have it all--good looks, a beautiful wife, a big house by the beach--until a chance encounter forces him to face the truth (oddly, the screenplay fails to identify the source of his financial largesse). When Nathan's college-aged son, Tyler (Derek Baynham), arrives for a summer stay with his best friend, Chase (writer/producer Charlie David), an aspiring artist, Nathan bonds more easily with the friend than the son. From the start, it's clear that Chase has no interest in girls, but the self-obsessed Tyler fails to notice. While he cavorts with his girlfriend, stay-at-home mom Stacy (Thea Gill, Queer as Folk) looks after his younger sister, and Chase and Nathan enter into a secret affair. Naturally, it won't stay secret forever. Mulligans tackles a sensitive subject in a tasteful, if unadventurous manner, i.e. the actors have a certain chiseled soap-star look and convey inner turmoil by staring into space as piano music plays in the background. For those who find the omni-sexual films of, say, Todd Haynes unsettling (especially Far from Heaven), such unthreatening moves may help the medicine go down easier, but there's no rule that a coming-out film can't take a few chances. Even so, certain moments will surely hit home with anyone who's ever tumbled into a family secret or two. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Review
Winner Audience Award for Best Film: Pittsburgh International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Winner Audience Award for Best Film: Fort Worth Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival

Winner Jury Award for Best Film: Fort Worth Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival

Four Stars! (out of 5) MetroWeekly

Delightful, thought-provoking and truthful look at coming out, being who you are and ultimately, acceptance. Gay Vancouver Online

Strong performances. Cinequeer

MULLIGANS is a fresh and multi-layered take on the coming out genre. Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Fest --Wolfe

About the Actor
Thea Gill - plays Stacey Davidson
Thea Gill is best known for her role as Lindsay Peterson on Showtime's popular and groundbreaking television series, Queer as Folk for which she received a 2002 ACTRA Award nomination for Best Actress . As a result of her work on this show, she was also honored with the 2003 National Leadership Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and this year with the 2006 Spotlight Award from PFLAG DC.

Other television appearances include lead and support roles in; Homecoming, Truth,
Reunion, Andromeda, Tornado Warning, Sightings: Heartland Ghost, Trial of a Serial
Killer, and Common Ground.

Thea was awarded the 2002 Golden Sheaf award for Best Actress for her work on Bliss: Nina's Muse and the 2005 Leo Award for her work on The Collector.

Customer Reviews

Hang in There for the 2nd Half.
"Mulligans" is, for the most part, another one of those problematic, independent, gay-themed films that no major studio would touch. Overall, it's not a bad movie... in fact, when it's good, it's really good. You just have to get through the plodding first half to get to the good stuff.

Let's knock out first what doesn't work here. First off, Charlie David (Chase) and Derek Baynham (Tyler) are WAY too old for their parts. They're supposed to be college kids on summer break, but they both look about 28 years old (which, in fact, they were when this film was made.) This wouldn't be quite so bothersome if not for the fact that Tyler's parents, Nathan (Dan Payne) and Stacey (Thea Gill) look only about ten years older than him (which, in fact, they were when this film was made.)

Next: the big, dumb, loud party scene. `Nuff said.

The biggest problem I had with "Mulligans" was that writer/producer/actor David clearly had it in mind that his character, Chase, was supposed to be the focal point of the story. Considering the DVD box features his handsome mug 20 times larger than the family in the background, I'm easily led to believe that this was intended to be something of a vanity project. Unfortunately, it probably became clear to him halfway through filming that Chase is only the catalyst here, and that the real story - the interesting one - involves the family going through a less-than-orthodox breakdown.

Frankly, I didn't care about the character of Chase at all. David's one-note acting didn't help the cause. Neither did the fact that Chase is a painter... something that was done far more realistically and thoughtfully in "Shelter". Here, it's just a cliché device to show how sensitive Chase is. (Forget the fact that he embarks on an affair with his best friend's still-quite-married dad while mom is away visiting grandma.) Chase would have made for a great "bad guy" here; instead, David chooses to make him come across as something of a nice-boy and a victim. It's a weak choice that nearly unhinges the film.

It all looks like it's going to go into the drink when something miraculous happens: the second half of the film. Nathan is discovered and forced to come out, and suddenly the film takes on a third dimension.

A lot of the credit for this amazing upturn is directly attributable to Dan Payne's subtle, aching performance. He's given the impossible task of making us believe that a former high-school football player turned Porsche-driving stud-businessman-golfer could be hiding in the closet for years, and succeeds beautifully. Yeh, it's unlikely this could happen, but with Payne helming the ship through its most unbelievable passages, it strikes us all as very real.

I have to say that I didn't care for Thea Gill's performance as doting-wife-and-mom Stacey throughout the first half of the film. She tries too hard to come across as a suburban phony, making for a lot of very forced moments. But, once again, once Nathan's character is exposed, Gill drops the phony routine and shows us who Stacey really is: a bitter but realistic woman who is as tired of living a lie as Nathan is. The scene where she confronts her husband with the truth is so well done it's nearly a part of another film. What could have plunged into a pool of soap ends up being the crowning scene in the film, one that brims with emotion and a refreshing sense of honesty. Bravo.

Going Forward by Looking Back
"Mulligans"

Going Forward by Looking Back

Amos Lassen

"Mulligans" is something of a modern gay version of the classic Dustin Hoffman/Anne Bancroft film "The Graduate". It, like "The Graduate" is a story of coming-of-age with the extra themes of secrecy and betrayal as it looks at the modern family and life after an affair. Written by and starring Charlie Daniel (The "Bump" Series, "Dante's Cove" and "A Four Letter Word") and directed by Chip Hale, this movie is a lot of fun and one you do not want to miss.
The story is simple. Tyler Davidson (Derek James) brings his friend Chase Rousseau (Charlie David) home from college with him for the summer. However, this is a summer vacation that is filled with secrets and one of them could very well tear the family apart. But there is something positive that also happens that summer--Tyler and Chase discover the meaning and importance of friendship and that it is possible to have a second chance.
Tyler's family is not only the typical family (whatever that means in the 21st century) but it is also exemplary, almost perfect. When Chase arrives he is smitten by Tyler's dad, Nathan and Nathan has to struggle against his feelings for Chase in order to protect both his family and a secret about himself that he has kept hidden. However the affair between the two does not go unnoticed and as things come to light, the family is on the verge of collapse.
"Mulligans" is about family but more about parents. Everything appeared to be fine in the Davidson family until Chase caused the incident that forced everyone to embark on a journey of self-discovery and even though he is the catalyst for what happens in the movie, it is not about him; it is about family. The film also deals with forgiveness and we see that it is never easy to forgive and that it can come in many different ways. We also see that the "perfect" Davidson family has its own dysfunctions and that dysfunction in the American family seems to be the norm. Perhaps the overriding theme is the universality of love and that the quest for love must begin with self-honesty. We must learn to accept people for who they are and realize that people are just that--people.
The film is filled with great dialog, good actors and beautiful people. Although the story may be simple in premise, the movie is smart and funny.

Socially Relevant
We saw Mulligans at the film festival here in Rochester and were so impressed with the relevance of the story. So many people are coming out later in life - after marriage, children and career and are trying to find a way to navigate the world as a new person.

The acting is wonderful, it's a story that needs to be told and it's beautiful. The music was really great too, would love to get a soundtrack.

Definitely recommend Mulligans - a 'gay film' for everyone. An important film for straight people to see.